Judith Seddon
Partner
Judith Seddon specialises in all areas of national and international white-collar crime, fraud, corruption and regulatory and criminal investigations and prosecutions. She has deep experience and expertise in advising corporates, financial institutions and individuals in internal investigations and when facing complex investigations and enforcement action by regulators and prosecutions, both domestically and cross-border. She has worked and is working on some of the most complex and high profile investigations and prosecutions.
Judith joined Ropes & Gray in 2018 to co-lead the London anti-corruption and international risk practice. Prior to joining Ropes & Gray, Judith was a partner at a Magic Circle firm in London, where she represented major financial institutions and corporates in relation to regulatory and criminal enforcement action, and before that, at a specialist criminal law practice.
Judith is consistently ranked as a band 1 leading practitioner by Chambers and Legal 500. Legal 500 describe her as “a leading solicitor in the field with excellent judgement and analytical skills”; as “'cool and calm in a crisis’ and rapidly becoming the go-to woman for all financial services investigations.” Chambers describe Judith as “excellent,” with one client commenting “she has such a sensible and strategic approach to really quite complex issues.”
Who’s Who Legal 2018 named Judith ‘Business Crime Lawyer of the Year’, and listed her on a shortlist of 10 ‘Thought Leaders’, namely those individuals regarded as “truly outstanding practitioners and the very best in their field.” They describe her as “one of the most highly regarded investigations lawyers in the UK, highlighted for her “brilliant” work on behalf of both corporates and individuals.”
Judith is a regular commentator and speaker at conferences and on panels on white collar and corporate crime issues. She has co-chaired two GIR Live London conferences and is co-editor of GIR’s “The Practitioner's Guide to Global Investigations” in its first (2017), second (2018), and third (2019) editions. In December 2017 Judith was on a Federal Bar Council Panel at the Southern District of New York court house, speaking from the UK perspective on the subject of corporate attorney-client privilege. Judith is speaking at the ABA 33rd Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime in March 2019.
Experience
Experience prior to joining Ropes & Gray:
- Advising a major financial institution in relation to a multi-jurisdictional investigation into bribery and money-laundering
- Secondment from June – September 2014 to the Financial Crime team within Barclays advising the business on a variety of issues, including the use of third party agents and compliance with the internal policies
- Advised senior executives at a leading British retail corporation in a high profile investigation
- Advised a multinational company in relation to potentially corrupt payments to agents made by its subsidiaries; advising on the conduct of such investigation and reporting obligations/potential liability in four different jurisdictions
- Advised an international organisation, its employees and former employees in relation to criminal investigations into companies' and individuals' alleged corruption overseas
- Advising and representing a major financial institution on the SFO's investigation and prosecutions in relation to alleged benchmark manipulation
- Advised a major financial institution on the SFO's investigation in relation to alleged FX manipulation
- Advised a major financial investigation in relation to an overseas bribery investigation and requests for mutual legal assistance
- Advised two major corporates and their senior executives on, and successfully challenging, applications for Interpol Red Notices based on unfounded criminal allegations made by the counterparty in commercial disputes
- Advised a major corporate in relation to allegations concerning fraudulent conduct perpetrated on a substantial number of consumers over several years. Liaising with investigations authorities and conducting an internal investigation and a review of the company’s terms and conditions
Publications
- Quoted, “SFO May Breathe Life Into Fraud Reporting After Setbacks,” Law360 (April 10, 2019)
- Quoted, “UK Privilege Protections Still Fall Short Of US Levels,” Law360 (March 20, 2019)
- Quoted, “Top tier: the sector where women already rank among the stars,” Legal Week (January 15, 2019)
- Editor, The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations, Volume I: Global Investigations in the United Kingdom and the United States, Third Edition (2019)
- Co-author, “Self-Reporting to the Authorities and Other Disclosure Obligations: The UK Perspective,” The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations, Third Edition (2019)
- Quoted, “Will the EU improve its monitoring of money-laundering threats?,” Compliance Week (December 27, 2018)
- Quoted, “EU crackdown will not clean up dirty money, experts say,” The Times (December 21, 2018)
- Quoted, “Business crime is a white-hot legal sector,” The Financial Times (December 11, 2018)
- Quoted, “The Global 100 debate – Will stars or institutions define the law’s elite?,” Legal Business (October 29, 2018)
- Co-author, “Common Sense Prevails in the UK’s Battle over Legal Professional Privilege,” Expert Witness Journal (Autumn 2018)
- Co-author, “Four Takeaways From the U.K.’s ENRC Privilege Decision,” The Anti-Corruption Report (October 17, 2018)
- Quoted, “Investigators eye up unexplained wealth,” The Times (October 11, 2018)
- Quoted, “Backing for unexplained wealth order ‘will trigger rash of applications’,” The Times (October 5, 2018)
- Quoted, “U.K. Serious Fraud Office Won’t Appeal Ruling on Attorney-Client Privilege,” The Wall Street Journal (October 2, 2018)
- Quoted, “UK fraud office backs down in ENRC privilege battle,” Reuters (October 2, 2018)
- Quoted, “SFO Won't Appeal Landmark ENRC Legal Privilege Ruling,” Law360 (October 2, 2018)
- Quoted, “SFO will not appeal ENRC privilege ruling,” The Law Society Gazette (October 2, 2018)
- Quoted, “English Court of Appeal preserves litigation privilege,” Compliance Week (September 13, 2018)
- Quoted, “Landmark Appeals Ruling Rescues Privilege In UK Probes,” Law360 (September 7, 2018)
- Quoted, “Lawyers anticipate more to come on ENRC for Supreme Court,” The Times (September 6, 2018)
- Quoted, “ENRC wins landmark privilege appeal,” Global Investigations Review (September 5, 2018)
- Quoted, “Lawyers welcome 'recalibration' of privilege law as Hogan Lovells secures landmark SFO dispute win,” Legal Week (September 5, 2018)
- Quoted, “ENRC wins appeal in legal privilege battle against UK's Serious Fraud Office,” Reuters (September 5, 2018)
- Quoted, “New Anti-Money Laundering Bill could have limited effect,” International Financial Law Review (May 16, 2018)
- Quoted, “UK, Global AML Enforcement Trended Upward in 2017,” MoneyLaundering.com (April 4, 2018)
- Quoted, “The Morning Risk Report: U.K. Sanctions Agency Starts Blogging,” The Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2018)
- Quoted, “High Court sides with RBS in litigation privilege dispute,” Global Investigations Review (February 6, 2018)