Asset Forfeiture Group - Seminars and Conferences

Chambers is fully accredited by the Law Society to offer in house training sessions, lectures and talks that will attract Law Society Continuing Professional Development points.

The contact point for seminars and talks on any area of the law touching Proceeds of Crime work is Paul O'Doherty or one of our nominated clerks, either David Phillips or Craig Brown, on 020 7583 8055.

29th June 2010

Caroline Stone and Mark Sutherland Williams spoke today at the Law Society/Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association sponsored conference on asset forfeiture. The topics addressed included search and seizure; Property Freezing Orders and Interim Receiving Orders.

7th June 2010

Mark Sutherland Williams, Head of the Asset Forfeiture Group, has accepted an invitation to speak at the Grant Thornton CJA receivers panel in London.

18th May 2010

The AFG will host a mediation seminar at 3PB in London. The talk will focus on mediation advocacy in civil recovery and proceeds of crime matters. The seminar has been arranged in conjunction with the Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates. Participants will include Edwin Glasgow QC, Andrew Goodman, Kate Bex and Adrian Eissa.

13th May 2010

AFG member Charlotte Hadfield was the key-note speaker at Horwarth Clark Whitehill accountants Proceeds of Crime Seminar taking place in Salisbury Square, central London. Topics included:

• An overview of POCA 2002
• An overview of the money laundering regulations
• Recent case law

Charlotte is a seasoned and adept advocate, who has spent much of her professional life at the Bar specialising in asset forfeiture related matters. Last year she appeared as junior counsel in the key House of Lords case of R v Islam (the value of drugs in confiscation).

11th May 2010

Mark Sutherland Williams will speak at the launch of the new combined CPS Proceeds of Crime Unit at the Law Society. Mark is the co-author of the recently published third edition of "The Proceeds of Crime".

18th March 2010

Rupert Jones will speak at the annual Central Law Training 'Proceeds of Crime and Confiscation Conference' in central London on the subject of enforcing confiscation orders, sentences in default and certificates of inadequacy.

10th March 2010

POC Third Party Rights

AFG member Kerry Musgrave spoke at the national CPS Organised Crime Division conference being held at Wood Green today. Kerry is a leading member of 3PB's Asset Forfeiture Group. She presented a talk on the rights of third parties under the proceeds of crime legislation.

Feedback from the course organisers includes: 'I can honestly say I have never received such positive and immediate feedback on a speaker as I did for Kerry'.

Recent reported cases of Kerry's include the Court of Appeal case of Stodgell, where their Lordships provided a helpful overview of ancillary relief in confiscation proceedings.

12th February 2010

Rupert Jones and Mark Sutherland Williams will be two of the facilitators at the annual POCLA Confiscation Forum in central London. MSW will chair a discussion on benefit in confiscation hearings and Rupert will be one of the speakers discussing the rights of spouses and third parties in confiscation.

8th December 2009

Asset Forfeiture Group head, Mark Sutherland Williams, returned this week from a speaking tour of the Caribbean. The invitation formed part of a Foreign Office initiative to raise the profile of confiscation amongst the judiciary of the eastern Caribbean states. Mark was hosted by the British High Commission and the UK Security Advisory Team in Bridgetown and was joined by His Honour Judge Wadsworth QC, a circuit judge based at Southwark Crown Court.

His first stop was the recently opened Barbados Supreme Court where he and Judge Wadsworth were introduced to the Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, before being given a tour of the new court building. Mark then took part in a full day's judicial seminar for High Court and Court of Appeal judges in Barbados, which commenced with addresses from the Chief Justice; the Acting British High Commissioner (Phil Culligan); and the Canadian High Commissioner (Ruth Archibald); together with a video address by the UK Attorney-General, Baroness Scotland. The event was followed by an evening reception for the judiciary at the British High Commissioner's residence.

Thereafter, the speakers travelled to St Lucia to participate in the Eastern Caribbean Judicial Education Institute's 'Confiscation and Money Laundering Symposium' at Rodney Bay. The event was attended by senior judiciary from across the Eastern Caribbean, and the opening ceremony was held in the presence of Dame Calliopa Pearlette Louisy, GCMG, the Governor-General of Saint Lucia, and the Hon Stephenson King, the Prime Minister of St Lucia, who, together with the resident High Commissioner of St Lucia, Mr Karl Burrows, gave an address. Thereafter Judge Wadsworth and Mark gave a full day's presentation on confiscation and money laundering, which was followed by a plenary session the next day. In the evening the UK High Commission hosted another drinks reception, attended by various dignitaries, including the Chief Justice of St Lucia Hugh Rawlins and the DPP, Victoria Charles-Clark.

