Felicia is a skilled and versatile advocate who specialises in serious fraud, business crime and regulatory offences, including cases brought by the SFO, SOCA, FCA and HMRC.
She has considerable experience in dealing with international conspiracies with multi-jurisdictional issues, MTIC frauds, money laundering and insider dealing, and advises on all aspects of confiscation, restraint and POCA proceedings. Felicia has been appointed to a number of specialist panels and is frequently instructed on behalf of a number of specialist government departments and regulatory bodies.
Felicia has appeared before the Divisional and Appellate Courts in a number of key appeals in relation to abuse of process, confiscation and bribery. She has also appeared before regulatory tribunals representing individuals facing disciplinary offences and before the Companies Court on behalf of liquidators in cases where suspected fraudulent conduct and/or breaches of the Insolvency Act are alleged. Felicia also advises individual and corporate clients concerning discrete issues such as directors’ disqualification and regulatory compliance.
Felicia’s wide range of work has given her experience in a number of areas of:
She is adept at preparing and presenting cases involving voluminous and complex financial material.
Felicia prosecutes and defends individual and corporate clients at the highest level, dealing with the most serious and complex criminal cases. She is committed to achieving the best possible outcome in each and every case, providing clear advice on all aspects of case strategy from the outset.
As a specialist CPS rape and serious sexual offences advocate, Felicia has significant experience prosecuting and defending the most serious and sensitive sexual cases. These include multi-complainant cases often alleging historic sexual abuse and those involving very young or vulnerable witnesses.
Felicia has undertaken specialist training in the use of intermediaries and is skilled in the handling of vulnerable witnesses of all ages in court.
Felicia has extensive experience of cases involving alleged organised crime groups (OCG) in relation to drugs importation and supply; immigration conspiracies on a commercial scale and for the trafficking of females; international money laundering; and conspiracies to steal and to rob. In 2012, she was appointed a Specialist Serious and Organised Crime advocate.
Over the past 10 years, Felicia has been instructed to defend or assist in a number of high profile murder cases, frequently involving complex evidential issues. In addition, Felicia is frequently instructed in multi-handed gang-related cases involving cut-throat defences, kidnap, false imprisonment and torture. Significant cases in that period include:
Felicia has acted in a number of cases concerning allegations of death by dangerous driving, frequently involving technical expert evidence and difficult tactical decisions.
Felicia has a wealth of experience both prosecuting and defending cases concerning serious fraud where a mastery of the facts and attention to detail are key. She is adept at preparing and presenting cases involving voluminous and complex financial material; complex corporate structures; multiple off-shore or jurisdictional bank accounts and entities through which alleged fraudulent funds are passed. Felicia is used to working closely with the entire case team in such cases, providing ongoing advice on all aspects of case presentation and management.
Since 2009 Felicia has been appointed to the SFO’s specialist panel of advocates and more recently to the CPS specialist Fraud Panel.
Given the nature of her practice, almost all the cases in which she is instructed involve POCA related issues, including restraint, cash seizure and/or complex confiscation proceedings.
Felicia has considerable experience across a broad range of regulatory tribunals including the Police Disciplinary Tribunal, Nursing and Midwifery Council (3 month secondment), General Medical Council, Bar Standards Board, FCA Regulatory and Disciplinary Committee, Disclosure and Barring Service (Upper Tribunal, Administrative Appeals Chambers) and First Tier Tax Tribunal. She is frequently instructed to advise regulated individuals and corporate clients in respect of pending investigations and/or proceedings in which parallel regulatory and criminal proceedings may be brought (e.g. parallel disciplinary/criminal offences and, in the context of FCA investigations, potential FSMA offences, Insider Dealing, other FCA regulatory breaches and civil settlements).
Other Specialisms
Felicia is frequently instructed for and against local authorities across the full range of criminal and regulatory breaches, e.g. health and safety offences/breaches; food safety/hygiene (including a number of high profile prosecutions e.g. Starbucks; TGI Fridays); licensing, trading standards; planning enforcement; Environmental Act offences and civil breaches; Education Act offences; injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance (including the first ‘dog’ IPNA (formerly ASBO)); housing and council tax benefit fraud; homeless housing fraud; resulting applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
LLB (Law with German)
BVC
Criminal Bar Association
South Eastern Circuit
Association of Regulatory & Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association (HSLA)
Middle Temple
Diplock Scholar, Middle Temple
Blackstone Entrance Exhibitioner, Middle Temple
Police Appeals Tribunal Chair (2016 – current)
SFO panel (B list) (2009 – current)
CPS Grade 4 General Crime (since 2015)
CPS Organised and Serious Crime Panel (2012 – current)
CPS Specialist Fraud Panel (2012 – current)
CPS Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Panel (2012 – current)
Health and Safety Executive (B list) (2012 – current)
German (conversational)
Spanish (conversational)