Johanna Walsh

Mishcon de ReyaPartner

Johanna heads Mishcon’s Investigations practice. She has significant experience in domestic and international serious fraud, corruption and money laundering cases, acting for corporates and also senior individuals in prosecutions brought by the SFO, FCA, HMRC and CPS. Johanna has also acted for a range of corporates, from SMEs to FTSE 100 companies in relation to allegations of fraud and corruption, conducting internal investigations and representing them in external investigations and prosecutions. While at her previous firm, Johanna was a key member of the team involved in acting for Tesco plc and was part of the core team that negotiated the DPA. Johanna has unique experience in advising in connection with proceeds of crime investigations and, in 2020, she represented the respondents (including four corporate respondents) to three Unexplained Wealth Orders obtained by the NCA in relation to three London properties. The challenge brought by Johanna was the first and only successful challenge brought against UWOs since their introduction in 2018. The Court of Appeal refused the NCA permission to appeal. In the past year, Johanna has conducted a number of corporate internal investigations into a variety of issues included suspected bribery; fraud; POCA offences, theft of confidential information and also breaches of health and safety legislation. She has experience in advising clients in relation to compliance matters and has recently co-authored the first chapter on Compliance for GIR’s Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations.