
Directors’ Liabilities and Disqualification
Directors’ Liabilities and Disqualification
Hosted by Richard Sutton QC
with Rufus D’Cruz of Red Lion Chambers
and Ruby Hamid, Partner, Ashurst LLPSenior Company Officials are more exposed than ever as a result of an increase in the enforcement of directors’ liabilities, in the criminal as well as the civil sphere.
There has also been a further broadening of the FCA’s Senior Managers’ Regime and a marked increase in the use by the CMA of their powers to disqualify directors where competition law has been breached.
This Webinar will look at the following topics:
- directors’ liabilities
- disqualification and increasing use of enforcement powers (in both the criminal and civil spheres) by the FCA and CMA
- difficulties enforcement authorities face in managing conflict between corporate v. individual liability
- regulatory gap between DPAs and subsequent failed criminal proceedings against individuals
This session will provide an interesting analysis of the current position with a look at what lies ahead.
Host:
Richard Sutton QC
Richard is a senior silk at Red Lion Chambers. His practice has been and remains almost entirely in crime particularly in commercial fraud and the proceeds of crime. As a prosecutor he has appeared in HMR&C, SFO and various CPS serious fraud prosecutions across the country; as defence counsel his practice is more varied taking in not only serious fraud but also the whole gamut of criminal cases. Invariably a conviction in the cases of commercial fraud in which he appears will result in the court exercising its powers under the CDDA but in other cases disqualification proceedings will have already been taken by other authorities prior to any conviction and it becomes necessary to consider the ramifications of this both in the trial and also at sentence.
Speakers:
Ruby Hamid, Partner Ashurst LLP
Ruby is a global investigations and corporate crime practitioner, specialising in white-collar crime, financial regulation, global investigations and risk and compliance.
Ruby advises corporate clients across a wide range of matters. She is experienced in multi jurisdictional investigations and matters with multi-agency involvement and has defended clients under investigation for global corruption, serious fraud, direct and indirect tax fraud and money-laundering. Her career has involved prosecuting financial crime for the FCA, HMRC and CPS, defending corruption cases brought by the SFO, and litigating a broad range of regulatory and disciplinary cases.
Rufus D’Cruz, Barrister Red Lion Chambers

Research and assistance:
Tom Davies, Barrister, Red Lion Chambers
Tom has a range of experience as a junior practitioner defending on behalf of individuals and corporate entities. He has appeared in regulatory matters including Environment Agency and local authority prosecutions and has also acted in private prosecutions in relation to trading standards offences. He frequently represents both the prosecution and defence in relation to acquisitive offences of all kinds such as theft and fraud, and he has also assisted in cases involving criminal and regulatory liability of executives and corporates.
- Richard Sutton QC
- With:
- Ruby Hamid, Partner Ashurst LLP
Rufus D’Cruz, RLC