Matthew is a vastly experienced, award-winning white-collar crime lawyer and a leading member of Rahman Ravelli’s corporate crime group.
Matthew has a track record in high-profile, groundbreaking cases and in representing major corporates and senior executives in government-facing investigations and litigation.
Matthew acts for clients in corporate investigations, settlements and contested proceedings, providing legal advice and managing fact investigations, plea discussions and trials.
Specifically, Matthew has extensive experience of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and investigations involving worldwide regulators. His expertise in bribery and corruption, fraud, insider dealing, money laundering, sanctions and accounting irregularities means that he is called on by corporates to advise them and, if necessary, represent them in all stages of an investigation. Matthew also regularly advises corporates in every sector on compliance best practice.
Matthew has been at the heart of some of this century’s most notable investigations. He is adept at managing the full range of government investigations and enforcement matters that are faced by both individuals and corporates.
Between 2016 and 2021, acting for Airbus, Matthew was a lead partner in the market-leading global corruption settlement. This investigation into allegations of corruption saw the company reaching coordinated settlements with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the French Parquet National Financier, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Department of State. Matthew coordinated the company’s response to all three regulators in Washington, London and Paris. He also led the parallel compliance discussions with the combined regulators.
Matthew’s other high-stakes defence cases include representations in the global investigations by the SFO and its international counterparts into Afren plc, Alstom, Amec Foster Wheeler, GPT and GSK. He has a strong, successful record in contested matters against the SFO and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Before taking senior positions at international law firms from 2010 onwards, Matthew was a lead prosecutor at the SFO. In his 11 years at the SFO, he was at the forefront of many of the largest corporate investigations. He led cases that have helped shape how the UK investigates and prosecutes international corruption. Two of his cases were instrumental in prompting the UK’s creation of the Bribery Act 2010 and the introduction of DPAs.
Matthew has been ranked by The Chambers UK Guide and praised for his "excellent knowledge of the regulatory agencies’’. He was referred to in Chambers as “an excellent lawyer with good technical abilities" who has “fantastic investigation expertise’’. The Legal 500 has ranked him as a leading individual for regulatory investigations and corporate crime. It said, “he brings practical expertise, intellectual rigour and a longstanding knowledge of the main regulators to achieve the best result.’’
Who's Who Legal has classed Matthew as a global leader and recommended him as an elite business crime defence lawyer for corporates. He has won a succession of legal industry awards relating to his white-collar, compliance and investigations work in the Airbus case as well as numerous judicial commendations for his SFO casework.
As well as being a qualified barrister, Matthew lectures in law. He has lectured at the University of Nottingham and is currently the visiting lecturer in financial crime at the London School of Economics. He is a regularly-published author and conference speaker on white-collar crime issues. Matthew is the author of a chapter on corruption in the latest Oxford University Press textbook on money laundering and the proceeds of crime.
