PPA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Social Secretary
Job Titles:
- General Committee Chair / Smith & Williamson
- Senior Manager in Smith & Williamson 's Forensic Services
Brendan is a Senior Manager in Smith & Williamson's Forensic Services department, and is part of a specialist team comprising accountants, investigators and computer forensics professionals.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2009 and specializes in fraud and financial investigations. His experience also includes dispute resolution services, asset tracing and criminal defence.
Brendan's experience covers many industry sectors including technology, media, financial services and the not for profit sector. He has worked internationally, having conducted investigations in the UK, Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Brendan regularly speaks on forensic accounting, fraud and fraud prevention. He has provided fraud awareness training and has contributed to fraud related publications from the Fraud Advisory Panel, a leading anti-fraud charity where he is also a trustee.
Prior to specializing as a forensic accountant, Brendan spent over ten years working in accounting and auditing practices both in the UK and South Africa. He has also worked as a financial reporting accountant for a UK based internet advertising company.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chairperson of Committee
Job Titles:
- Immediate past Chair
- Chairman of Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Stuart Biggs Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Executive Secretary
- Member of Committee
Job Titles:
- Melinka Berridge Press Officer / Kingsley Napley LLP
- Member of Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Rachna Gokani Educational Secretary
Nick has nearly 20 years of criminal law experience focussed on international, high-profile and sensitive matters. Nick joined the firm in September 2017 from the Crown Prosecution Service where he was Head of Special Crime, overseeing the most complex casework in the CPS including the Hillsborough disaster, corporate manslaughter, police corruption, deaths in custody, medical manslaughter and election fraud cases.
Nick has unique expertise and insight into international criminal investigations, having held the three most senior prosecution posts: Head of Extradition; Head of the UK Central Authority for Mutual Legal Assistance; and liaison prosecutor in Washington DC, where he worked closely with the Department of Justice on UK/US investigations. Nick has twice been invited to give expert evidence on extradition to UK Parliamentary committees, and regularly speaks and publishes on international criminal matters. He was a member of the UK delegation to the first Arab Forum on Asset Recovery in Doha and is the co-author of the official UK guide: "Obtaining Assistance from the UK in Asset Recovery: A Guide for International Partners".
Due to his expertise in sensitive, political and cross-border investigations, many of Nick's cases have a significant international element, involving co-ordination across multiple jurisdictions. Nick acts for individuals in high-profile extradition and mutual legal assistance cases and has expertise in the removal of INTERPOL Red Notices. As a former senior CPS leader, Nick's advice is routinely sought by individuals and corporations looking to bring private prosecutions.
Job Titles:
- Melinka Berridge Press Officer / Kingsley Napley LLP
- Member of Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Rachna Gokani Educational Secretary
Job Titles:
- Member of the Private Prosecutor 's Association
- Simon Davison Is Director of Investigations at AnotherDay a Risk, Security and Investigations Company Based in London and the Middle East
Simon runs the investigations team at AnotherDay, where they support a wide range of clients on a variety of issues including dealing with organised crime, fraud and corruption.
Simon is a former senior detective from the elite Flying Squad in the Metropolitan Police in London, where he regularly conducted high profile and complex investigations into organised and violent criminal networks, often involving covert methodology.
At AnotherDay, Simon regularly conducts complex criminal investigations on behalf of victims of organised crime to support a police response, and works closely with law firms and counsel to conduct private criminal prosecutions. Simon also regularly works with law firms and companies to assist in civil litigation, asset tracing, crypto currency tracing and other bespoke investigations across the world.
Simon is an active member of the Private Prosecutor's Association, and has spoken regularly at law firms, insurance companies and other events on criminal investigation and techniques.
Simon Davison is Director of Investigations at AnotherDay; a risk, security and investigations company based in London and the Middle East.
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee
- Stuart Biggs Treasurer
Bill Boyce QC is recognised as a leader across all of the fields that Chambers' specialises in. His particular focus is on: corporate crime with an emphasis on bribery & corruption, fraud and health & safety; private prosecution both in general crime and, more frequently, financial crime; and the employment of his advocacy skills in fields beyond the criminal sphere, most notably in the cross examination of witnesses in international arbitration proceedings.
Bill was instructed as leading counsel in the seminal private prosecution case R (Murli Mirchandani) v Ketan Somaia, leading Rachna Gokani of QEB Hollis Whiteman and, instructed by Michael O'Kane and Hannah Laming at Peters & Peters. This was the largest ever private prosecution brought by an individual in the UK. Somaia was convicted of obtaining $19.7 million by deception, and later sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment. The case was described by HHJ Hone QC (the trial judge at the Central Criminal Court), as ‘exceptional' given the sums involved, the extraordinary life-styles, the famous names, the world of international businessmen and the outpouring of $23 million with little due diligence, simply relying on the concept of "my word is my bond".