Constantine Law boosts regulatory and criminal investigations practice with new partner hire

Emmeline Coerkamp joins all-female regulatory team

Constantine Law, the “agile” employment and regulatory specialist law firm has recruited Emmeline Coerkamp to join the firm. The appointments take Constantine Law to a headcount of 10 partners and 15 fee earning staff- with an all-female team of five senior lawyers within the firm’s regulatory and criminal investigations practice.

Emmeline is a highly experienced criminal litigation lawyer, bringing expertise across a range of white-collar crime matters for clients facing criminal investigations and prosecution. She joins from PCB Byrne, a top ranked boutique fraud litigation firm in London where she worked for 12 years. She previously worked and trained at Irwin Mitchell where she worked with John Hayes and Sarah Wallace before the setup of Constantine Law in 2015. (See below).

Emmeline has particular expertise in defending individuals under investigation and being prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for multi-jurisdictional serious fraud offences. She also has experience of investigations by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and The Insolvency Service.

She represents individuals at risk of criminal investigation, under investigation, pre- and post-charge, during trial, confiscation and enforcement. She also represents witnesses in proceedings. She defends clients against allegations of fraud, money laundering and tax investigations in complex cases across jurisdictions. She has considerable experience of confiscation proceedings, including acting on a matter with a confiscation order in excess of £3 million under POCA 2002.

She has been involved in a number of very high profile cases, including those brought by the HMRC and SFO in recent years. A link to Emmeline’s biography can be found here: https://www.constantinelaw.co.uk/about-emmeldine-coerkamp

Emmeline joins a growing team of senior lawyers at Constantine Law and her appointment is hot on the heels of the arrival of senior regulatory partner Nicola O’Connor who joined from Bird and Bird in September. Both lawyers have joined the highly regarded all female Regulatory and Criminal Investigations Team led by Sarah Wallace, along with regulatory and corporate crime partners Emma Vernon (consultant) and Jemma Sherwood-Roberts, who both joined in 2021.

Commenting on the new appointment, Managing Partner John Hayes said, “Our recruitment of lawyers of Emmeline’s calibre is a testament to our business model and the attractions of working for a progressive collegiate and agile firm like ours in these modern times. We are without the fixed costs of many firms, and we don’t impose targets, so our solicitors have more freedom to work and develop their work in a way that suits them best.”

“Legal advice on regulatory, financial crime and misconduct matters is a growing market – both for individuals and for businesses and Emmeline’s appointment will boost our reputation in this area further.”

Sarah Wallace, Regulatory and Criminal Investigations Partner added, “Non-financial misconduct complaints triggered by #metoo and #blacklivesmatters remain in the spotlight for the employers, the FCA and other professional disciplinary bodies. The SFO continues to urge companies to invest in strong compliance programmes and we expect new legislation to help tackle fraud. We are seeing an exponential rise in fraud cases before the UK courts.”

“We are delighted Emmeline has decided to join our team which positions us even stronger to deal with this upsurge in activity.”