Jonathan Fisher (lawyer)

Jonathan Fisher QC is a London barrister specialising in tax and financial crime cases and a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.

Background

Fisher (Jonathan Simon Fisher) was born on 24 February 1958 in North London. He was educated at St Dunstan’s College in Catford, and subsequently graduated in 1978 with a BA Honours in Law from the North London Polytechnic. In 1979 Fisher completed an LLB postgraduate degree at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, after having won a Scholarship from the Department for Education. Fisher was called to the Bar in 1980 at Gray’s Inn and received a Senior Scholarship Award, becoming Queen’s Counsel in 2003. Fisher defended the former UKIP MEP Tom Wise, the first British politician to plead guilty to expenses fraud and who was sentenced to a period of imprisonment. More recently, he represented accounting firm Christopher Lunn & Co in civil proceedings against HM Revenue & Customs after HMRC refused to continue dealing with the firm, because of separate allegations of £117 million in tax fraud.

Notable cases

Taxation

Between 1991 and 2003 Fisher was Standing Counsel to the Inland Revenue at the Central Criminal Court and London Crown Courts. During that time Fisher was involved in a number of tax prosecutions, the most significant of which was R v Hunt and others involving the importation and sale of Nissan cars in the United Kingdom. Notably this was the largest corporation tax (£100 million) case then prosecuted by the Inland Revenue. It was also the first time the Inland Revenue had obtained foreign evidence to use in a major criminal trial and it represented the high watermark of using the ancient common law offence of cheating the public revenue to indict defendants with a systematic tax fraud over a fifteen year period. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal but this has not stopped subsequent criticism of the use of the offence of cheating the public revenue by the Inland Revenue in this way by academic lawyers such as Professor David Ormerod. Fisher was involved in the Operation Euripus case involving £250 million VAT alleged fraud, the largest VAT fraud recorded at that time.

Fraud

Additionally, Fisher has been involved in several fraud cases including the millennium champagne investor fraud case in 2001. In this case the defendants told investors that France would not be able to supply sufficient champagne for the millennium celebrations when in fact there was a champagne mountain (or lake).

Professional awards and appointments

In 2008 Fisher was awarded an Achievement Award by the MLRO Forum for Practitioner Professionals on the basis of his work with the AML / CTF community. In 2009 Fisher’s specialist work in tax investigation and criminal enforcement cases was recognised by an invitation to become a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Taxation. He is also an Editorial Board Member of Simon’s Taxes, the leading reference service on UK direct taxes. Between 2006 and 2010 Fisher was a Trustee Director of the Fraud Advisory Panel, and since 2004 has been a member of the International Bar Association’s Anti-Money Laundering 3rd Directive Implementation Group. Fisher assisted the Financial Markets Law Committee at the Bank of England on the potential impact of the EC 3rd Money Laundering Directive on The Use of Trusts in Issues of Transferable and Intermediated Securities. Fisher is also an Honorary Member of the Steering Committee of the London Fraud Forum. P

Academic involvement

Fisher lectures at the London School of Economics as a Visiting Professor where he teaches Corporate and Financial Crime and International Economic Sanctions on the LLM programme. Between 2004 and 2007 Fisher was a Visiting Professor in Financial Regulation and Investment Law at Cass Business School (City University London). He taught law full time between 1981 and 1982 at the Chelmer Institute of Higher Education (now incorporated into the Anglia Ruskin University). Fisher is also the General Editor of Lloyds Law Reports: Financial Crime. This is the first set of specialist law reports that bring together recently decided cases in the area of fraud and financial crime. The reports take a cross-jurisdictional approach covering both civil and criminal cases.

Over the course of his career Fisher has co-authored two books, Pharmacy Law & Practice, 2003 and The Law of Investor Protection, 2003. His latest book, Money Laundering Law and Practice, is expected to be published by Oxford University Press in December 2012. , and Jonathan has also written many papers and articles. In June 2011, Fisher was appointed an Honorary Visiting Professor at the City Law School (City University) and assists student barristers learning about the handling of fraud cases. In July 2011, Fisher called for changes to be made to UK fraud law and regulation in the wake of the global financial crisis. At the 29th International Symposium on Economic Crime held in September 2011 at Jesus College Cambridge, Fisher highlighted the vulnerability of HMRC systems and processes to penetration by organized criminals, calling upon Parliament’s Treasury Committee to investigate.

Political involvement

In 2004 Fisher became a member of the executive committee of the Society of Conservative Lawyers and, in 2006, was elected to be Chairman of Research. The position is usually held for three years, however, Fisher agreed to extend his tenure for a further year to provide continuity in the run up to the 2010 election. He returned as a co-opted member of the Society’s Executive Committee in July 2011. In 2004 the Society of Conservative Lawyers published Fisher’s pamphlet on Why Intercept Evidence Should Be Admissible In Criminal Proceedings. In 2006 Fisher wrote a pamphlet for the Conservative Party entitled A British Bill of Rights and Obligations. The pamphlet strongly criticised the European Convention of Human Rights as an unbalanced document which focussed on rights without sufficient reference to individual responsibilities. The pamphlet has since been widely discussed and cited. Fisher subsequently gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs about the importance of individual responsibilities in the context of human rights. In March 2007 Fisher was appointed to be a member of the Conservative Party's Bill of Rights Commission. More recently, Fisher spoke at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party’s 2009 Conference on the subject of human rights. Fisher’s views on rights and responsibilities were criticised by human rights organisations such as Justice in its discussion document A Bill of Rights for Britain?. In May 2011, Fisher was appointed a Commissioner on the Bill of Rights Commission established by the Coalition Government to investigate the case for a UK Bill of Rights and consider the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Interim advice from the Bill of Rights Commission was published on 8th September 2011. In 2009 Fisher presented written evidence to the House of Lords European Union Committee on the topic of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, at the committee's invitation.

In March 2010 Policy Exchange published a Research Note written by Fisher entitled “Fighting Fraud and Financial Crime”. Fisher argues that the present arrangements for fighting serious fraud, corruption and financial market crimes are lamentably deficient and that the haphazard development of the Government agencies tasked with tackling these crimes has created a system of overlapping responsibilities for investigation and prosecution, causing unnecessary duplication of manpower and specialist resources. Fisher’s proposals were adopted as an election commitment by the Conservative Party in April 2010 and subsequently by the new Coalition Government in its Programme for Government. However, there are some who oppose the establishment of a new single agency, expressing concerns that the cost of creating a new agency would be prohibitive and questioning whether there is any need for change of this sort at the present time. In June 2011, the Coalition Government announced that the Serious Fraud Office would be retained, working closely with the Economic Crime Command in the new National Crime Agency to provide a coherent approach to the use of resources focused on economic crime. Fisher is considered to have influenced the Government’s thinking. In July 2011, the Law Commission said that it would be beneficial for Fisher’s proposals to be considered in detail, together with the Fraud Advisory Panel Special Project Group’s proposals on fraud reporting which Fisher also chaired. Subsequently, the Government’s Law Officers have confirmed the Government’s intention to introduce new prosecution powers recommended by Fisher in his Policy Exchange Research Note.

External links

• Jonathan Fisher's Personal Website
• Chambers and Partners Profile