About Speaker

Gareth Rees is a Partner based in the London office of Morrison & Foerster. Gareth is one of the most experienced business crime and regulatory lawyers in the UK. He was Director of Enforcement at the Financial Reporting Council investigating and prosecuting audit and financial reporting misconduct. His experience includes advising clients on crime and regulation including sanctions, fraud, money laundering, bribery and accounting fraud. He has been specializing on UK post-Brexit regulatory changes in sanctions and export control and other national security issues including cyber threats. Gareth advises on human rights in the supply chain, UK Modern Slavery Act and AML applications for cryptocurrency corporate clients. He is acting for a client in a major SFO multi-jurisdictional bribery investigation. Offering corporations confidential internal investigations with the view to identifying potential breaches and offenses, and investigations responding to criminal and regulatory agencies, Gareth advises clients on criminal and regulatory breaches, compliance assessment and multi-jurisdictional issues. As a barrister, Gareth also provides advocacy at criminal and regulatory proceedings. After graduating from Reading University with a degree in politics, Gareth did a law conversion course at Central London Polytechnic (now Westminster University) and passed the Bar Exams in England and Wales in 1979. He began practice as a criminal barrister in 1981 and was appointed Queens Counsel in 2003. Before joining Morrison & Foerster, Gareth practiced at an international law firm’s London office, helping to set up and lead a team focused on white collar and investigations. Prior to that, he practiced at the UK Bar Association in fraud and business crime and regulatory work and in 2012 became Director of Enforcement at the Financial Reporting Council, where he gained expertise in audit, financial reporting and corporate governance.