Maria Piggin“Highly commended” by the FT in 2009, Maria Piggin has an extensive track record in the defence of white collar crime and fraud, representing clients in cases raised by BIS, HMRC and RCPO as well as the SFO, CPS and SOCA. Maria also has a wealth of experience gained in both London and New Zealand commercial law firms undertaking contentious and non-contentious work. Maria’s clients have often been corporate clients and professional advisory firms seeking advice on money laundering, search and seizure, information notices, production orders, dawn raid procedures, submission of suspicion activity reports and anti -corruption measures. Cases she has defended include insurance fraud, conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to cheat the Revenue, money laundering, missing trader intra-community fraud and cash seizure and detention under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Her experience includes advising on HMRC’s civil procedure applicable to cases of suspected serious tax fraud (Code of Practice 9). She had also conducted a broad range of criminal cases. Notable victories for Maria have included successfully derailing a pending criminal prosecution concerning a prominent legal professional and utilising pre-action judicial review protocol procedures to prevent HMRC from unlawfully arresting a client. Her “highly recommended” tag was won in the Dispute Resolution category of the 2009 FT Innovative Lawyer Awards when Maria obtained an unprecedented order for substantial costs incurred by a professional advisory client in complying with a Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Schedule 1 production order. Following her original qualification in New Zealand in 1998, Maria became UK qualified in 2003 . In 2008 Maria spent three months providing pro bono assistance to the Office of the Post Conviction Defender of Tennessee working on death row cases. Maria has been published in a number of publications including the New Law Journal, the Tax Journal and the British Tax Review. |
