Business criminal law and disciplinary law

Are you looking for a white-collar criminal defense lawyer to defend a company, executive, or professional facing an investigation, criminal prosecution, or disciplinary proceedings? ARST Avocats provides services in criminal risk prevention, crisis management, and representation before criminal courts and disciplinary bodies.

Our team assists companies, executives, corporate officers, managers, employees, and regulated professionals, whether they are accused, prosecuted, or victims of an offense. We intervene at every stage of the procedure: internal investigation, filing a complaint, voluntary interview, police custody, search, preliminary investigation, trial, exercising legal remedies, and obtaining compensation for damages.

This practice combines business criminal law, economic and financial criminal law, labor criminal law, criminal liability of legal entities and disciplinary law.

Lawyer specializing in white-collar crime: companies and executives

Business criminal law covers offenses that may be committed in the context of the creation, management, financing or development of a business.

ARST Avocats advises and represents companies, their directors and their employees in cases relating in particular to:

• misuse of company assets;
• breach of trust;
• fraud and attempted fraud;
• forgery and the use of forged documents;
• the misappropriation of funds or assets;
• theft, receiving stolen goods and property offenses;
• money laundering and receiving the proceeds of money laundering;
• corruption and influence peddling;
• the illegal taking of interest and breaches of probity;
• offences relating to the formation and operation of companies;
• the presentation of inaccurate accounts;
• fictitious dividend distributions;
• offences related to transactions involving share capital;
• the fraudulent organization of insolvency;
• offences relating to collective procedures, in particular bankruptcy;
• deceptive business practices;
• document, accounting or financial fraud;
• attacks on computer systems, data and digital assets;
• the violation of professional secrecy or trade secrets.

The intervention of a lawyer specializing in business criminal law makes it possible to analyze the facts, identify the criminal charges that may be brought, and assess the respective exposure of the company, its managers, and its employees.

Criminal liability of the company and its directors

An offence committed in the course of professional activity may give rise to the criminal liability of a natural person, that of the company as a legal entity, or both simultaneously.

Article 121-2 of the Penal Code thus provides for the criminal liability of legal persons for offences committed on their behalf by their organs or representatives.

ARST Avocats assists companies in identifying, preventing and addressing their criminal risks:

• risk mapping related to the activity;
• review of internal organization and decision-making processes;
• analysis of delegations and sub-delegations of powers;
• verification of control and compliance procedures;
• assistance in managing internal reports and alerts;
• conducting or supporting internal investigations;
• analysis of responsibilities after the discovery of an offence;
• preservation of documents, data and evidence;
• preparing managers and employees for hearings;
• definition of a common or separate defense strategy;
• prevention of conflicts of interest between the company and its managers;
• managing the legal, financial and reputational consequences of criminal proceedings.

We also intervene in emergencies when a company is faced with a search, a seizure, a hearing of its managers or the opening of a criminal investigation.

Economic and financial criminal law

Our practice of economic and financial criminal law focuses on offences affecting the functioning of companies, the movement of funds, commercial relations and the fairness of economic operations.

ARST Avocats handles cases particularly concerning:

• financial and accounting fraud;
• the misappropriation of company assets;
• suspicious financial transactions;
• money laundering;
• fictitious or concealed transactions;
• fraudulent billing;
• fraudulent wire transfer scams;
• Presidential fraud;
• the impersonation of a company or its manager;
• maneuvers carried out during a sale, acquisition or investment;
• offences relating to financing and calls for investment;
• infringements on the interests of partners, shareholders, creditors or investors;
• offences committed in the context of public procurement or relations with public actors.

Our team intervenes alongside companies that are implicated, but also those that have suffered fraud, embezzlement, swindling or damage to their assets.

Criminal labor law and occupational risks

Labor criminal law concerns offences that may be attributed to a company, its legal representative, a delegate of powers or an operational manager in the context of employment relations.

We advise and defend employers, managers, and executives who are being sued, particularly for:

• undeclared work;
• illegal lending of labour or labor trafficking;
• irregular employment of foreign workers;
• offence of obstructing the functioning of employee representative bodies;
• moral or sexual harassment;
• discrimination ;
• attacks on dignity or professional equality;
• failure to comply with rules relating to working hours;
• failures to comply with health and safety obligations;
• unintentional injuries or homicide resulting from a work-related accident;
• endangering others;
• offences noted by the labour inspectorate;
• obstacle to control operations.