Press coverage of Mark's visit

Report in The Barbados Advocate

Chief Justice Sir David Simmons' comments

30th November 2009

Restraint Orders talk

Kerry Musgrave will speak at the annual Butterworths Proceeds of Crime conference in central London on 30th November. Kerry has accepted an invitation to speak jointly with Trevor Millington OBE on the obtaining of restraint orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Kerry is an established asset forfeiture barrister, whose recent cases include the Court of Appeal decision on matrimonial interests and confiscation Stodgell v Stodgell.

3rd November 2009

Constabulary Financial Crime meeting

3PB AFG members Mark Sutherland Williams and Kerry Musgrave have been invited to address the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary Financial Crime meeting in Exeter on 3rd November 2009. The conference meeting, which will include representatives from other forces and HM Revenue and Customs, will focus on developments in confiscation law, restraint and cash seizures.

16th October 2009

Matrimonial Law and Asset Recovery talk

3PB AFG member Kerry Musgrave will speak on matrimonial law and asset recovery at the CLT Asset Recovery conference. The conference is to be held on 15th October 2009 in central London.

Kerry advises and represents parties in all aspects of Asset Recovery, as one of a specialist team at 3 Paper Buildings in London. She regularly acts for the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions’ Office, the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC and the CPS, as well as for receivers and third parties. She also represents HMRC and various police forces in cash forfeiture proceedings. She acts for local authorities in prosecutions of regulatory matters. She is a qualified Mediator and mediation advocate.

During her time at the Bar, she has been counsel in large scale fraud matters, serious sexual crimes, major drugs cases, and specialist disclosure counsel for HMRC. Notable cases include being part of the prosecution team calling evidence from the “country’s biggest supergrass”, leading to a conviction resulting in a 23 year prison sentence.

Prior to her full time practice, Kerry also worked in expert witness training, which included a programme of helping train police officers and local authority officers in courtroom skills and coping with cross examination.

This seminar will include:

• A consideration of asset recovery law, in the face of matrimonial claims, from the POCA practitioner’s perspective.
• Summary of law as established in Customs and Excise Commissioners v A and another (Re MCA) [2003] 2 WLR 210.
• Consideration of recent developments and current position

21st May 2009

Kerry Musgrave talk

Kerry Musgrave spoke at the Proceeds of Crime and Asset Recovery Conference on Wednesday 20 May at Holiday Inn London Regents Park.

26th March 2009

Mathew Gullick and Mark Sutherland Williams will repeat their successful talk on 'Recent Developments in Confiscation' to the Central Confiscation Branch of the Crown Prosecution Office in London. The talk follows a series of cases decided by the Court of Appeal in the last year.

24 March 2009

Asset Recovery Conference

Mark Sutherland Williams, co-author of 'The Proceeds of Crime' (2nd Edn OUP) will speak at the Butterworths Asset Recovery Conference in Central London. Further details may be found at this link.

12 March 2009

Asset Recovery Conference

Mark Sutherland Williams, the head of the Asset Forfeiture Group at 3PB, will speak at the Asset Recovery: Explaining the Criminal and Civil Options conference in central London. Further details may be found at this link.

27th February 2009

Mathew Gullick and Mark Sutherland Williams will speak at the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office on 'Recent Developments in Confiscation' following a series of cases on the recovery of the proceeds of crime decided by the Court of Appeal in the last year. Mathew and Mark are both members of Chambers' well-regarded Asset Forfeiture Group.

25 February 2009

POCLA Members Confiscation Forum

Barry Stancombe and Paul O'Doherty, together with Mr Justice Davis, will address the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association's confiscation forum in central London. Barry will speak on his case of Lexi Holdings, whereas Paul will be on a panel discussing receivership powers. More details may be found on the POCLA website.

1 December 2008

Commercial Fraud LLM

The Asset Forfeiture Group of 3PB continues its association with the Commercial Fraud LLM run by the School of Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of London. Guest speakers on this year's course will include 3PB's, Mark Sutherland Williams, Hala Helmi, and course co-ordinator, Ian Edge.

