Liane Atcheson

As a fraud and litigation solicitor my focus is on helping individuals and businesses prevent, detect and respond to fraud and dishonesty. I bring a focused, results-oriented approach combined with empathy and sensitivity, which is often essential for the work I do.

I provide clients with comprehensive start-to-finish advice on fraud-related litigation and investigations, with specialised expertise in, investment fraud, banking fraud, authorised push payment fraud (APPs) and fraud committed by directors and employees. My work often involves dealing with applications for injunctive relief.

I know and understand that whatever the nature of the fraud and whatever its scale, fraud impacts us all differently. Therefore, I prioritise getting to know my clients and building strong relationships so I can deliver a custom solution, tailored to meet a client’s unique circumstances and objectives.

I am generally kept busy by a wide range of clients from individuals through to multi-million pound companies both in the UK and abroad, across a wide variety of industries with a diverse exposure to differing types of fraud and litigation issues.

My clients gain assurance from my expertise in the increasingly complicated and regulated field of fraud and financial crime compliance. I am passionate about fraud because of the unique personalities and perspectives of the people at the core of each case I advise on. The diversity of cases I handle means no two are ever the same, and my role is both exciting and challenging as the outcome of each case relies heavily on the people involved.

My clients rely on me to be a calm and steadfast advisor in times of uncertainty when the threat of significant financial damage could be devastating.

Aside from fighting fraud, I also find time to be a mum to two – one an aspiring tennis superstar and one a full-blown diva. I am a very bad puppy trainer, married to a passionate Manx man and ‘enjoyed’ spending time being a local school governor.

My expertise rests in disputes and litigation management having advised and managed hundreds of disputes since qualifying in 2006 having worked for insurers defending fraudulent claims and then in commercial disputes arising from civil fraud issues.

I head up Tenet’s disputes team advising on both claimant and defendant work, on matters from initial advice through to trial and when necessary, appeals. I am known as our teams ‘trial lawyer’, directing and coordinating a number of our successful High Court trials.

I am instructed to advise upon a wide range of disputes, which often have allegations of fraud and dishonesty at their heart.  Examples of my recent work include:

• Investment Fraud
  Advising businesses and individuals when they have been misled on investments – from promises made about the nature of the investment and available returns which transpire to be untrue, through to entirely fictious investment opportunities.  I have assisted clients both domestically here in the UK and abroad.

• Employee Fraud
  I have assisted businesses in reacting and responding to suspected employee fraud.  My experience has enabled me to support clients from investigation, through to civil proceedings for recovery of damages and also supporting clients to make police complaints for the purposes of potential criminal prosecution (on occasion resulting in the perpetrator receiving a custodial sentence).My clients have come from a wide range of industries including both the manufacturing and services industries.  Typically, I work with clients who either suspect or have discovered employees  misappropriating company funds or assets via a variety of means.  Commonly this is through invoicing fraud, payment misdirection, asset misuse, bribery or “back-handers” and/or acting outside of the scope of their authority.

• Procurement Fraud
  Businesses which discover or suspect fraud in the supply chain, may be assisted by my knowledge in the field of procurement fraud. I have been involved in cases assisting both national and international clients to investigate and respond to the following types of issues:

• • Dealing with hidden identity and connections between a contractor or agent and the party awarding the work.
  • Overcharging on invoices for supply
  • Falsifying the existence or extent of work provided and charged for (i.e. undersupply)
  • Diversion of payments
  • Non-declaration of direct or indirect conflicts of interest
  • Sale of goods paid for by a customer to a third party for unauthorised and undeclared profits
  • Collusion to include kickbacks to enable the award of a contract for a supplier

• Norwich Pharmacal Orders
  I have significant experience of applying for Norwich Pharmacal Orders, often to help clients reveal the identity of a wrong-doer, or to ascertain the whereabouts (or use) of clients’ money.  Examples of cases in which I have been involved include:
  • Securing third party bank statements for a multi-million-pound international company in the food sector whose customer had fallen victim to an APP fraud.
  • Securing bank statements, emails and information held by HM Land Registry in the course of an investigation into employee fraud for a client in the healthcare sector.
  • Securing bank statements for a high-net-worth individual who had fallen victim to a property investment fraud and sought to trace the money to help identify available claims and the true identity of the those behind the fraud.

• Cyber Fraud
  I have advised both businesses whose cyber-ware appears to have been hacked and in turn their customers have fallen victim to Authorised Push Payment fraud (APPs) with payments intended for the client being diverted to fraudsters’ accounts.  Conversely, I have advised individuals and businesses whose own emails or suppliers’ emails appear to have been hacked causing financial loss.

