Areas of Specialisation
Background
Qualified in 1996. Worked as assistant solicitor at Lewis Nedas before being made a partner in 2010.
Has defended many high profile and complex prosecution brought by SFO; FCA; Special Casework CPS; SOCA; City of London Fraud Squad.
Regularly ranked as leading individual Chambers UK.
The Legal 500 2021 rankings say 'Keith Wood is tactically astute and great with clients', ‘Keith Wood delivers robust, practical, well-thought out advice and is generally excellent’ and 'Keith Wood has a keen eye for detail and is excellent with clients.'
Keith has also been cited as a notable lawyer by The Legal 500 2022 Edition.
VHCC supervisor.
Recent and current cases:
- PB v Spain - Monumental extradition victory in the divisional court in case involving MI5 and Spanish intelligence
- R v P and others – Ponzi fraud, value in excess of £100 million, described as being the UK’s equivalent to the Madoff scheme;
- R v B and others - complex multi-handed money laundering/kidnap prosecution involving central plot to defraud the London clearing banks;
- R v H – substantial tax credit fraud;
- R v A and others – large scale multi million mortgage fraud;
- R v A – Operation Eaglewood – money laundering / drugs prosecution to the value of £100 million;
- R v H - particularly complex fraud confiscation proceedings; Crown sought the recovery of £4 million, proceedings spanned over four years which were eventually discontinued;
- R v P - multi-handed murder trial, only defendant to be acquitted;
- R v Y – very high profile class A drugs conspiracy re-trial;
- R v G – defended one of Baybasin organisation (extortion);
- R v M – defended a director of QPR concerning allegations of kidnap of Paladini – acquitted;
- R v Cash – conviction overturned in Court of Appeal, fresh evidence;
- R v W – enforcement of outstanding POCA sums stayed as an abuse of process.
Professional Memberships: LCCSA.
Podcasts
Personal
Born January 1970, Educated at Hull University and College of Law. Married with two children. Resides in Surrey.
Legal 500 2022
"Partner responsible for the City office. Has defended many high-profile and complex prosecution brought by SFO; FSA; special casework CPS; SOCA; City of London fraud squad. Regularly ranked as leading individual, Chambers UK. VHCC supervisor. Recent and current cases: R v P and others – Ponzi fraud, value in excess of £100m, described as being the UK’s equivalent to the Madoff scheme; R v B and others a complex multi-handed money laundering/kidnap prosecution involving central plot to defraud the London clearing banks. Acted for lead defendant in Operation Pristina, a South Wales police investigation into an organised crime group: acting for one of the Directors of Kaupthing Bank in the high-profile failed SFO investigation following the collapse of the bank; R v K and another concerning a allegation of bribery and corruption of serving police officers investigating a substantial and high-profile fraud; R v B and others a major and high-profile land banking fraud; R v S, a contested confiscation hearing in which the defence successfully managed to convince the court that there were no “hidden” assets; R v M and S, in which the defendants received a suspended sentence for a major VAT missing trader fraud; R v J in which managed to secure pre-charge discontinuance for a director facing allegations of a fraudulent asset exchange scheme; Advising two city traders facing complex investigation for mis –selling and securing pre charge withdrawal; R v J in which Keith is acting for a director of a Legal Services Company facing allegation of theft of money and fraud; R v T in which secured a suspended sentence for a Deputy appointed by the Court of Protection facing prosecution for Fraud. In addition Keith is currently advising on a substantial fresh evidence appeal as well as a City trader facing investigation."
Keith Wood has been cited as a notable lawyer by The Legal 500 2022 Edition. Click here to see Keith's Legal 500 profile in full.
AREA OF EXPERTISE
Top Ranked Lawyers: Legal 500
Celebrating 39 years of practice in 2021, we are leaders in criminal defence, serious fraud, serious crime and many other areas of legal practice. We have been involved in many leading cases over the last 35+ years and are well known for our genuinely high acquittal rate and overall success rate. Please click the Legal 500 logo below for more information about our rankings.
