Billionaires, CEOs and family offices often have exceptionally complex financial affairs, exposing them to a wide range of issues capable of triggering regulatory or criminal investigations. Overseas companies, multi-jurisdictional assets, charitable foundations and elaborate tax structures all increase the likelihood of scrutiny, even when no wrongdoing has occurred – and as any criminal lawyer might say, being investigated is not the same as being guilty.
Major regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Companies House, have intensified their focus on compliance, while wider public scrutiny of misconduct and bullying has increased internal investigations in a number of companies across the country.
[See also: Deepfake fraud jumps by more than 2000 per cent in three years]
At the same time, the UK’s leading white-collar crime practices find themselves at a point of significant change. Increasingly international, preventive and integrated with reputation management, the role of a criminal lawyer increasingly resembles that of a crisis manager than a pure litigator, coordinating legal, regulatory, reputational and international issues rather than simply defending a prosecution.
Related
‘We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. When a client finds themselves in crisis and is arrested, they call me … I’m in the police station a lot,’ Henrietta Ronson of Corker Binning tells Spear’s.
Explore the other rankings within the 2026 Spear’s Legal Indices:
For the top criminal lawyers, the biggest wins are the ones that do not make it to the public consciousness. They happen before charges are brought, during the pre-charge stage or even in a client’s first police interview. The aim is ‘to get ahead of the curve to work out exactly what we need to do,’ says Mark Jones of Payne Hicks Beach, who often persuades authorities not to bring charges at all.
‘The trick in our game is not to win the fight, but to avoid there being a fight,’ echoes Ian Burton, the BCL solicitor who has spent half a cent defending the accused.
Themes in 2026
Public prosecutions
While criminal lawyers continue to advise on a broad range of fraud, financial crime and misconduct allegations, politically motivated investigations are becoming a prominent feature of some practices.
‘Many cross-jurisdiction cases involve allegations of political motivation and require human rights arguments,’ notes Danielle Reece-Greenhalgh, partner at Corker Binning. While Richard Sallybanks of BCL explained that ‘some cases arise after an individual has fallen out of favour with a government,’ leaving UHNWs exposed to sanctions, extradition requests and criminal allegations linked to geopolitical change.
[See also: Why HNWs are at risk from abuse of Interpol Red Notices]
Edward Grange, who was a part of Julian Assange’s legal team, explains that his role is increasingly that of an international legal coordinator rather than simply a UK defence lawyer. ‘[The Assange] case involved working with around 12 lawyers from different jurisdictions,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘That’s something I quite relish – I enjoy working with lawyers from across the world and building a team that crosses borders but pulls in the same direction.’
‘Sometimes publicity about an investigation in one country can prompt others. It’s like playing a game of chess; we have to be strategic about how to navigate through,’ Sallybanks explains.
Reputation on the line
Reputation management has become inseparable from criminal defence. For high-profile individuals and corporate leaders, an allegation alone can cause significant commercial and personal damage long before any charges are brought. As a result, leading white-collar crime lawyers now routinely work alongside PR advisers, privacy specialists and in-house communications teams to protect clients’ reputations while managing the legal strategy.
‘There is a real tension between people wanting to keep their personal affairs confidential and the transparency and disclosure requirements that are being put on people by modern society,’ notes Louise Hodges of Kingsley Napley.
Content from our partners
The rise of social media and the internet has fundamentally changed the landscape. Allegations can spread globally within hours, increasing the pressure on lawyers to manage both legal risk and public perception from the earliest stages of an investigation.
As Ronson tells Spear’s: ‘The challenge is marrying the protection of a person’s reputation, which is what’s needed for them to continue doing what they do, with the preservation of their liberty, which has to be the long-term goal.’
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- Best criminal lawyers: some names to know
- Best criminal lawyers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
Best criminal lawyers: some names to know
Phil Smith
- Focus: Reporting crime and fraud
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Simons Muirhead Burton
Likeable and highly effective, Phil Smith, head of Simons Muirhead Burton’s crime and regulatory department, attracts a broad range of HNWs seeking a professional and discreet service.
With deep expertise in UHNW matters, his department specialises in representing clients on allegations of criminality, fraud and corruption from the point of their initial arrest and detention at the police station, or wherever they may be, and upon being questioned by the investigatory authorities.
He also acts for high-profile clients in reporting crime and fraud to the authorities. ‘We assist high-net-worth clients who want to bring criminal complaints to the police but are turned off by the incompetence that they’re met with,’ Smith tells Spear’s. ‘There’s a reluctance by the police to prosecute, particularly in cases of harassment … so my role is to be the go-between and give pragmatic advice to the client.’
