Mark Mulholland KC and SC
‘When Mark is instructed in a case he is wholly committed to it. He has excellent strategic skills and an ability to plan out the approach to be taken in each case with due cognisance of potential contingencies that might arise. He has a microscopic attention to detail and nothing is left to chance. Mark is an excellent advocate. His approach is perfectly balanced and nuanced and always effective.’
- Legal 500 2024
Mark Mulholland, King's Counsel and Senior Counsel, has significant expertise spanning crime, financial crime , fraud (both criminal and civil) and regulatory work. Representing clients in the highest courts, including the UK Supreme Court, and across different jurisdictions, including The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, he has appeared in several hundred trials since 1994.
Mr. Mulholland represents corporations and individuals in matters involving a wide range of UK, US and International enforcement agencies, including the SFO, HMRC, FCA, NCA, SOCA, MI5, and the US DOJ and the SEC. He has acted in a number of commercial fraud cases for international clients involved in multi-jurisdictional investigations and litigation. He has led internal investigations, advised US, UK and Irish companies relating to a variety of laws including financial misconduct and bribery. He has appeared in a number of high-profile criminal trials and he has led legal teams comprising junior and senior counsel in several cases.
He also appears regularly for companies and individual directors in health and safety prosecutions and handles complex civil litigation in parallel with criminal investigations/proceedings. Mr Mulholland has also prosecuted and defended respondents in regulatory and disciplinary hearings including lawyers and members of the police. He is on the senior prosecution panel for the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland.
Financial crime and fraud
Recent cases include:
- Advising a US Fortune 100 Company on UK banking regulations and voluntary self-disclosure to the UK Financial Conduct Authority
- Representation of a law firm & solicitor before the Cooke Committee of Inquiry Dublin. This followed successful representation of the solicitor and law firm relating to a multi-jurisdictional DOJ /NCA investigation under Bribery Act
- Trafalgar Developments Ltd & Ors v Mazepin & Ors - represented a High Net Worth international individual in civil fraud proceedings issued in Dublin High court relating to allegations of Raider attack on billion dollar corporate enterprise in Russia & ensuing criminal trial & convictions of directors in Russia
- R v McComb & Ors - instructed by PPS in the prosecution of 12 accused in cross jurisdictional VAT Carousel fraud in the sum of approximately £65,000,000 including two company directors
- Pre-charge advice following allegations of wrong-doing by an individual executive in relation to a Real Estate Investment Trust
- Advising on a £50 million claim against a law firm and its managing partner for the fraudulent misrepresentation / breach of contract relating to the acquisition of 1.2 billion NAMA portfolio
- DPP v Paul Lavery & Ors –representation of financial controller / compliance officer accused of conspiracy to defraud investors in Custom House Capital after investigation by Central Bank of Ireland
- R v H & Ors - Successfully represented an individual charged with VAT fraud and deception by negotiating a suspended sentence and no proceeds of crime liability
Other serious and general crime and regulatory cases
Some examples are:
- Regularly representingserving police officers supported by the police federation
- R v Soldier F – representing the defendant in criminal prosecution of former member of military arising from the events on Bloody Sunday
- R v D – successful representation of a former international rugby player facing criminal allegations, High Court divorce proceedings and related ancillary relief proceedings
- R v J Lowry - representation of barrister on criminal & regulatory charges
- R v Trevino Bodden (Grand Cayman) appealing for Bodden in his constitutional challenge and tariff hearing before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands regarding the new life tariff system for life sentence prisoners
- Sensitive matters related to former military personnel involving deaths caused by members of specialist military units
- PPS v Robert Beggs - Prosecution appeal from successful defence application to stop the criminal trial/hearsay evidence – decision of court upheld by the Court of Appeal
- Paul Pius Duffy v PPS – criminal appeal seeking to overturn the conviction of for double manslaughter conviction on basis of reliability of confession evidence
Qualifications and activities
He is a member of the Bars of Northern Ireland, Ireland, England & Wales and Grand Cayman.
In 2010 he served as Chairman of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar of Northern Ireland and was Chairman of the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Executive Council of the Inn of Court between 2012 to 2014.
He has taught part time on the Insolvency Law LLB course at Queen's University Belfast and the Vocational Bar Course at the Institute of Professional legal Studies. He has delivered talks to governmental agencies on the Proceeds of Crime Act, Company Director Disqualification and Wrongful Trading, Deaths in the Workplace & Corporate Liability. He has advised on the provisions of the Fraud Act 2006 and Bribery Act 2010 as well as conducting internal investigations and advising on remediation and compliance in several jurisdictions. He has spoken at a number of international conferences and previously delivered the Bar of England & Wales International Rule of Law lecture.
Queen’s University, Belfast - LLB (Hons)
University College, Dublin - LLM Commercial Law
Took Silk in 2011 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2023
Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers 2015
Member of the International Society of Barristers 2021
Director of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers 2023
Publications
'The Bribery Act, Due Diligence & DPAs' - Counsel magazine February 2016
‘Wrongful & Reckless Trading - do all Roads Lead to Cork’ - dealing with the use of company director disqualification and wrongful trading provisions in the UK and counterpart reckless trading provisions in the Republic of Ireland - on the Queens University syllabus for Insolvency law course.
