Fraud lawyer
A serious fraud case needs a solicitor to manage the material and a barrister to argue it. The barrister’s work is mostly disclosure and the half-time submission, and those are what end fraud cases rather than a speech at the end.
What this kind of case needs
- Somebody who reads the unused material
- Served evidence is a fraction of what exists in a fraud case. The useful documents are almost always in the unused schedule, and nobody finds them by accident.
- Somebody who makes targeted disclosure requests
- A general request produces nothing. A specific one, built from the papers and pointed at a gap, is what causes a case to be dropped. Several of his have ended exactly that way.
- Somebody who takes the half-time submission
- At the close of the prosecution case the judge can stop a count that cannot safely reach a jury. It is a written argument made under pressure and it is the single highest-value moment in a long fraud trial.
- Somebody who can carry a six-month listing
- Serious fraud trials run for months and many are Very High Cost Cases. That changes how they are funded, prepared and staffed, and it rules out anyone without the diary for it.
What to ask before you instruct anybody
- How much material is there, and who is going to read all of it
- What disclosure has been asked for so far, and in what terms
- Is there a half-time argument, and on which count
- How long is this listed for, and are you available for all of it
- Is this legal aid, a Very High Cost Case, or privately funded
Ask him the same questions. If the answers are not better than somebody else’s, instruct somebody else.
What Imran is, and what he is not
Imran Shafi KC is a barrister and a King’s Counsel. He is not a solicitor and is not authorised to conduct litigation, so he cannot go on the court record, issue applications in your name or correspond with the court for you. In a case of this size you will want a solicitor doing that, and he is usually instructed by one.
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Authorised to accept Public Access instructions. Not authorised to conduct litigation.
The offence itself: Fraud and financial crime.