Rachel Scott

Details of practice

Described by Chambers UK as “a rising star”, and by The Legal 500 as “one of the cleverest juniors at the Criminal Bar”, Rachel’s core areas of practice are crime (with a particular emphasis on fraud), extradition and international law, and public and administrative law including inquests.  She also advises and appears in licensing and regulatory enforcement matters.

Crime:

Rachel’s criminal practice encompasses both prosecution and defence work. She has notable expertise in the field of financial and corporate crime, receiving regular instructions from the Serious Fraud Office (who in 2017 appointed her to their A Panel of counsel) as well as from individual and corporate clients under investigation for offences of fraud and corruption.  In such complex and cross-border investigations, she brings to bear her experience of international law, advising on questions of extradition, mutual legal assistance and double jeopardy.  When defending, she also acts in linked civil fraud proceedings in the Commercial Court.

Current instructions include representing the Serious Fraud Office in its prosecution of Alstom Network UK for allegations of corporate corruption; advising on behalf of a corporate client, the subject of linked regulatory and criminal investigations; and acting for the Competition and Markets Authority (formerly the Office of Fair Trading) in a complex cartel investigation. She has also advised corporations and charities in respect of their compliance policies and procedures under the Bribery Act 2010.

Rachel’s criminal practice additionally extends to cases of robbery, GBH, rape and sexual offences, drugs offences, murder and misconduct in public office.

Extradition and International:

In the field of extradition, Rachel regularly advises and represents foreign governments, issuing judicial authorities and requested persons both at first instance and on appeal.   She has appeared in numerous reported cases, including in the Supreme Court and the Privy Council.

She has particular experience in extradition requests alleging fraud and other financial crimes. Current and previous instructions include representing a former senior executive of the Bank of Moscow; acting for the defence in a Lithuanian request for the extradition of a banker accused of a €300 million fraud; representing the Government of Algeria in its first extradition request to the United Kingdom for financial crimes leading to the high-profile collapse of one of Algeria’s first private banks; and defending a Kuwaiti citizen facing multi-million pound fraud proceedings in the United Arab Emirates.

Rachel also offers specialist advice in relation to ‘import’ extradition cases, and has been instructed by prosecuting agencies including the CPS, the SFO and DEFRA to draft European Arrest Warrants and extradition requests for the return to this jurisdiction of suspected or convicted criminals.

She is experienced in matters of mutual legal assistance and receives instructions to advise upon and to draft letters of request to foreign states. Rachel also represents individuals affected by mutual legal assistance requests (including potential suspects and witnesses), offering advice regarding their rights and obligations in connection with the provision of evidence.

Public and Administrative:

Rachel advises and appears in judicial review applications arising out of criminal and extradition proceedings and mutual legal assistance requests. She also receives instructions to appear at inquests on behalf of a range of interested persons, including families of the deceased and police officers.

She acts for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, recently appearing in judicial review proceedings connected with the so-called ‘Plebgate’ investigation, as well as in proceedings concerning the legality of police officers resigning whilst under disciplinary investigation.

Licensing:

Rachel advises and acts for licensed premises, responsible authorities and councils in applications and proceedings under the Licensing Act 2003.   She is also experienced in the field of minicab licensing.

Regulatory Enforcement:

Rachel regularly appears in proceedings arising out of a variety of regulatory regimes. She represents enforcing authorities, companies and individuals in connection with matters including noise abatement notice prosecutions, breaches of fire safety regulations, offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and VAT-enforcement.