ARST Avocats intervenes proactively to secure internal procedures, delegations of authority, and the organization of occupational risk prevention. We also assist companies and their managers following a workplace accident, an administrative audit, the submission of a report to the public prosecutor, or the opening of an investigation.

This practice is carried out in coordination with our social law team, in order to simultaneously address the criminal, disciplinary and employment law aspects of the case.

Criminal investigations, police custody, preliminary investigation and trial

ARST Avocats provides defense for its clients at every stage of the criminal procedure.

We intervene within the framework of:

• of a summons by the police or gendarmerie services;
• of a free hearing;
• of being taken into custody;
• of a search or seizure;
• of a preliminary investigation or flagrant offense;
• investigations conducted by an administrative authority;
• of a judicial investigation;
• of being formally charged or placed under the status of assisted witness;
• of judicial control;
• of an appearance on prior admission of guilt;
• of a summons to appear before the police court or the criminal court;
• of a hearing before the criminal court or the assize court;
• of an appeal or an application for review by the Court of Cassation;
• of the execution and management of sentences.

From the initial investigations, our team analyzes the elements of the case, prepares the hearings, challenges the regularity of procedural acts if necessary, and defines a strategy adapted to the legal, professional, and reputational stakes of the case.

Companies and executives who are victims of crimes

Our firm also assists companies, associations, managers and professionals who are victims of criminal offences.

We assist them with:

• to make a report or file a complaint;
• to draft a simple complaint or a complaint with a civil claim;
• gather and preserve evidence;
• assess the financial, material, commercial or moral damage;
• to respond to a dismissal without further action;
• to refer the matter to the investigating judge;
• to become a civil party in criminal proceedings;
• request the return of seized property or funds;
• to seek compensation for damages suffered;
• coordinate the criminal proceedings with the necessary civil or commercial actions;
• implement precautionary measures and recovery procedures.

We intervene in particular in situations of internal or external fraud, swindling, embezzlement, cybercrime, identity theft, unfair competition of a criminal nature or damage to the assets and interests of the company.

Disciplinary law in the company

The employer's disciplinary power must be exercised in accordance with applicable legal, contractual, and regulatory provisions. A sanction that is insufficiently justified, disproportionate, or imposed following an irregular procedure may be challenged.

ARST Avocats assists companies in:

• analysis of the facts alleged against an employee;
• the conducting of an internal investigation;
• the collection and securing of evidence;
• the classification of the fault;
• the implementation of a precautionary measure;
• the preparation and conduct of the preliminary interview;
• the choice of a proportionate sanction;
• the notification of a warning, a reprimand, a disciplinary suspension, a demotion or a dismissal;
• managing situations of harassment, discrimination or violence at work;
• the link between disciplinary and criminal proceedings;
• the company's defense before the labor court.

The disciplinary procedure must adhere to strict deadlines and the principle of proportionality of the sanction. Our intervention aims to protect the company's interests while ensuring the security of each stage of the procedure.

Disciplinary law of regulated professions

ARST Avocats assists professionals subject to specific ethical or disciplinary rules, as well as the structures in which they practice.

We intervene with regulated professionals facing a complaint, an ethics investigation, a disciplinary procedure or proceedings, particularly in the sectors of law, accounting, health, architecture, real estate and activities subject to accreditation or a professional authority.

Our support focuses in particular on:

• analysis of applicable ethical rules;
• the prevention of disciplinary breaches;
• the response to a complaint or report;
• the preparation of written observations;
• assistance during the investigation or disciplinary proceedings;
• preparing for the hearing;
• the defense before the orders, chambers, councils and disciplinary commissions;
• contesting a warning, a reprimand, a suspension, a ban on practicing or a removal;
• the exercise of appeals against a disciplinary decision;
• the articulation between disciplinary, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings.

Disciplinary law requires precise knowledge of the texts specific to each profession, the applicable procedural guarantees and the consequences that a sanction may produce on the activity, reputation and continuation of professional practice.

A coordinated defense in criminal and disciplinary law

The same situation can lead to an internal investigation, disciplinary proceedings, social litigation, criminal prosecution and civil or commercial liability action.

ARST Avocats mobilizes the complementary skills of its teams in order to build a coherent strategy and to prevent the positions adopted in one procedure from weakening the defense conducted in another.

Are you looking for a lawyer specializing in white-collar crime, employment criminal law, or disciplinary law? Our team assists you in risk prevention, investigation management, and defending your interests before criminal courts, regulatory authorities, and disciplinary bodies.