Head of UK SFO's Fraud Business Group to Join Arnold & Porter in London
Kathleen Harris Brings a Wealth of Regulatory and Enforcement Experience, Expanding the Firm's International White Collar Defense Practice
LONDON, February 28, 2011 -- Arnold & Porter LLP announced today that Kathleen Harris, former head of the Fraud Business Group at the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), will join the firm as a partner in London in early June. Harris will be a member of Arnold & Porter's white collar criminal defense practice, further expanding its international white collar and enforcement capabilities. Before joining the SFO, Harris held positions in the Attorney General's Office, HM Revenue & Customs, and the Department of Works and Pensions in the United Kingdom.
Commenting on the impending arrival of Harris, Arnold & Porter Chair Thomas Milch said, "Kathleen will be a valuable resource to our clients in a wide range of areas, including anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, and investment fraud. She is especially well-positioned to help navigate the UK's new Bribery Act and address the difficult investigatory, compliance, and defense challenges that companies face in a heightened global enforcement environment."
In her role at the SFO, where she served from 2008 to 2011, Harris revamped the agency's critical policy function and headed up the domain responsible for investment fraud. She was responsible for the SFO's use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and its responses to sensitive Freedom of Information and Data Protection Act requests, and had been asked to oversee all of the SFO's fraud cases. In addition, she has supervised a number of high-profile bribery investigations. In September 2010, she was one of the UK's official examiners on behalf of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that reviewed US compliance with the convention. In the policy arena, Harris was a key participant in developing seminal guidelines on key issues including plea negotiations, civil remedies, civil recovery, corporate prosecutions, deferred investigations, and prosecution agreements. Working with the Attorney General's Office, Crown Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice, she played a central role in the task of formulating the Guidance for Prosecutors in relation to the Bribery Act. She advised Ministers from the Attorney General's Office, Home Office, and Ministry of Justice in relation to overall anti-fraud enforcement strategy.
From 2007 to 2008, Harris served as a Senior Strategic Policy Advisor in the Attorney General's Office, providing comprehensive legal and policy support during the review of the SFO by former New York prosecutor Jessica de Grazia, which resulted in a major reorganization of the agency. From 2003 to 2007, she served as a Prosecution Team Leader at HM Revenue & Customs (formerly Inland Revenue), taking the lead on numerous money laundering cases, including the prosecution of sensitive and novel tax fraud cases.
"I look forward to working with my colleagues in London and the US as the firm expands its international capabilities in anti-corruption and anti-money laundering matters," said Harris. "Arnold & Porter has a prominent group of white collar defense lawyers with extensive criminal law experience on the prosecutorial side from the US Justice Department and other regulatory agencies, as well as on the defense side. It's great to be a part of this team."
Arnold & Porter's London office is home to the firm's European regulatory and corporate transactional practices, including 40 lawyers in the areas of life sciences, intellectual property, competition, corporate, employment, and telecommunications. The firm's London lawyers work in concert with colleagues in its US and Brussels offices on a full range of regulatory, transactional, and litigation services for clients in the US and Europe. The firm has expanded its intellectual property capabilities in recent years, most recently with the addition of the patent litigation team of David Perkins, Christopher Stothers, Ben Clossick Thomson, and Stephanie Hutchinson, who arrived in 2010.
Arnold & Porter has a long history of senior government officials joining the firm. The firm has been expanding its team of white collar and international enforcement lawyers in the past two years, with increasing focus on critical matters involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-bribery compliance. Last year, Kirk Ogrosky, a veteran white collar prosecutor in charge of healthcare fraud at the US Department of Justice, joined Arnold & Porter's white collar criminal defense and FDA/healthcare practices in Washington. In addition, a white collar defense team led by former federal prosecutors John Nassikas and Baruch Weiss joined in Washington, bringing substantial trial and appellate experience in federal criminal and enforcement actions. In 2009, Arnold & Porter expanded its white collar capabilities with the New York addition of Marcus Asner, former Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who served as Chief of the Major Crimes and Computer Hacking/Intellectual Property Unit. In the London office, Oliver Kerridge, who joined in 2010, focuses his practice on matters related to corruption and FCPA; anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, trade controls, and financial sanctions; as well as market abuse, insider dealing, and conflicts of interest.
For information, please contact:
Patricia O'Connell
Senior Media Relations Manager
+1 202.942.6336 / Patricia.OConnell@aporter.com
Tim Frazer
London Office Head
+44 (0)20 7786 6124 / Tim.Frazer@aporter.com
Arnold & Porter LLP is an international law firm of more than 700 lawyers with offices in Brussels, Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York, Northern Virginia, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC. The firm, founded in 1946, maintains more than 25 practice areas spanning a broad spectrum of the law, with a primary focus on litigation, transactional matters, and regulatory issues.