• Authorised Push Payment Fraud (APPs)
  I regularly advise both individuals and businesses who have fallen victim to all manner of Authorised Push Payment frauds across countless sectors.  Whether the loss is in the hundreds of pounds or the millions I am experienced in working with clients to help identify potential routes to recover lost money and to help assess the likelihood of success of taking such action.

• Disputes with banks
  I regularly advise clients in respect of disputes with banks.  Examples include:

• • Assisting clients resolve disputes with banks when their accounts have been frozen by the bank without notice.
  • Assisting clients recover funds when they have become the victim of fraud and have made unauthorised payments, or authorised payments not otherwise classed as “push payments”.

• Fraudulent Misrepresentation
  A significant part of my practice includes claims involving fraudulent misrepresentation.  Examples include:

• • Acting for a multi-million-pound turnover manufacturer who had been the victim of fraudulent misrepresentations in respect of postal services. The claim was successfully upheld following a 2-week trial in the High Court.
  • Acting for the defendant against allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation against a multi-million-pound turnover distributor in the aesthetics industry, in respect of alleged mis-sold equipment.
  • Acting for a high-net-worth individual seeking damages for fraudulent misrepresentations made in an investment.

• • Advising multiple victims in respect of widespread allegations of fraudulent misrepresentations in the telecommunications industry regarding the provision of telephone and internet services. Article Link
     
• Director’s Misfeasance and Breach of Fiduciary Duties
  My expertise includes advising on matters relating to director’s misfeasance.  This includes a mixture of both claimant and defendant work.  Examples include:

• • Advising directors being pursued by a liquidator in respect of claims brought under the Insolvency Act for wrongful trading and fraudulent trading, preference payments, antecedent transactions and void dividends.
  • Advising directors on directors’ disqualification proceedings brought by the Insolvency Service of behalf of the Secretary of State.
  • Advising in respect of both statutory and common law derivative actions, often in the case of ‘rogue’ directors where the company seeks recovery of losses caused by a director through misfeasance and wrongdoing. Often the claims arise in the context of family-run companies and/or companies which are often built and run on trust and faith between the parties.  Regularly that trust and faith has been breached resulting in allegations of unlawful drawings, diversion of trade and secret profits.

• Shareholder Disputes
  I have acted for both claimants and defendants in respect of shareholder disputes, from pre-action through to trial.  Usually in the form of unfair prejudice claims.  Examples include:

• • Assisting a multi-million-pound turnover UK company in the manufacturing sector, incorporated by family members many years prior. Allegations against the clients included being locked out of management, withholding of financial material, unlawful use of company funds.  The claimant sought an order that our clients buy-out their shares.
  • Advising a UK-Cypriot client with companies in both the UK and Cyprus which was subject to an injunction of the Cypriot court but victim of unfair prejudice within the UK company. The client sought assistance with resolution of the dispute.
• Freezing Injunctions
  I have  considerable experience in applying for and responding to freezing injunctions.
  Of particular note, I successfully acted for the second respondent in opposing the continuation of a post-judgment freezing injunction, in The New York Laser Clinic Ltd v Naturastudios & Others, High Court of England & Wales (QBD) 9 June 2020.
• VAT Fraud
  I have assisted several clients facing claims and/or investigations by HMRC arising from alleged VAT fraud from across a variety of sectors including in particular the payroll and re-sale sectors.

• Advised a multi-million dollar turnover manufacturer in the United States through to individuals having been misled on investments.
• Developed a niche for insurance fraud, having spent nearly a decade investigating and litigating large scale fraudulent schemes against major insurance companies, leading a team of fraud ring specialists.
• Experienced court advocate.
• Experienced in the delivery of training both internally and externally to professional clients.
• Member of the Young Professionals Committee at the Midlands Fraud Forum.
• Accredited Police Station Representative (Non-Practising)
• Successfully acted for the defendants in Bhabra v Suri & Suri (Bhabra v Suri & Anor [2022] EWHC 1652 (Ch) (28 June 2022) (bailii.org)), a claim involving allegations over company ownership and breach of trust.
• Successfully acted for the Second Respondent in opposing the continuation of a Freezing Injunction (The New York Laser Clinic Ltd v Naturastudios & Others, High Court of England & Wales (QBD) 9 June 2020).
• Extensive experience of making successful applications for disclosure from third parties (Norwich Pharmacal Orders).
• Featured on the 2025 Pro Bono Recognition List for commitment to pro bono work over the past year

• Clio: How to Grow a Law Firm: Creating a Winning Law Firm Culture
• Midlands Fraud Forum – Steering Team
• Covid-19 The Increased Risk of Employee Fraud