Susan Dearden

I defend clients faced with prosecution or civil proceedings, usually arising from incidents involving health and safety or environmental issues. This includes helping them to avoid prosecution as well as responding when proceedings have begun.

Tel: +44 (0)121 685 2957

Email: susan_dearden@wragge.com

While civil claims are part of this work, most of my time is spent in trying to avoid criminal prosecution of clients by working with them when under investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, local authority, Environment Agency or police.We assist clients in interviews, devise early strategies for dealing with an incident, help them through inquests in fatal accident cases, and defend clients in magistrates' or crown court proceedings when proceedings do ensue.

Best brains in ...

What I'm really good at is lateral thinking - not just reacting to a situation, but getting round the problem. I've saved clients from being prosecuted on many occasions where prosecution was justified in incidents ranging from legionnaires disease outbreaks to falls from an unprotected height and pollution.

Highlight of your career so far?

One success of which I'm very proud of involved a client who came to us very late - after conviction and sentence. It had received a £400,000 fine for pollution offences in the crown court. I recommended an appeal which I then pursued and reduced the fine to £50,000. Another involved managing a senior manager in a business through an inquest and avoiding a verdict of unlawful killing which would have reopened gross negligence manslaughter charges against him.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

All criminal work is challenging - I wouldn't entrust it to a lawyer who didn't throw heart and soul into the defence. Sometimes the challenge is very personal with a director or manager facing prison for a company's health and safety breach. Sometimes the challenge is to keep a fine imposed within manageable levels. Fines are increasing and can effectively strip a company of its profits for a number of years, or in some cases put it out of business.

What about outside the UK?

I can only practice within England and Wales as a litigator though the clients referred to me often involve an international element. I have advised an aircraft manufacturer facing significant litigation in the US, through a UK inquest arising from the death of all on board one of its jets which crashed on take off at Birmingham International Airport. I have defended a French national through criminal proceedings brought against him following a fatal accident in the UK, and, at another inquest assisted a US national through proceedings where the family of the deceased wanted him held personally accountable for the fatality that occurred. My representations on his behalf led to a verdict of misadventure and I achieved his safe return to the US without action. I have also advised non-UK-based companies looking at working within the UK, on potential liabilities arising from breach of health and safety and environmental regulations and on minimising those risks.

What's your definition of going the extra mile... And when have you done it?

Criminal advice is usually urgent - I've advised from holidays, from home and during weekends and at night. I turned up in a ball gown to get one client out of prison in Leicester and offered to take another home with me to provide him with UK accommodation (he was a French national) to persuade magistrates to keep him out of remand in prison pending trial.

Best example of a creative legal solution?

There are many instances where I have suggested to a very guilty client that we go on the offensive with a prosecutor rather than waiting for the inevitable, intimated prosecution and taken a direct approach which has led to a caution or no action being taken rather than a prosecution. On the civil claims side, I think one of my great successes was for a leading food manufacturer who was without insurance for a mesothelioma claim arising (as is the way with asbestos disease) many years after the claimant's employment with them. The client came to me with a claim worth over £250,000 which it could see no alternative to paying. I persuaded a public liability insurer who was at risk for a period of six months many years after the potential asbestos exposure, to indemnify the client for 50% of the claim made, and reduce the liability for the claim in any event to below 20% by seeking out and involving other employers. For another very significant food manufacturer facing a multitude of food poisoning claims, I drafted precedents for it to respond to early letters of complaint and claim and devised a strategy for managing volumes of claims without litigation and very significantly reducing costs. The solution has been incredibly successful, giving them complete control of the claims made. I've compared claimants' costs in those cases to average claimants' costs for similar valued claims with an insurer, and they have reduced costs by at least two thirds. A very tangible result.

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

Many times. Because of our experience in health and safety, I often help corporate colleagues in due diligence exercises where explaining excellent health and safety record, systems and procedures is a real selling point for them.

How do you get under the skin of a client's business?

In criminal cases I want to put a client's case forward with passion and conviction. I always go and see the client, their premises and visit the site. It is absolutely vital that I fully understand a client's business and the incident that has occured, so that I can answer any question that a magistrate or crown court judge might raise. For me this is never a paper exercise.

What's your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

I've run a beaver scout colony for the past five years, for children aged six to eight years. The scout movement is great for cutting through cultural and socio economic barriers. The greatest reward for all the hard work that goes into this was when one of my beavers running across a field on a family camp I had organised, stopped by me to announce with breathless enthusiasm 'I've never been camping before. We've never been away anywhere and this is the best time I've ever had in my entire life ever'! I also chair a local Suzuki violin group and organise its concerts and group training events. The music is a great leveller - talent comes from all walks of life regardless of creed or colour. The one connection between the children drawn primarily from Birmingham's inner city schools, is the music, and wow do we have some talent around the city.

I frequently provide pro bono training to try and help clients avoid getting into situations which might lead them into prosecution, but more importantly helps them to keep their workforce and others as safe as possible.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

One client likened me to 'Superwoman' though regrettably it was a reference to speed of response to a cry for help rather than to my hourglass figure. He has also said of me 'we always know we are in safe hands'. HJ Heinz in-house counsel was also very complimentary 'the service I have received from Susan Dearden, has been superlative. Quick and very comprehensive replies, and certainly of great assistance'. Then there was the client who described me as 'like a beacon to others'.