Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance marks the 10th anniversary of its Global Investigations group

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance is celebrating the 10^th anniversary of its Global Investigations team. This international group includes over 40 partners across 17 countries who work together for clients who require specialist advice in regulatory enforcement, investigations, fraud and white collar crime.

Roger Best, global head of Clifford Chance's Global Investigations team said: "Over the past decade, we have seen the global market place shift beyond recognition. The global economic crisis has prompted regulators to increase their scrutiny - of the banking sector especially - aiming to hold companies and individuals to account. In the UK, the introduction of the Bribery Act in 2011 and changes in the regulatory regime are evidence of this shift. Consequently, we have seen a huge change in the way companies see risk in order to meet the challenges they face in this new landscape."

During the last 10 years, the Clifford Chance team has advised on some of the most challenging, high profile and complex cross border investigations. For example:

• We are acting for a financial institution in a number of the leading financial centres on regulatory and criminal investigations into Foreign Exchange trading
• A team in the UK and US is advising Autonomy founder Mike Lynch in relation to allegations of financial impropriety and misrepresentation made by Hewlett Packard which acquired Lynch's software company in 2011
• We have been involved in regulatory and criminal investigations in multiple jurisdictions arising from the downgrade of the sovereign debt of several European Countries during the Euro-zone crisis
• We have conducted multi-jurisdictional investigations into LIBOR and other interest rate benchmarks.

Roger Best, continued: "We are proud to celebrate the fantastic work achieved by our global team over the past decade. The group has advised on the most complex, high-profile work involving specialist advice across markets and has seen the world transform into a very different place in that time. As criminalisation of corporate activity spreads to new jurisdictions and regulatory enforcement action is used increasingly to police corporate behaviour, clients look to us for our 10 years of experience and our global reach to help them navigate the challenges of this new world."

Clifford Chance is the only major international firm to have an in-house Forensic Accounting Group in London and New York. The group comprises of accountants and analysts based in London, New York and Washington who assist the legal teams with financial, accounting and consulting advice in relation to investigative and compliance matters.