27th November 2008

Asset Forfeiture Group Seminar

Michael Parroy QC gave a very well received seminar to the Asset Forfeiture Group at 3PB on the issues and pitfalls relating to missing trader and carousel fraud. The seminar was part of an annual series organised by the Group which aims to invite speakers to come and address members of chambers on hot topics affecting the work of the Group. Michael is currently prosecuting one of the Revenue and Customs largest and longest running MTIC trials. The Asset Forfeiture Group has a dedicated team that deals with the civil side of carousel frauds before VAT and Duties Tribunals.

16th December 2008

Asset Forfeiture Division presentation

Mark Sutherland Williams gave a further presentation to the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, Asset Forfeiture Division, on the case of Sivaraman and recent developments in the law on Confiscation.

14th November 2008

Talk to RCPO

Mathew Gullick and Mark Sutherland Williams gave a presentation to the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, Asset Forfeiture Division, on recent developments in the law on Confiscation.

16th October 2008

CLT Asset Recovery Conference

Kerry Musgrave and Mark Sutherland Williams spoke at the CLT Asset Recovery conference in London today on confiscation and legal funding respectively.

7th July 2008

Head of the SFO Asset Recovery Unit speaks to Asset Forfeiture Group

The 3PB Asset Fordeiture Group was delighted to welcome the head of the Asset Recovery Unit at the SFO this evening. Mr Philip Mobedji gave a talk on the work of his Unit and future challenges for the Serious Fraud Office.

27th June 2008

Tracing Recoverable Property

Mark Sutherland Williams has been invited to speak on 'Tracing Recoverable Property' at this years Asset Recovery Conference to be held in Central London.

11th October 2007

Legal Aspects of Commercial Fraud course

The Proceeds of Crime Unit is delighted to announce that three of its members have been asked to participate as guest lecturers on London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies MA/LLM course in Legal Aspects of Commercial Fraud. The course, overseen by fellow 3 Paper Buildings member Ian Edge, will run until April 2008. Hala Helmi will focus on fraud trials and Rupert Jones will be speaking on the Serious Fraud Office, whereas Mark Sutherland Williams will be concentrating on the Proceeds of Crime Act and the history of the legislation. 3 Paper Buildings reputation as a leading chambers in the asset recovery field was further enhanced last year with the launch of our in-house Commercial Fraud Team, which compliments our established and popular Proceeds of Crime Unit.

8th October 2007

Asset Recovery Conference

Mark Sutherland Williams was one of the invited speakers to address the ‘Asset Recovery: Criminal Confiscation, Civil Recovery and Money Laundering’ conference held in central London today. The conference examined the expanding law and practice of asset recovery in the domestic, European and international spheres and speakers included many of the leading professionals in this area of practice.

13th September 2007

Proceeds of Crime talk

The Asset Forfeiture Group hosted a talk given by Trevor Millington, senior lawyer on the Revenue and Customs enforcement task force, entitled ‘The Work of the Asset Forfeiture Division at the RCPO’. Trevor is the co-author of the best-selling textbook ‘The Proceeds of Crime’, co-written with Mark Sutherland Williams, who is head of our chambers Proceeds of Crime Unit.

25th July 2007

Commercial fraud and litigation – recent developments

On Wednesday 25th July 2007 the Proceeds of Crime Unit hosted a seminar entitled “Commercial fraud and litigation – recent developments” with speakers from Hassan Khan and Co. who gave an insight into commercial and civil fraud from a solicitor’s perspective. More information about 3 Paper Buildings Commercial Fraud Team can be obtained by following this link: Commercial Fraud Team.

26 October 2006

Guy Opperman spoke to City-based law firm Hassan Khan & Co on a number of aspects in relation to asset recovery.

12th October 2006

Confiscation and Asset Forfeiture Law Seminars

Mark Sutherland Williams gave a seminar to the Serious Fraud Office on Confiscation and Asset Forfeiture Law. This is the second time Mark has been invited to speak at an SFO training event.

14th February 2006

Serious Fraud Office Seminar

Mark Sutherland Williams gave a seminar to the Serious Fraud office. Topics covered were:

• The criminal use of company structures and international financial systems to launder and conceal criminal funds
• The evidence required for money laundering prosecutions and how best to prepare for it
• How to identify financial instruments, investments, trading entities where proceeds of crime can be hidden (Hidden assets)
• Restraint and confiscation
• Dealing with foreign jurisdictions