Regulatory & Professional Discipline
Regulatory investigations and professional conduct matters.
Regulatory matters carry a risk that ordinary commercial disputes do not: the outcome can affect whether you continue trading at all, and the process is usually public.
We act for businesses under investigation by regulators and enforcement bodies, for those facing health and safety prosecution, and for licensed premises dealing with reviews and applications.
What you say and do in the first weeks of an investigation shapes everything that follows. That is the point to take advice, not after a decision has been made.
Investigations
Regulators generally investigate before they decide, and the material you provide during that stage becomes the evidence in any subsequent case. Responding fully is usually right; responding without thinking about how it will read to a decision-maker rarely is. We advise on disclosure, interviews and how to engage constructively without conceding matters unnecessarily.
Health and safety
Following a serious incident you may be dealing with an enforcement body, an insurer and possibly a police investigation simultaneously, while also trying to keep operating. Sentencing for health and safety offences is calculated by reference to turnover and culpability, which means penalties can be very substantial for otherwise profitable businesses.
Professional conduct
Where individuals within a business face proceedings before their own regulator, the business’s interests and the individual’s are related but not identical. Both need considering, and it is important to be clear from the outset who is being advised.
Licensing
Premises licence applications, variations, transfers and reviews. Reviews brought by the authorities or by residents can result in conditions, suspension or revocation, and the hearing is frequently the only opportunity to put your case. Preparation and evidence of what has changed matter more than argument on the day.
Health and safety prosecutions
Licensing
Professional conduct proceedings
Regulatory investigations
Questions people ask us
A regulator has asked for documents. Do we have to provide them?
What are the penalties for a health and safety breach?
We've been notified of a licence review. How serious is it?
Who you'll be working with
Lauren Darbyshire-Robert
Not sure which of these fits?
Tell us what’s happened in your own words and we’ll point you to the right person.