Nicola Paton
Solicitor (admitted 2007)
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Nicola started work with Shearman Bowen & Co in 2009 as part of a team involved in a complex confiscation case, and is now a consultant for the firm.
Nicola worked for six years with a firm of white-collar fraud specialists before qualifying as a solicitor in 2007. She then worked as a consultant before joining Shearman Bowen.
Nicola has gained considerable experience in representing professionals accused of white collar fraud. She has worked on many long, complex fraud cases and the resulting confiscation proceedings, and defended in prosecutions brought by the SFO, CPS, HMRC and SOCA.
Nicola has worked exclusively on the defence side of the profession and has also acted for defendants charged with serious offences such as rape, GBH and robbery.
Notable Cases:
R v P – Southwark Crown Court: VHCC case – a large scale high profile fraud in which the principal defendant was alleged to have committed a fraud in excess of £3 million. The defendant was a royal protection police officer and a substantial number of losers were police officers.
R v M – Southwark Crown Court: VHCC case – the defendant was accused of money laundering and mortgage fraud.
R v F – Southwark Crown Court: VHCC case – the defendant was charged with 19 counts of obtaining money by deception, 10 counts of obtaining property by deception and 2 counts of money laundering.
R v J – Central Criminal Court: Case involving extensive media interest. The defendant was indicted in respect of 12 counts of blackmail against individuals from the sex offenders register, the defendant being a serving Metropolitan police officer.
R v L – Sheffield Crown Court: Representation of the defendant in confiscation proceedings The defendant was facing a demand for recovery in excess of £12m which was alleged to be the proceeds of crime. Due to the successful assessment of banking material and business trading the Crown accepted a reduction in the sum sought by nearly 80%.
R v S – Southwark Crown Court: Represented the defendant in interview conducted by Revenue and Customs Prosecution Officer’s when questioned in relation to money laundering offences. Represented the defendant in the Magistrates Court for an old style committal and continued to act for him in the Crown Court. The case was accepted by the Legal Services Commission as a VHCC matter.
R v C – Croydon Crown Court: Represented a British solicitor accused of conspiracy to defraud the Secretary of State for the Home Office.
R v N and others – Southwark Crown Court: A high profile corporate fraud case where the defendants were accused of ‘mail dumping,’ the investigating officer commented that it ‘is the largest case of mail destruction ever investigated and the sheer volume of people who have been affected is incredible’.
R v C and others – Southwark Crown Court: Following a two year surveillance operation in London the defendant was charged with money laundering offences. The investigation was a joint operation between UK, Colombian and US investigators. The BBC commented that this was the ‘most significant arrest of the top tier of Colombian money launderers/drug dealers in the UK’.