The bad apple that cost Dechert £47m
Almost every London lawyer has heard of Neil Gerrard.
The former head of white collar crime at law firm Dechert was a heavy hitter in the City, handling some of the biggest corporate financial crime cases, including acting for Airbus while it was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for paying bribes around the world.
But this isn’t what he is now known for.
His role in investigating other high-profile corporate corruption cases has seen him, and his firm, become the subject of multiple lawsuits.
Gerrard is under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and now also faces the prospect of criminal charges.
This is the story of his fall from grace and how his actions have, so far, cost the law firm £47m.
The Kazakh miner
Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) instructed Gerrard and his firm back in 2011 to lead an investigation into some of the activities of one of its subsidiaries.
But then news stories linked to the matter started appearing about ENRC. From there, the SFO wrote to ENRC, and on the advice of its lawyer Gerrard, the mining company engaged with the UK’s anti-fraud agency.
Over the next two years Dechert billed ENRC nearly £17m. Again, more stories about the SFO’s involvement started to pop up in the British press.
ENRC eventually terminated Dechert’s retainer in March 2013. One month later, the SFO placed the miner under investigation over allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption.
The mining company went on to sue both the SFO as well as Dechert and Gerrard, accusing Gerrard and the firm of expanding its investigation in order to generate millions of pounds in extra fees.
During the trial, it emerged that Gerrard was alleged to have said he was in “rape mode” in pursuit of fees from ENRC and planned to “screw those fuckers” – a claim he denied.
Years later, in March 2022, the High Court handed down a damning ruling that found Gerrard was “the instigator of all three leaks to the press.”
The judge added that Gerrard was “negligent and for the most part reckless” for providing the wrong advice to ENRC about potential criminal liabilities as well as the risk of raids by the SFO. He also ruled that Gerrard failed to protect ENRC’s legally privileged information by leaking it to both the SFO and the press, breaching his legal duties to the company.
Another judgment in December made matters worse, with the court ruling that the SFO would not have commenced its criminal investigation into ENRC but for Gerrard’s leaks of confidential information to the agency.
While the case has hit the SFO, the legal fallout from Gerrard’s actions in the ENRC case has cost Dechert a total of nearly £44m.
This case has not yet concluded, however, with another final phase of the claim yet to be litigated, meaning that Dechert could still be forced to cough up millions of pounds more in damages and legal fees.
But Gerrard’s behaviour in this court battle has landed him in even further trouble.
The courts referred Gerrard to the Attorney General for possible contempt of court, after he was found to have “plainly” lied in a cross-examination about ENRC’s then-global head of compliance being interviewed by the SFO and ‘lied continuously’ about a leak to The Times.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office said it has “received the referral regarding the proceedings, and it is currently being considered.”
A UAE wealth fund
The claims against Gerrard don’t stop with ENRC.
US aviation entrepreneur Farhad Azima has been locked in a long-running dispute with the sovereign wealth fund Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) since 2016, after RAKIA filed a fraud lawsuit against him.
While the English High Court sided with RAKIA in 2020 and ordered Azima to pay over $4m (£2.3m), Azima was permitted to file a counterclaim, which sued both Dechert and Gerrard, who was RAKIA’s lawyer at the time.
In that counterclaim, Gerrard was accused, alongside Dechert and RAKIA, of “dishonestly concocting false evidence” and even “coaching witnesses to give perjured evidence” as well as hacking Azima’s emails and other confidential data.
At the time, Dechert and Gerrard denied the allegations at the time. However, it was revealed at the start of the month that Dechert settled with Azima for more than £3m, although legal costs in that case are still to be determined.
However, even more serious allegations have emerged from his work with RAKIA.
Jordanian lawyer Karam Al Sadeq, the former general counsel at RAKIA, who is in prison in Ras Al Khaimah, is suing Dechert, Gerrard and others, claiming unlawful abduction, detention, torture, interrogation, and being denied proper legal representation during an investigation conducted by the firm on behalf of RAKIA.
Jihad Abdul Quzmar, a former legal advisor to the Ras Al Khaimah government, who is also in prison, is suing Dechert and Gerrard over similar allegations.
Al Sadeq and Quzmar’s case are being jointly managed. A trial date is yet to be set.
Again, both Dechert and Gerrard have previously strenuously denied the allegations.
Where next?
Gerrard was reportedly forced to sell off his £3.4m estate – which included 52 acres of land, a swimming pool and a gym – to cover his own mounting legal costs.
And while Gerrard won’t be advising any more clients, after he formally retired in 2020, his name will likely continue to appear in the City and legal press in the future.
Both Gerrard’s lawyer and Dechert were contacted for comment.