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Eoin O'Shea
Partner

Eoin O'Shea

Head of Corporate Crime Practice

Languages
  • English
  • French
  • Spanish

Eoin helps clients to deal decisively with high-risk issues. He advises on government and regulatory investigations, corporate criminal risks, fraud and related disputes and professional ethics. Eoin frequently deals with prosecuting and investigating authorities, advising on risk-management, legal privilege, conducting complex investigations and litigation, both criminal and civil. Eoin is especially interested in the nexus between public and private-law concepts in corporate and criminal law. 

Areas of particular interest are financial crime, anti-corruption, legal privilege, fraud, money-laundering, sanctions, jurisdiction, data-law, regulatory law, professional ethics, corporate governance, public law and judicial review, competition law and international law.

Eoin is a member and former Chair of the City of London Law Society Corporate Crime and Corruption Committee, and has written and spoken widely on legal issues within his areas of interest. He is the author of book The Bribery Act 2010: A Practical Guide.

Awards & Recognitions
01
  • Quote
    "Eoin O'Shea is very much an eminence grise of the corporate crime world who is able to offer skill and judgment to corporate clients caught up in regulatory and criminal matters."
    Legal 500, 2025
  • Quote
    "Eoin O'Shea is experienced, commercially savvy and strategic."
    Legal 500, 2025
  • Quote
    "His judgement is excellent and he is dedicated and committed to his clients."
    Chambers, 2021
  • Quote
    "Eoin O’Shea is an exceptional team leader – an excellent lawyer, strategically astute and very experienced."
    Legal 500, 2021

Relevant experience

  • Advising on a wide range of disputes and other contentious inquiries, usually relating to allegations of bribery, other financial crime and associated civil liabilities. Planning and executing very large investigations involving hundreds of witnesses and multiple-terabytes of data. Regular dealings with SFO, NCA, FCA, UK territorial police and international law-enforcement agencies around the world. As you would expect, most matters are highly confidential. 
  • Advised the Law Society of England & Wales in Serious Fraud Office v ENRC [2018] EWCA 2006, a leading case on the law of privilege (Global Investigations Review “Most Important Case of the Year”, 2018)
  • Acting for Solo Capital Partners and former directors in >$2 billion criminal tax-fraud investigation and linked civil dispute in English High Court, also involving authorities of Denmark, Belgium, Germany, USA, Monaco, “one of the largest and most complex pieces of litigation to be heard in the Commercial Court” 
  • Acting in significant, novel Account Freezing Order / Forfeiture proceedings under POCA s.303Z provisions.
  • Advised leading accountancy firm re. collapse of Rangers FC (criminal aspects).
  • Advised  FTSE 100 company re money-laundering investigation. 
  • Advising CEOs and others in relation to major corruption investigations. 
  • Advising GSK in SmithKlineBeecham plc v Avery & Others [2009] EWHC 1488, leading cases on corporate representation in harassment cases, permanent statutory injunctions; Advising Oxford University in Oxford University v Broughton & Others [2008] EWHC 75, advising AstraZeneca and others re public order and harassment (AstraZeneca UK v Mathai [2014] EWHC 2774).

Publications

Books

  • The Bribery Act 2010, A Practical Guide (sole author)
  • Handbook of Fraud Investigation and Prevention (contributor)
  • Gore-Browne On Companies (contributor)
  • CMS Guide to Anti-Bribery and Corruption Laws (editor)

Selected articles

  • DPAs - Time to Extend The Regime, New Law Journal, July 2019
  • The Bribery Act: Beyond Adequate?, New Law Journal, April 2019
  • SFO v ENRC In the Court of Appeal , Law Society Gazette, September 2018
  • Privilege and the Power of the Prosecutor, The Times, September 2018
  • Professional Privilege Has Become A Paradox, The Times, May 2017
  • Criminal Liability and the Politics of Enforcement, Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, February 2016

Memberships & Roles

  • City of London Law Society Corporate Crime and Corruption Committee – Member (former Chair)

Education

  • M.A (Law) – University of Cambridge
  • Barrister, Inns of Court School of Law
  • B.L. Kings Inns – Dublin
  • Solicitor of Senior Courts of England and Wales
  • B.A. (History) - National University of Ireland, Cork
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