Legal News

This is the first instalment in a series of News Analyses, each concentrating on one of the principal changes within ERA 2025. The measures are arranged by the date of implementation (or anticipated implementation). Employment Rights Act 2025 (pdf) The Employment Rights Act 2025 overview factsheet, issued on 18 December 2025, confirms that: ERA 2025 will be rolled out in phases over a two‑year period common commencement dates (6 April and 1 October) will be used to bring the majority of regulations made using ERA 2025 powers into force the government remains committed to the timelines set out in the Implementing the Employment Rights Bill Roadmap, published on 1 July 2025 Review of extent of right to time off for public duties Provisions: section 19 Main changes: Requires the Secretary of State, within 12 months of the passing of ERA 2025 (ie before 18 December 2026), to review the...

The document largely repackages the SFO’s own 2020 internal guidance and leaves the existing rules untouched. Rather than changing the framework, it provides a readable, albeit fairly high‑level, point of reference for organisations by setting out the legal circumstances in which the SFO may scrutinise corporate compliance programmes, together with the sources it will weigh when judging effectiveness. In that sense, it is a helpful tool, mirroring the SFO’s sustained push under Nick Ephgrave towards a more hands‑on model of corporate engagement. A central message is also underlined: a compliance programme must work in practice and not amount to a box‑ticking exercise on paper. The document falls short of the granularity seen in comparable materials from other jurisdictions—most notably the US. The SFO’s implicit stance appears to be that organisations already possess sufficient publicly available guidance and resources. Even so, the...

Lawyers are urging banks, building societies, insurers, asset managers, and others to take lessons from the FCA’s 12 December 2025 action against the world’s largest building society, warning that robust policies alone won’t suffice. They say the regulated sector now faces far heftier penalties for comparable compliance lapses. Neil Swift, a partner at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP, noted this forms part of a pattern of sizeable sanctions for weak financial controls, stressing that the regulator will adopt a tough stance where systems fall short. Future AML fines could soar The penalty might have reached £1.66bn had the FCA imposed a charge equal to 15% of relevant revenues, the “level-four factor”, which it considered commensurate with the seriousness of the breach. Even so, the FCA concluded that such a figure was disproportionate in view of Nationwide’s remedial measures, and scaled it back markedly. Lawyers warn that firms...

In this issue: Corporate Crime in 2025 Criminal liability Legal privilege in criminal cases Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Corporate Crime Highlights 2025/2026 Corporate Crime in 2025 Reflecting on Corporate Crime in 2025 With 2025 nearing its end, Elliott Kenton, partner, and James Camidge, solicitor, at Weightmans look back on a pivotal year for business crime. New corporate crime laws, more enquiries, expansive investigatory powers, and several headline...

Corporate criminal liability expands: Failure to prevent fraud The most significant shift in corporate crime in recent years is the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ( ECCTA 2023), which has reshaped the doctrine of corporate criminal liability. In September 2025, the new offence of failure to prevent fraud was enacted. Under this offence, an organisation can be criminally liable where an employee, agent, or other ‘associated person’ commits fraud intending to benefit the organisation, and the organisation lacks reasonable fraud prevention procedures... The offence applies only to large organisations across all sectors that meet two of the following: more than 250 employees more than £36m turnover more than £18m in total assets ECCTA 2023 defines ‘associated person’ broadly. It can include an employee, agent, subsidiary, or anyone providing services to the organisation. For the offence to bite, the...

This has had a significant impact on European businesses and the lawyers representing them. In this article, we examine the implications arising from recent developments across the UK and EU sanctions frameworks and assess what further changes may credibly be expected in the near future. Measures aimed at Russia under UK and EU regimes have multiplied markedly since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, creating a far denser compliance landscape. Consequently, the body of legislation practitioners must master to advise clients effectively in this area has grown markedly, requiring deeper familiarity to advise clients properly in this field. Before hostilities began, the UK’s Russia-focused regulations, introduced in 2019 as part of the UK’s exit from the EU, comprised only 64 pages in total at that time. Amendments over the past three and a half years have expanded that to 529 pages in...

