Hickman & Rose

Hickman & Rose’s Tom Bushnell has been quoted in Law360's round up of the top FCA enforcement cases of 2024. Tom commented on the FCA’s fining of both Starling Bank and Metro Bank: two cases which have been described as related but, as Tom explains, are actually quite distinct. https://lnkd.in/eHv4H_58

Barrister Tom Bushnell has been quoted in a Law360 article on the FCA's recently-announced change to evidence disclosure in enforcement proceedings. Tom explained how the recently announced change could benefit defendants by helping them build a fuller picture of the case against them. “[...] the ability to marshal all the relevant evidence can prove crucial in allowing the target of enforcement action to fully understand what took place, and thereby provide a cogent response to allegations", Tom said. https://lnkd.in/eP_GzMt9

Earlier this month the Financial Conduct Authority fined Metro Bank (UK) £16m for anti-money laundering failings. This came shortly after the FCA fined Starling Bank for similar and, as such, led to commentary that the regulator is focussing its attention on “challenger banks”. This analysis risks missing the bigger picture, says Tom Bushnell, who in this article argues the Metro Bank penalty fits a pattern of FCA AML enforcement action against traditional retail banks, and therefore has wide relevance. https://lnkd.in/erhAEP2m

Hickman & Rose's Head of Regulatory Law Andrew Katzen analyses the latest developments in the SRA’s AML enforcement, including its latest AML report and the recent flurry of fines for breaches on five law firms. https://lnkd.in/e95ybdHA

Civil litigation partner Stefano Ruis has been quoted in The Guardian in relation to Andy Malkinson’s battle for compensation after spending 17 years in prison for crime he did not commit. Andy told The Guardian that he had been recently informed he would likely need to wait an average of 31 weeks from from his application for decision on his eligibility for compensation Stefano Ruis told the paper: “It would seem straightforward in this case for the secretary of state to make an immediate decision, whereupon an interim compensation payment can be considered.” https://lnkd.in/etnfpEaz

On 11th November this year, the Financial Conduct Authority published on its website a notice announcing a changed approach to disclosure in regulatory enforcement cases. In this article, barrister Tom Bushnell explains why the FCA's brief statement could dramatically change regulatory enforcement in England and Wales. https://lnkd.in/e4s5jK9Z

Serious and General Crime partner Peter Csemiczky has written an article for the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank about the Office for Students’ proposals on university sexual misconduct. Peter gives a criminal defence solicitor’s perspective on the OfS’s new rules on how universities should address allegations of sexual misconduct. He writes that “the OfS’s failure to provide step-by-step guidance on how these proceedings should properly be run means many universities will struggle to cope when they happen. The result will be injustice: potentially for victims of any sexual assault; potentially for the accused individual; most likely for both.”

Hickman & Rose's Ellie Cornish has commented on the death of Wayne Bayley, who died after being restrained by prison officers and whose family she represented at inquest. Ellie told the The London Standard that Mr Bayley's treatment was “characterised by a profound lack of professional curiosity, common sense and humanity”. “Warning signs of what was in fact a medical emergency were disregarded, unnoticed or unidentified”, she said. An inquest jury found there had been a gross failure to provide the basic medical attention which, if provided, would have saved Mr Bayley's life. https://lnkd.in/e95NWr2q

Hickman & Rose is proud to be recognised again in The Times newspaper’s 2025 list of the best law firms in England and Wales. Hickman & Rose has been a staple of The Times’ list since it was launched in 2018 and is this year again recognised as a leader in the categories of Crime; and Financial Crime, Fraud & Regulatory law. https://lnkd.in/e5vYVtj3

The Court of Appeal has published its judgment in the long-running saga of FCA v Seiler, Whitestone and Raitzin. In a blog, barrister Tom Bushnell analyses the ruling, which is unlikely to have made happy reading for the regulator. https://lnkd.in/eM4Ha9WH