Something old and something new - UK SFO 2020 DPA Guidance

Sacha Harber-Kelly (+44 (0)20 7071 4205, sharber-kelly@gibsondunn.com) is a partner and Steve Melrose (+44 (0)20 7071 4219, smelrose@gibsondunn.com) an associate at Gibson Dunn. Mr Harber-Kelly is a former prosecutor at the SFO and was appointed to lead the SFO’s engagement in the cross-governmental working group which devised the DPA legislative framework, and subsequently appointed to draft the DPA Code of Practice, which sets out how prosecutors will operate the DPA regime.

On 23 October 2020, the UK Serious Fraud Office published a new chapter from its internal Operational Handbook, which it describes as “comprehensive guidance on how we approach Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), and how we engage with companies where a DPA is a prospective outcome.” [1] Sacha Harber-Kelly and Steve Melrose of Gibson Dunn examine how far it elucidates the agency’s calculus.