Finalised guidance from the watchdog on 12 December 2025 dispels worries that professionals' private lives or minor indiscretions would be examined by the regulator. It states such behaviour is 'entirely out of scope' of the FCA's authority over individuals and beyond its remit. The measures also align what is expected of managers more closely with employers' existing obligations to prevent harassment in the workplace. In addition, the guidance introduces a 'reasonable steps' defence for managers, enabling them to avoid personal liability for misconduct by staff who report to them. Yet lawyers said the City watchdog's announcement introduces uncertainty for firms and individuals. The regulator has declined to define what constitutes 'non-financial misconduct', while signalling that more professionals will fall within the reach of its rules. The FCA also rejected requests to give examples to demonstrate how the new standards will operate. ' No...

The proposals With no further guidance from the government on how corporate defendants would be tried under these proposals, we are, for the time being, left to compare and contrast its announcements with the recommendations set out in the report ( Independent Review of the Criminal Courts: Part 1). Sir Brian suggested replacing the defendant’s option to elect a jury trial with the following measures: Establishing a new Crown Court Bench Division ( CCBD), comprising a judge and two magistrates, to which any either-way case could be allocated for hearing and disposal, with hearings convened in ‘any available courtroom’. Using judge-only trials for ‘serious and complex fraud’ cases, and permitting judges to direct their use in any matter of ‘anticipated length or complexity’, as circumstances warrant. Sir Brian further indicated that the threshold for identifying a ‘serious and complex’ fraud could encompass instances where...

In this issue: Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q& As Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence From chaos to cohesion—a new architecture for contempt of court The Law Commission’s Contempt of Court: Report ( Part 1) on Liability, released on 17 November 2025, proposes scrapping the traditional civil/criminal contempt split and modernising contempt law through four new contempt categories. Christopher Gribbin and Molly Vann of Mishcon de Reya LLP assess this...

The plans allocate £15m in extra funding to bolster the City of London Police’s domestic corruption unit, ramp up the use of sanctions, and stage a global summit on tackling illicit finance in 2026. David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, unveiled the approach in a London speech on 8 December 2025. He said that the measures would, in particular, help to close loopholes exploited by kleptocrats and organised criminals. The Home Office also stated that financial rewards for whistleblowers who identify economic crime will be on the table to encourage more insiders to report financial misconduct. The government introduced a comparable strategy for large-scale tax fraud in November 2025......

The revised guidance introduces notable alterations to the current so‑called queue mechanism and adjusts incentives across applicant categories with differing profiles and circumstances, in particular for varied applicant types. The CMA aims for these revisions to materially and significantly boost the motivation for companies to self‑report antitrust compliance concerns. For businesses, the tweaks complicate the assessment calculus when weighing a potential compliance lapse and the routes available to limit negative outcomes—including exposure to private damages claims as well as fines—yet may not move the needle as much as the CMA anticipates in practice. The benefit of being first Leniency captures the potential advantages of alerting a competition authority to unlawful conduct in exchange for a reduction in, or sometimes even full immunity from, administrative penalties. In turn, applicants typically must acknowledge the competition law breach and fully assist the authority throughout its inquiry. The most...

Why is a reform of the law of contempt needed? Contempt of court in England and Wales has evolved to safeguard the public interest in the proper administration of justice and the right to a fair trial. The penalties are weighty, ranging from financial sanctions to custodial terms of up to two years. Although comprehensive figures are scarce, the Law Commission considers it plausible that each year more than 100 individuals receive either immediate or suspended prison sentences for contempt offending. Developed incrementally over centuries through the common law, augmented by piecemeal statutes, the current framework is widely acknowledged to be challenging to navigate, leaving a patchwork that is increasingly hard to chart. In particular, the rift between civil and criminal contempt has widened, generating uncertainty for practitioners and parties alike. Crucially, that classification does not turn on whether proceedings occur in the civil or...

Since April 2025, the CMA has run a significant, economy-wide review spanning more than 400 businesses across 19 distinct sectors in order to check adherence to price transparency rules. Drawing on the findings of this exercise, as well as further monitoring, the CMA flagged potential compliance issues in 14 sectors, such as drip pricing and misleading countdown clocks, which are now prohibited under the new framework. To tackle the concerns it has found, the CMA is using a two-tier strategy: initiating targeted enforcement against a limited set of companies and issuing advisory letters to 100 firms, while also releasing the final version of its price transparency guidance ( CMA209) to help businesses meet their legal requirements in full. Enforcement action The CMA has begun investigations into eight companies that it has reason to believe may have breached consumer law regarding their use of fees, their use of...

