Kate McMahon - Partner

Kate is a founder of Edmonds Marshall McMahon and a specialist, dual-qualified prosecutor who typically works for Nation States, Financial Institutions and High Net Worth clients. She has a superior track record in all aspects of investigation, prosecution and asset recovery. Her areas of expertise are large scale international corruption, cross-border fraud, perverting the course of justice and the interplay between civil and criminal matters. She successfully led the largest private prosecution in the UK to date.

Kate is known for her incisive analysis and strategic vision, having had conduct of large fraud, corruption and trademark cases. Her matters typically have significant political angles. She is highly regarded by her clients and has a reputation for being extremely determined and driven in all her cases. She has been described as an “outstanding prosecutor” who provides “intellectual leadership”. She is praised for her “high intelligence, tactical acumen and great client care skills.”

Prior to founding Edmonds Marshall McMahon, Kate prosecuted for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) where she worked as a senior lawyer in bribery and corruption cases. She worked on some of the UK’s largest criminal prosecutions, including the “Innospec” case. This was the first global settlement in the UK and involved systemic corruption by a UK/USA company in Iraq and Indonesia.

From 2018 to present, Kate is recognised as an international “thought leader” by the “Who’s Who Legal: Asset Recovery” guide which lists the world’s leading asset recovery lawyers. She is described as “one of the best” and an “outstanding practitioner”.  In 2017, “The Lawyer” recognised Kate as one of the “Hot 100” Lawyers in the UK. This award acknowledges the “best lawyers in the UK- the most daring, innovative and creative“. Since 2017, Kate has been a member of “Fraudnet”, the world’s leading asset recovery network. Since 2020, Kate has been the Chair of the IBA’s Asset Recovery Sub-Committee.

She has spoken at the leading European Fraud Conference, C5 in Geneva (2015, 2018, 2020) and USA’s leading C5 “Fraud and Asset tracing” Conference in Miami (2015). She has been interviewed on the BBC news and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live and “Drive Time” to discuss criminal court charges (August, 2015). She appeared on BBC2’s Victoria Derbyshire show to discuss Cameron’s anti-corruption pledges (May 2016). She was interviewed recently by Ian King on Sky News (August 2018). She is published in the Times (Romance Fraud in Covid-19. (2020)) and speaks at the International Bar Conference and at fraud and corruption events. She is often quoted in the FT and national press (including the Independent). Kate is currently one of the selected solicitors to act together with the Government in a new City of London Police initiative to tackle fraud.

What the directories say:

Kate is a recommended individual in Legal 500 – Fraud: White-collar Crime and a Band 1 lawyer in Chambers & Partners – Financial Crime: Private Prosecutions in London

“She is very dynamic and works incredibly hard for her clients.” Chambers & Partners  (2022)

“She is utterly committed and will go the extra mile for her clients. She is a great lawyer.” Chambers & Partners (2021)

“simply the best at what she does; fearless, hard-working and imaginative”. Legal 500 (2020)

“an incredibly imaginative litigator,”; “She understands the background of a problem and is very smart.” Chambers & Partners (2019)

“regularly called upon to represent clients in private prosecutions, with particular expertise in fraud cases.” Chambers & Partners (2019)

“Founder Kate McMahon is a well-established name in the market with an excellent track record in high-profile confiscations. As one interviewee maintains, “She is creative and aggressive in a careful and measured way, and is able to distil complex matters and convey a joined-up solution quickly and coherently.” Who’s Who Legal (2017)

‘a fearless and energetic prosecutor’ who has ‘a relentless commitment to justice’ Legal 500 (2016)

“formidable adversary” Legal 500 (2014)

  • A number of high-profile, high-value international “boiler room” frauds operating across a number of countries, involving thousands of victims;
  • Significant experience in the area of confiscation, having obtained significant confiscation orders and acted on behalf of third parties intervening for significant amounts;
  • Successfully conducted many large-scale fraud trials, including the famous “transit thefts” of pharmaceuticals in transit from EU factories to wholesale dealers in the UK;
  • Successfully acting for a leading corporate in relation to a CEO fraud and prosecution (considered to be the largest in the UK); now proceeding to confiscation;
  • Successfully acting for a Middle Eastern Company and Company Director in relation to a $USD175.5 million infrastructure contract fraud (including recouping legal costs);
  • Successfully acting for a US hedge fund in relation to a $USD30 million fraud committed by a financial institution (including recouping legal costs);
  • Successfully acting for a Canadian victim in a €500k trading fraud (including recouping legal costs, where all other victims had failed to achieve recovery);
  • Successfully acting for a high profile, international airline company defrauded by employees (including recouping legal costs and compensation for the Company);
  • Successfully prosecuting a defendant for a false adverse possession claim in a private prosecution for perverting the course of justice (value approximately £750k);
  • Successfully acting for the parents of a murdered child against the police after a high profile murder case;
  • Successfully acting for a former partner of a city law firm in an SRA referral and subsequent strike off. Presented allegations of fraud and money laundering to the regulator;
  • Advised PCP Capital Partners LLP in relation to matters involving investment banking and financial advisory services;
  • Currently acting for a leading hedge fund in relation to an international dispute worth some $2 billion;
  • Currently acting for an international hedge fund in relation to fraud in a patent matter;
  • Currently acting for a wife who is involved in a high-value and high-profile divorce, where the husband has lied about ownership of assets to defraud his wife (approximately €40m);
  • Currently acting for a number of individuals in relation to investment frauds, such as gold investment, carbon credits scheme, hotel development and international land ownership schemes.
  • The Law Society
  • Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
  • Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
  • Fraud Advisory Panel
  • FraudNet (ICC)