Criminal Law Projects
Report on Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (2009)
The report authored by the IBA Legal Practice Division Task Force on Extraterritorial Jurisdiction is now available for purchase in the IBA shop, in book format, at £25. The Task Force was formed to focus on two important questions:
The report responds to these questions by laying out the principles governing extraterritoriality, and by providing recommendations for governments, courts, international organisations and businesses on methods for minimising costs and conflicts associated with extraterritorial exercises of jurisdiction. The report focuses in particular on competition and antitrust law, tort law, criminal law, securities law, insolvency law, bribery and corruption. The pdf of the report is available for download free of charge.
Past conference report
11th Transnational Crime Conference
London, England 12-14 June 2008
The IBA 11th Transnational Crime Conference was in London, England, 12-14 June 2008. The Conference programme was very stimulating and was the result of a great deal of hard work by the Criminal Law and Business Crime Committees
Jan Handzlik (USA) and Maurice Martin (England) chaired the session “General Principles of regulation and financial crime: focus on financial services and markets regulation.” with practitioners from various countries and a USDOJ repreentative as panelists. This session examined and compared how our financial regulatory systems operate in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe and the principles which lie behind those systems.
In looking at regulation and prosecution of financial crime, with emphasis on recent cases, the speakers engaged in an audience discussion on the following topics, among others:
Why do some cases proceed by regulatory enforcement action or civil action, whereas others result in criminal prosecution?
Are the US regulators more effective than the Europeans?
Is light touch regulation the answer or should prosecutors do more to exploit the fear of prison in financial crime cases?
Does prosecution work in the enforcement of financial regulation and the maintenance of orderly markets?
Offenses of market abuse, market manipulation or misleading the market, and insider dealing were amongst those considered by the senior prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Issues covered included managing the regulatory or criminal investigation process, dealing with the regulator, cross border investigations, confidentiality and disclosure, plea bargaining, immunity from prosecution/co-operating witnesses, burden of proof, information gathering powers, settlement options, actions against individuals and firms, jury trial v regulatory decision making and compliance with financial regulation.
There also was a Mock Hearing before The Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont. This Mock Hearing was organized by Michael O’Kane.
On the second day of the conference, Rod Fletcher and Gail Shifman chaired the session, Crime and Regulation: corporate manslaughter, health and safety and environmental regulation. This session examined the developing law of corporate and individual criminal liability in these important areas. The recent successful prosecution of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London for health and safety offenses following the death of Jean Cahrles deMenezes has emphasized the increasingly aggressive approach of investigators and prosecutors in this area.
The session examined the law relating to corporate manslaughter in the light of recent developments, including the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act in the United Kingdom, and discussed recent high profile cases in the United States, European and UK jurisdictions. This included an assessment of the developing law of corporate criminal liability.
The session considered the new proposed directive from the European Commission aimed at ensuring a consistent approach to environment offenses, and identified areas of competing jurisdiction.
Speakers addressed recent sentencing trends in the various jurisdictions in environment and health and safety cases and compared these with penalties imposed in cartels/antitrust cases.
The final session, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Criminal issues arising from international conflict, was chaired by Professor Luz Nagle, and Brian Spiro. This session focused on recent issues arising from international conflicts, with a particular focus on due process and the trials of those accused of war crimes, offenses committed while serving military personnel and breaches of international sanctions.
Speakers drew their experiences ranging from prosecuting those involved in sanction busting to hearings before international criminal tribunals and combat and detainee related courts-martial.
The ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur, developments in the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the increasing use of international embargoes, highlight the imperative of ensuring that the proper rule of law remains vigilantly protected by prosecutor, defender and judge alike.