In this issue: Criminal liability Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Corporate Crime in Scotland International Lex Talk® Corporate Crime: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q& As Useful information Criminal liability IOPC publishes Hillsborough investigation findings on police conduct and misconduct The Independent Office for Police Conduct ( IOPC) has released a report capturing its inquiries into police conduct linked to the Hillsborough disaster and what followed. Running 161 individual investigations into 352 complaints, the IOPC concluded that the South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable and nine...

Under the settlement, TIGO acknowledged taking part in a broad, methodical corruption plan that involved paying cash to Guatemalan lawmakers in exchange for backing laws that advantaged TIGO. It marks the first criminal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ( FCPA) corporate disposition since the halt on FCPA matters ended and the DOJ rolled out revised FCPA enforcement guidance in June 2025. The outcome confirms ongoing FCPA enforcement and spotlights core priorities distilled in the refreshed guidance and the DOJ Criminal Division’s white-collar policy pronouncements, such as prioritising probes of grave misconduct, connections to cartels and organised crime, and voluntary self-disclosure. In particular, emphasis falls on egregious conduct, cartel or organised-crime links, and timely voluntary self-reporting by companies and individuals alike. The bribery scheme Per the statement of facts, selected TIGO staff and senior figures orchestrated bribes to Guatemalan legislators to obtain beneficial...

If adopted, these reforms could significantly raise penalties, trim concessions for voluntary self-disclosure, and bring in fresh responses to breaches, including settlement pathways. The proposals would align OFSI more closely with the enforcement model of its US peer, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC), a sophisticated, high-powered body with which it has developed an ever broader partnership since 2022, centred on information sharing, joint enforcement and harmonised implementation approaches. OFSI is likewise taking cues from other seasoned UK regulators, such as the Financial Conduct Authority, with which it is working closely. OFSI is progressing, and with that shift come heightened UK sanctions exposures for banks and companies within UK enforcement reach. OFSI's expanding enforcement activity Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, OFSI has more than doubled its headcount, with a marked emphasis on licensing and...

In this issue: Budget 2025 Cross border criminal investigations Decision to prosecute and alternatives to prosecution Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Food safety and hygiene offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Money laundering International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Budget 2025 Budget 2025—key criminal justice announcements On 26 November 2025, during Budget 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, set out a suite of reforms notably affecting policing, enforcement, economic crime, regulatory regimes, sentencing, the prison estate and national security. See: LNB News 26/11/2025 53. Cross border criminal...

A US entrepreneur was convicted of FCPA breaches and money laundering after joining a plan to pay bribes to Honduran officials to secure contracts to supply law enforcement uniforms in Honduras. The Zaglin matter provides an early signal of how the US DOJ could deploy the new guidance—especially in prosecutions of individuals. It underscores a continued focus on individuals in such matters. Importantly, the conduct did not touch drug cartels, national security issues, or a non- US corporate accused. The lack of such factors indicates that, although the administration stresses aligning FCPA enforcement with foreign policy aims, the DOJ still intends to bring individual cases largely in line with its historic practice going forward. Background On 28 November 2023, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida charged Carl Alan Zaglin, a US national and the proprietor of Atlanco LLC, a...

The SFO's new investigation into a US$28m 'crypto hedge fund' scheme is the first time the anti-fraud agency has investigated suspected fraud in cryptocurrency. The inquiry, centred on allegations of fraud and money laundering linked to the collapse of Basis Markets, signals the SFO now feels it possesses the technical expertise to grasp blockchain mechanics. However, practitioners caution that, if charges follow, the matter will test investigators more familiar with traditional financial statements. ' Successfully investigating, evidencing and prosecuting cryptocurrency and other digital assets enabled offences requires a high level of blockchain expertise and the ability to properly analyse the movement between crypto and fiat currencies', Lloyd Firth, a partner at Wilmer Hale, said. The surge in crypto-assets, a market that is currently valued at £2.3trn globally, has forced law enforcement agencies to keep pace with fraudsters who exploit the complexity and ease of the mostly...

The government's plan to press ahead with legislation to remove the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases will fail to ease the burden on the courts without substantial investment in police, prosecutors, courts and the broader justice system, legal representative bodies told Law360. In a Guardian interview on 20 November 2025, justice minister Sarah Sackman said the government would set out in December plans to route large numbers of cases to judges rather than juries. She indicated many hearings would be listed before judges, not juries. The measure, drawn from a review of the faltering courts system, is among its most hotly disputed proposals. Barbara Mills KC, chair of the Bar Council, warned in a statement on 21 November 2025 that creating a so‑called intermediary court — the Crown Court Bench Division — staffed by judges and magistrates would be...