Read Phil Smith’s full profile on Spears500.com
Edward Grange
- Focus: Extradition law
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Corker Binning
A partner at Corker Binning for over a decade, Edward Grange advises on extradition, Interpol Red Notices and serious criminal matters.
With success in challenging extradition requests from jurisdictions such as the US, Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates, Grange is best known for being part of the legal team representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faced multiple international espionage charges.
‘That case involved working with around 12 lawyers from different jurisdictions,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘That’s something I quite relish – I enjoy working with lawyers from across the world and building a team that crosses borders but pulls in the same direction.’
Read Edward Grange’s full profile on Spears500.com
Nick Brett
- Focus: Disciplinary and regulatory investigations
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Brett Wilson
Nick Brett founded the specialist media and litigation firm Brett Wilson in 2010 with business partner Iain Wilson.
Focused on criminal disciplinary matters, Brett takes on clients facing a wide range of allegations, from regulatory investigations to serious crime. Many of his cases sit at the intersection of crime and reputation management, and involve clients who are likely to experience unwanted media exposure following their arrest.
Past cases include Serious Fraud Office investigations, sexual misconduct allegations and high-profile motoring offences. His success in Beckwith v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2020] EWHC 3231 has led to an increase in instructions from solicitors and barristers who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Read Nick Brett’s full profile on Spears500.com
Louise Hodges
- Focus: Criminal litigation
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Kinglsey Napley
A partner and former head of the criminal litigation team at Kingsley Napley, Louise Hodges represents individuals and organisations in corporate criminal liability, financial crime and corruption cases.
Her clients include some of the world’s largest companies, as well as high-profile individuals such as Charlie and Rebekah Brooks, who were charged with offences related to phone hacking at the News of the World and both found not guilty.
Hodges points to modern technology, large data dumps and communication leaks as the biggest issues facing her clients. ‘There is a real tension between people wanting to keep their personal affairs confidential and the transparency and disclosure requirements that are being put on people by modern society,’ she explains.
Read Louise Hodge’s full profile on Spears500.com
Mark Jones
- Focus: White-collar and corporate crime
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Payne Hicks Beach
‘My client base is ultra-high-net-worth individuals who find themselves in the criminal justice system,’ says Mark Jones, a partner at Payne Hicks Beach. ‘It’s my job to guide them through what can be an immensely stressful time.’
Jones and his team handle a wide range of criminal issues spanning financial misconduct, fraud and general crime, making use of Payne Hicks Beach’s wider family, reputation and privacy teams. Experience is his greatest asset: ‘I’ve been in this job for more than 20 years. I know the law, but, more importantly, I have the judgement to tell clients with an air of confidence what will happen if we make certain decisions and what the outcomes will be.’
Read Mark Jones’s full profile on Spears500.com
Rebecca Meads
- Focus: Business crime and regulatory investigations
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Greenberg Traurig
Rebecca Meads is chair of Greenberg Traurig’s white-collar defence and investigations practice, serving a highly international clientele of individuals and corporate clients.
‘It is varied across the white-collar crime spectrum,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘I see a lot of money laundering and bribery, corruption, and serious and complex fraud.’ UHNW and high-profile clients will often own assets or have interests in more than one country, so her practice is necessarily inter-jurisdictional.
‘Increasingly, law enforcement agencies are talking to one another, so if there is an investigation in the UK but there is a US nexus, then you can bet your bottom dollar that the [Department of Justice] or the [Securities and Exchange Commission], depending on the nature of the matter, have got an eye to this as well,’ Meads says. ‘They’re obviously sharing information, and they rely on intelligence from one another.’
Read Rebecca Mead’s full profile on Spears500.com
Best lawyers for criminal and white collar crime: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles on spears500.com. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
- To apply for inclusion in The Spear’s 500, complete our submission form.
- For further information about rankings, please email research@spearswms.com; we aim to respond to all queries within two working days.
- For commercial enquiries and questions relating to enhanced profiles, please contact: sales@spearswms.com
- To keep up to date with the Spear’s 500, subscribe to our magazine, newsletter and follow Spear’s on Linkedin and Instagram.
- If you have missed calendar deadlines for our research cycles in 2026, you can still register your interest for updates about upcoming research and rankings.
- Click here to order a print copy of The Spear’s 500.
With additional reporting by Caitlin Kilpatrick.
