“BCL is ‘one of only a few specialist criminal law firms to use public law effectively to solve relevant criminal law problems’.”
Legal 500

In July 2016, the Administrative Court issued new guidance in relation to the practice and procedure as to how judicial review proceedings should be conducted.

Judicial review has historically been seen as a remedy of last resort, to be used by parties who wish to challenge the lawfulness of decisions made by public bodies in circumstances where all other rights of appeal have been exhausted.

BCL has an established reputation in the use of judicial review, particularly as an adjunct to our practice in criminal litigation and regulation, where appropriate, to obtain the best possible advantage for our clients. Our experience in this area has resulted in a number of successful challenges to decisions made by investigating authorities, prosecution bodies and the courts, including the SFO, the FCA and the CMA, often with a significant international element (most often involving the US).

BCL has been involved in some of the most high profile and successful cases involving judicial review in recent years. Most notably, BCL acted for Robert Tchenguiz in successful judicial review proceedings against the SFO which resulted in the court finding that search warrants for Mr Tchenguiz’s home and office premises were unlawful (Tchenguiz v Serious Fraud Office [2012] EWHC 2254). Successful applications for judicial review of search warrants have also been obtained by BCL in a number of other cases, including for high-profile clients such as Harry Redknapp (Redknapp v Commissioner of the City of London Police [2008] EWHC 1177 (Admin)).

We are at the cutting edge of the law in this area (which could justifiably be described as the meeting point between criminal law, civil law and human rights law), including in relation to telecoms and internet related judicial review challenges. Judicial review proceedings are considered and pursued where appropriate by all departments in BCL, including fraud, tax litigation, FCA and regulatory investigations, corruption, health and safety, and serious and general crime.