BUSINESS CRIME
We help clients anticipate and manage criminal and regulatory enforcement risks across all areas of business law.
Anticipating criminal and repressive/law enforcement risks
We regularly assist companies of all sizes and their executives in setting up chains of delegation of authority and in carrying out audits or risk mapping.
Our team is also able to offer tailor-made training courses, or to define internal procedures and best practices in coordination with the personnel concerned, for the management of searches and, more generally, of investigations concerning the company.
We also lead or support internal investigations, in line with the Paris Bar’s ethical rules and guidance for lawyers conducting internal investigations.
Criminal risk management
Drawing on a wide range of cases and a thorough command of criminal procedure and trial advocacy, Lerins’ dedicated team provides companies and executives with tailored criminal defence.
Our team regularly assists clients, both defendants and victims, at all stages of criminal proceedings, before investigating authorities and criminal courts.
Our work in this field covers a wide range of areas, including:
- Economic offences: criminal breach of trust (abus de confiance), fraud, misuse of corporate assets (abus de biens sociaux), consumer fraud (tromperie), etc.
- Market abuse: insider dealing, market manipulation and failure to disclose shareholding threshold crossings
- Employment-related offences: involuntary injury or manslaughter, undeclared work, unlawful supply of labour, obstruction of employee representatives (délit d’entrave) and discrimination
- Criminal law related to public health: illegal practice of medicine or pharmacy
- Criminal tax law
- Infringements of specific regulations
Aware of the reputational damage criminal proceedings can cause, Lerins works closely with crisis management and media relations specialists who can step in at any time.
Through the LAW network, of which Lerins is the exclusive French member, we assist clients facing criminal proceedings abroad. Our cross-border work also includes seeking the removal of Interpol Red Notices – Interpol being headquartered in France – for executives and public figures of all nationalities.
Specific expertise
In synergy with the firm’s Healthcare department, we regularly act for private operators and healthcare professionals, providing them with our long-standing and recognized sectoral expertise.
We also defend major retailers, industrial and agri-food groups, financial groups and insurance groups facing criminal prosecution in the course of their business, and assist them with administrative investigations (customs, DGCCRF).
We also act for companies that are victims of crime, protecting their assets and making full use of the rights of a civil party (partie civile), mainly for luxury goods and cash-in-transit businesses (internal fraud, armed robbery, etc.). Our team regularly handles the highly technical field of criminal asset seizures and confiscations.