Band 2
Band 3
About
Provided by Mark Rainsford KC
Practice Areas
Mark Rainsford KC is nationally and internationally recognised as one of the UK's leading criminal King's Counsel. He also specialises in commercial and civil fraud. Ranked Tier 1 (top ranked) in Legal 500 2025 for Business Crime, Regulatory, and Global investigations silks, he is also ranked as a leading silk in the fields of Proceeds of Crime and Asset Forfeiture (Tier 2), and Fraud Crime (Tier2). With exceptional expertise in cases concerning bribery and corruption in the banking sector, money laundering, and commercial and civil fraud, Mark has recently been described in the legal directories as being ‘Extremely brilliant on his feet.” He has extensive expertise in the field of litigation strategy. According to LEGAL 500 2025: ‘Mark is an excellent advocate. His advocacy is measured, incisive and persuasive. ’ 'His attractive and well-structured submissions reflect his meticulous preparation'.
Maintaining a commanding level of expertise and strategic oversight, together with a range of exemplary advocacy and advisory skills, Mark has fought and won numerous major criminal trials and some very large commercial and civil fraud cases. These include cases investigated by SFO/NCA/HMRC/CPS/US DoJ and SEC. He has successfully defended and prosecuted massive scale fraud, bribery, corruption, and money laundering trails, and has secured many non-prosecution outcomes for banking personal and entities/law firms/accounting and business advisory firms and other professionals, representing them in both criminal trials/pre-charge investigations, and parallel commercial/civil cases and investigations. Mark represents UHNW/individuals/HNW individuals/company directors/FTSE 100/FTSE 250/Fortune 500 companies/law firms/accounting firms and organisations facing a crisis.
Chambers Review
UK Bar
Mark Rainsford KC handles specialised financial crime, proceeds of crime and asset recovery cases, and boasts particular expertise in money laundering matters. His clients include major financial institutions and private individuals. Rainsford is further instructed by prosecution agencies.
Mark Rainsford KC has superb legal knowledge and great judgement in how best to advance the client's cause. He regularly handles corruption cases and all manner of investment frauds, including those relating to Ponzi schemes, and is noted for his skill in money laundering cases. He draws on complementary expertise in confiscation matters and those with a civil fraud aspect.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Mark is a very experienced criminal practitioner and he's good at explaining complex strategy in a simple way."
"Mark knows his stuff and is affable, approachable and available. He's very easy to work with and keen to get to the heart of the issue."
"Mark is an excellent practitioner who has an encyclopedic knowledge of POCA."
"He has a really lovely manner in court and delivers good, persuasive arguments."
"Mark is a very experienced criminal practitioner and he's good at explaining complex strategy in a simple way."
"Mark knows his stuff and is affable, approachable and available. He's very easy to work with and keen to get to the heart of the issue."
"Mark is an excellent practitioner who has an encyclopedic knowledge of POCA."
"He has a really lovely manner in court and delivers good, persuasive arguments."