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Helen McDowell

Managing partner, and partner in the business crime department. Helen specialises in all areas of financial crime, with particular emphasis on representing individuals and corporate clients facing criminal and regulatory investigations in the UK and internationally. Helen has a broad range of experience in dealing with fraud and regulatory matters. She represents clients facing prosecution or investigation by a range of authorities, including the Serious Fraud Office, HM Revenue & Customs, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Competition and Markets Authority. Helen’s highlight cases include ‘Versailles’ where she was involved in the investigation stage and the early part of the prosecution by the SFO; she represented Cliff Stanford, the first person to be prosecuted for illegal interception of e-mails under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. More recently she successfully defeated the Russian Federation’s attempt to extradite Mikhail Tyurin, headed up teams who successfully stopped two recent prosecutions in the run up to trial and acted for Ben Sullivan, the former President of the Oxford Union accused of rape. · Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP

EnglandBusiness Crime, Financial Crime

About

Helen McDowell is Managing Partner and a partner in the Business Crime department at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP, specialising in financial and business crime. She represents individuals and corporate clients in criminal and regulatory investigations and prosecutions in the UK and internationally, with experience in fraud and regulatory matters and involvement in high-profile matters such as the ’Versailles’ SFO investigation, the Cliff Stanford RIPA prosecution, the Mikhail Tyurin extradition and the Ben Sullivan case.

Practice areas

Business CrimeFinancial CrimeFraudRegulatory EnforcementCriminal DefenceExtradition

Office

Expertise

Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigationsHM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigationsFinancial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigationsSerious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) mattersCompetition and Markets Authority (CMA) mattersExtradition defenceRIPA/illegal interception mattersRepresenting individuals and corporates in criminal and regulatory investigations

Education

  • Manchester University — BA (Hons), 1988

Admissions

  • Solicitor (qualified 1995)