Kate McMahon

Edmonds Marshall McMahon

London www.emmlegal.com

katemcmahon@emmlegal.com Tel: +075 9545 7582 / +20 7583 8392

Biography

Kate is a co-founder of Edmonds Marshall McMahon and a specialist, dual-qualified private prosecutor who typically works for nation states, financial institutions and high-net-worth clients. She has a superior track record in all aspects of investigation, prosecution and asset recovery. Her areas of expertise are large scale international corruption, cross-border fraud and the interplay between civil and criminal matters. She successfully led the largest private prosecution in the UK to date.

What inspired you to pursue a career in asset recovery?

I love chasing down answers, have always enjoyed a mystery and am obsessed with travel and different jurisdictions.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the creative and maverick personalities in this business – the lawyers are usually entrepreneurial, risk taking and very bright.

What have been the highlights of your practice over the past year?

We have been working on a very large international case whereby it has been very difficult to sheet home financial gain to the “top of the tree”. We have, through sheer persistence over a good one and a half years, managed to uncover a financial benefit, despite the well-hidden nature of the financial advantage. Sometimes, you have to wait patiently for a long time and trust your case theory and judgement. It can be worrying when it takes a long time to be proven right!

How do you effectively prepare for criminal prosecutions?

Second guess every argument that could possibly be thrown and prepare for it. Spend nights waking in cold sweats: rarely is anything as bad as you imagine!

What is the most complex fraud litigation you have worked on during your career to date?

That’s a tricky one as they all have their complications, be it the structure of the companies involved and the interplay of those structures, the jurisdictions, the subject matter (we do a lot of crypto and have for many years; we also work for many insurance companies and hedge funds on complex financial products) or the multiple proceedings ongoing at the same time. However, I think I find cases for countries the most complex as the multiple objectives, case and evidence considerations, public relations, systems and politics bring other factors into the mix. That can get tricky.

Where, in your opinion, does the future of the practice area lie?

I think in 10 years private prosecutions will be the default for many corporates. I also think there will be significant success in public/private partnerships in criminal matters.

What makes Edmonds Marshall McMahon stand out from its competitors in the market?

We have the largest criminal bribery and corruption team in the UK and are one of the very few firms with an investigative department specialising in SFO and FCA style cases. We do a lot of fraud and IP prosecutions too. We are the only firm in the UK staffed by specialist, senior prosecutors with proven track records in securing convictions. We created the private prosecution market, have been prosecuting for more than 10 years, prosecute in excess of 150 cases per year and have an unrivalled conviction rate. I think that’s enough to stand out!

What can up-and-coming lawyers be doing to better establish themselves in asset recovery matters?

Go to asset recovery conferences and really listen to the experienced speakers, meet them and take advice. I also advocate finding a niche: Are you interested in crypto? Read about it, meet professionals in the market, know the subject. Interested in investigations? Understand that the ways to investigate change every year, understand the fundamentals and then find the latest [legal!] technology to deploy. Being very conversant with what investigative technology there is has led to amazing results for my clients in many cases. And cuts costs too!

You have enjoyed a very distinguished career so far. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“You’ll make a mistake - everyone does. Don’t worry about it, learn from it, keep going forward.”

The best piece of advice I can give is slightly different for young practitioners: Don’t worry too much about the job you take or the money you get paid. Just make sure that you find a boss who is smarter than you, knows more than you do and who will be generous with their time and teach you. I have always followed that and never once regretted it.

Peers and clients say: “Kate is clearly one of the leading names in asset recovery” “She is an incisive practitioner” “Kate is superb and great with clients”