Criminal defence work can be categorised broadly ­either as general crime or as white-collar or financial crime. Whereas most high street criminal law firms tend to deal primarily with general crime, often for clients who receive public funding, a small number of niche or boutique firms, such as Peters & Peters, ­specialise in defending individuals and companies against specific categories of crime.

In addition to cases that are traditionally thought of as being pure fraud, they can feature all aspects of individual and corporate delinquency, such as corruption, cartels, insider dealing and money laundering. Often activities have taken place in several jurisdictions and a foreign government may have requested that a defendant is ­extradited to stand trial elsewhere. In other instances clients may seek advice on regulatory compliance and on how to prevent crime within their organisations.

These types of cases tend to be referred to specialist firms that can handle the difficult issues they present, which have expertise in criminal law and financial services regulation and that can combine classic ­criminal defence work with proactive civil litigation (for example, international asset-tracing).

The working culture

The pace, type and location of your work can vary daily, depending on which stage you are at with each case. Complex cases can take years from the initial ­investigation through to the conclusion of proceedings. Often vast quantities of paper and electronic documents need to be read and analysed carefully.

Preparation for a trial can get hectic. Trainee solicitors can play a crucial role in gathering evidence, negotiating with the police or prosecuting authority and putting together the case document bundles for the court.

Not all cases go to court, however. Your greatest challenge when representing high-profile clients can be to provide practical solutions to prevent a case being brought or any adverse publicity that may ­damage their reputations.
As a criminal defence lawyer you frequently work out of the office. You may be required to attend meetings with your clients and the barristers you are instructing; ­accompany your clients to interviews with the police, ­industry regulators or prosecuting authorities; and, of course, attend court hearings.

You may need to meet and cooperate with lawyers representing co-defendants. Cases will at times require you to work unconventional hours, but knowing the importance of the outcome of a case for the people involved keeps you highly motivated.

Specialist firms that concentrate on business crime often have wealthy clients with assets across the world whose cases will invariably have international ­dimensions. There are opportunities to travel both within the country and overseas, sometimes at short notice when a case requires urgent action.

Skills required

While you obviously need a thorough understanding of criminal law and procedure, it will not necessarily be straightforward to apply it to complex financial crime cases. Procedure may also vary, depending on the nature of the crime. In the UK many financial crimes can be prosecuted by not just the Crown Prosecution Service, but also by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the ­Serious Fraud Office or HM Revenue and Customs, as well as by industry regulators such as the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading. There may be parallel or consecutive civil proceedings dealing with the same conduct. Separate investigations and proceedings may be underway simultaneously overseas, which requires an understanding also of foreign law and procedure and of its effect on proceedings in the UK.

You need to have good judgement, be quick to learn, be prepared to think creatively, be capable of ­assimilating substantial amounts of information and be able to operate under pressure and quickly ­changing circumstances.

Meticulous attention to detail is crucial. Strong communication and people skills are also ­essential for any criminal lawyer, and knowledge of ­foreign languages would be an added bonus. You may, on occasion, also be required to deal with the media, but as much of the work is highly confidential, absolute integrity and discretion are essential.

Recent developments

At the top end of criminal practice you get the excitement of being at the forefront of high-profile new legal ­developments. While we cannot usually publicise our clients, we frequently see our cases reported or ­discussed in the national press because of their commercial or political importance, or where they have led to a change in the law that has wide-ranging implications. One of ­Peters & Peters’ cases was heard by the European Court of Justice, whose judgment required the UK ­Government to pay back millions of pounds of VAT charged to companies wrongly accused of carousel fraud.

In another recent groundbreaking case, Peters & Peters managed to persuade US prosecutors to permit three UK nationals convicted of cartel offences in both the US and the UK to serve their sentences ­concurrently in the UK. This case also hit the headlines as the first-ever criminal prosecution in the UK of the new statutory cartel offence.

Anna Odby, associate solicitor, Peters & Peters