Bond Pearce

Our D&O liability experience is not only drawn from our insurance group but also our insolvency, employment and regulatory practices meaning we can offer advice on a wide range of issues including directors' duties, corporate manslaughter, the Bribery Act as well as FSA and other regulatory issues.

Employment

We have a team of twenty employment lawyers which is ranked by Chambers and Partners in the top tier. We have been on the panel of a major EPL insurer for the past seven years. We are one of three panel firms for a general EPL policy and the sole provider for claims under a policy for education and other not for profit organisations. We have handled upwards of 250 EPL claims and have a 100% success rate on cases fought.

Regulatory

We have one of the largest and most respected regulatory departments in the UK. Fielding experts in highly complex areas such as health and safety and product safety (eg food, cosmetics, medical devices and pharmaceuticals) the regulatory team represents companies together with directors and senior managers in prosecutions for non-compliance with a wide range of regulatory requirements.

Insolvency

We have an unrivalled strength across the regions in which we operate, encompassed by a single team of dedicated insolvency lawyers with the ability to service jobs on a national scale. Our team set up enables us to compete with national players and differentiates us from local competition. The team works with all the major insolvency practitioners including Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BDO, Baker Tilly, Grant Thornton, Begbies Traynor, Mazars, RSM Tenon, Portland Business and Financial Solutions and Smith and Williamson

Financial Services

Our specialist financial services lawyers advise banks, insurance providers, operators of collective investment schemes and other intermediaries across all areas of non-contentious financial services.

Our work

Italian D&O claim brought by the trustee in bankruptcy against the UK directors of this Italian company. The claim arose out of the allegedly fraudulent acts of the Chairman who had created fictitious contracts in order to continue trading, causing the insolvent company to become more indebted to its creditors. Quantum was in the region of £3m.
An Irish D&O claim arising out of the insolvency of an investment property group. Claims were brought against the directors by various investors who had lost in the region of Euro 1.6m (with a number of other investors who had not yet brought a claim). Policy issues arose including possible non disclosure/misrepresentation by at least one director.
A Korean D&O policy dispute concerning an underlying shareholder class action with quantum of around £22m. Policy issues arose as the original insurer had rejected the claim under an illegal acts exclusion and there were issues regarding the validity of the retroactive date.
We acted for a corporate client in a fraud action against an employee accountant who had been forging supplier invoices. We were instructed on a Friday afternoon when the fraud was discovered. On the Monday we were able to obtain a worldwide freezing injunction. We coordinated action with the SFO to ensure that a police raid was conducted and the freezing injunction was served in sequence. We served the injunction on banks in the UK and Austria, requiring proceedings in support to be issued in Austria.
We dealt with large scale fraud involving an employee in a large organisation who was forging sub-contractor invoices to the value of about £4m. We obtained a worldwide freezing injunction, served the injunction on a bank and froze over £1.6m within 24 hours, all with no publicity at a time when the client was involved in a major takeover.
Last year, one of the largest meat producers in Wales and its managing director were prosecuted for 186 breaches of food safety legislation. If convicted the director faced imprisonment and disqualification from holding directorships for up to five years. Bond Pearce negotiated for all charges to be dropped.