Neil Swift
Neil is a partner in our Business Crime & Investigations team. He has a great deal of experience advising individual and corporate clients concerned with investigations by law enforcement and regulatory authorities, both domestic and overseas. He is a regular speaker on corruption, fraud and corporate criminal liability.
Neil advises individual and corporate clients on investigation, prosecution and enforcement action taken by the Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority and HM Revenue & Customs. He has considerable experience advising key participants in high-profile and international financial crime and corruption cases, often as part of multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional teams.
His advice is frequently sought at an early stage, and he has extensive experience counselling individuals during internal investigations being carried out by their employer. He also advises individuals who are or may be the subject of INTERPOL notices or extradition proceedings, arising from investigations overseas.
He also advises professional firms about their regulatory obligations, both from a risk management perspective and in response to requests from law enforcement.
Neil is recognised by Legal 500 2022 in several categories, and is particularly noted for his SFO work, having successfully defended clients in several high-profile investigations by the agency, as well as for his expertise in business crime and investigations, criminal tax fraud and civil cases and for leading on the regulatory front for contentious financial services work.
In Chambers 2022, a client says "Neil swift is one of my go-to lawyers in the white-collar crime space. He is knowledgeable, pragmatic and very cool in his approach. He understands the law, and is clear on where we stand and good at explaining things".
In Chambers 2023, clients mentioned that "Neil Swift is instructed in high-value and complicated POCA proceedings", and that he "is an exceptional lawyer."
In Who’s Who Legal 2022, peers said they “very much rate” Neil as a go-to business crime defence lawyer.
In recognition of his client skills, Neil won the Lexology Client Choice award for Business Crime in 2022.
Neil was a contributing author to Blackstone's Guide to the Bribery Act 2010 and gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Bribery Act in 2018. He is a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on fraud, corporate crime, corruption and money laundering. He is regularly ranked in leading legal directories.
Case examples
Represented Simon Marshall, a former director of Serco Geografix Ltd in the SFO’s eight-year investigation and prosecution which collapsed recently, leading to the acquittal of our client.
Represented a high-net-worth individual prosecuted for insider dealing by the FCA.
Represented a Russian businessman summarily discharged from extradition proceedings on the basis of Articles 3 and 6 ECHR.
Represented a senior banker under investigation for alleged corruption in the bank's hiring practices in Russia.
Represented a cooperating defendant in the SFO's Innospec trial.
Related expertise
- Account Freezing & Forfeiture & Cash Detention
- Bribery & Corruption
- Business Crime & Investigations
- Competition & Antitrust
- Criminal Fraud
- Criminal Restraint & Confiscation
- Dawn Raids
- Employee Fraud
- Extradition
- FS Regulatory/FCA Investigations & Enforcement
- General Crime
- INTERPOL Red Notices
- Internal Investigations
- Money Laundering
- Mutual Legal Assistance
- Sports Investigations
- Tax Investigations
- Tax Prosecutions
- Unexplained Wealth Orders