Kyan Pucks

A junior barrister with an abundance of experience across a wide variety of work within the field of corporate and financial crime; she is adept at dealing with complex material and issues across multiple jurisdictions.

Overview

Kyan Pucks has experience beyond her call in corporate and financial crime. She has developed a practise as led and sole junior in cases of fraud, money laundering, bribery and corruption, and rate manipulation. In addition, she has experience in related POCA proceedings, as well as high-profile oil and gas arbitrations. Her focus is on increasing her already impressive experience of legally complex, paper-heavy cases, as well as her advocacy. Before joining Chambers, Kyan worked at a leading financial and corporate crime firm and was involved in large-scale SFO investigations. She was a part of the core defence team for the second defendant in the Barclays LIBOR trial.

Experience

Kyan is instructed both as led and sole junior in cases involving fraud, money laundering, and bribery and corruption. She was recently led by Sir David Calvert-Smith in an independent review of the manner in which the SFO handled its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation - this matter was covered by both The Times and the Law Society Gazette. She also recently completed a six-month trial at Blackfriars Crown Court in which she represented a defendant accused of a 10 million pound conspiracy to defraud and launder money. This was a remarkably voluminous and complex trial, in which, as led junior, Kyan cross-examined the first co-defendant.

Kyan spent five months in 2018 seconded to a Magic Circle firm, to assist one of the ‘Big Four’ clearing banks in-house with its disclosure obligations in a police investigation. As the only criminal barrister in the team, she advised on and managed an LPP disclosure exercise.

Kyan also has experience of Intellectual Property Law. During pupillage, Kyan assisted an artist, whose work had been in breach of copyright by a legal recruitment firm, to bring a claim in the Small Claims Court. Following mediation and a number of representations, this case was successfully settled outside court, for an amount exceeding the Small Claim Court's threshold. 

On securing tenancy, Kyan was asked to assist in a multi-billion dollar commercial arbitration in the Singapore International Arbitration centre, involving  leading Chinese oil and gas company and it's overseas subsidiary, relating to their researcher for a senior barrister at a leading commercial Chambers, where she assisted in the preparation of a number of commercial arbitrations. 

Prior to coming to the Bar, Kyan worked at BCL Burton Copeland for two-years whilst completing the Bar. She assisted in a number of high profile cases, including the defence of Jay Merchant, one of the defendants in the Barclays LIBOR trial at Southwark Crown Court. Kyan was integral to the defence team, assisting in the preparation as well as attending the trial in its entirety. Kyan was also involved in cases involving bribery and corruption charges in England & Wales, as well as in other European jurisdictions. 

Whilst at BCL Burton Copeland, Kyan took particular interest in assisting to advise leading global social networking and communication corporations. Through this, she developed an understanding of the complex nature of cybersecurity laws and assisted in the drafting of a number of related articles, including the UK Chapters of ‘Getting the Deal Through’.

Notable Cases

R v Merchant and Others (2016)
Representing a derivatives trader in the SFO prosecution for manipulation of US Dollar LIBOR.

Articles

Kyan is a contributing author to Thomson Reuters' Westlaw.

Westlaw subscribers can click here to see Westlaw's International Crimes: War Crimes article, which Kyan contributed to.

“Using impact statements for business in corporate crime cases”. Click here for Nicholas Griffin QC and Kyan Pucks' LexisNexis article reconsidering Impact Statements for Business.