Breaches of UK environmental law are matters of criminal liability and even the most diligent organisations can find themselves on the wrong side of the line, with profound financial and reputational implications. When businesses face action from a regulatory body, our Environmental Prosecutions team is perfectly placed to help.
We specialise in representing clients during regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings and defending clients in prosecutions by the UK environment agencies and other UK environmental regulators.
With clear, effective advice and a structured and project-managed approach to the investigation and enforcement process, we support our clients and their staff in what can be a difficult and stressful time.
Through early engagement with the issues – and determining the best strategy at the start of the regulatory investigation – we guide our clients through complex regulatory matters. Where possible, we help them to avoid environmental prosecutions through the negotiation of alternative mechanisms such as warning letters, cautions, civil sanctions and enforcement undertakings.
Our team forms part of our wider group advising on business crime matters, including our health and safety, fraud and white collar crime and tax specialists.
Areas of focus
Our environmental prosecutions expertise includes the following:
- Engaging with all UK environmental regulators – including the Environment Agency (England); Natural Resources Wales; the Scottish Environment Protection Agency; Natural England; the Office for Product Safety and Standards; the Office for Nuclear Regulation; the Marine Management Organisation; the Health and Safety Executive (in its role as COMAH Competent Authority and as the REACH Competent Authority); local authority environmental health and trading standards teams; and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
- Incident response – we provide a crisis management response service to protect the business and support its staff in the early stages of an environmental incident and we train clients on crisis management procedures.
- Regulatory investigations – we use a structured and project-managed approach to ensure that the business retains control and has adequate support during the regulatory investigation and to co-ordinate the collection and retention of evidence by the business.
- Interviews under caution – representing the business and its spokesperson during the formal interview under caution.
- Civil sanctions and enforcement undertakings – we advise on the merits of alternative methods to criminal prosecution such as enforcement undertakings and lead the negotiations.
- Restoration orders and compensation – we negotiate restoration orders and compensation following environmental incidents.
- Advocacy on environmental prosecutions – our specialists have significant experience of advocacy in the Magistrates' Courts.