Mishcon de Reya’s White-Collar Team Now on Crisis Footing as Epstein Scandal Goes Criminal
Norma Harris, LawFuel contributor
For the law firm managing the defence of Peter Mandleson — Mishcon de Reya — today’s arrest represents a decisive escalation. What began as a high-profile reputation management brief has become one of the most significant criminal defence instructions in the firm’s history.
Mishcon de Reya was first reported to be representing Mandelson by The Lawyer earlier this month, with Johanna Walsh (pictured) head of the firm’s white-collar crime and investigations practice, leading the team.
The choice of Walsh, recognised by Legal 500 as a first-tier practitioner in serious and organised crime and by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Leader in Investigations, signalled from the outset that Mandelson and his advisers anticipated criminal exposure well before today’s arrest.
The firm has served as Mandelson’s public voice throughout the crisis, issuing a widely-reported statement that he “regrets, and will regret until his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality” and that he “did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019.”
With their client now under arrest and being interviewed at a London police station, Walsh and the Mishcon team face the most demanding phase of the engagement. Under PACE (the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984), Mandelson can be held for up to 24 hours without charge, extendable to 96 hours on application to a magistrate.
The immediate priorities for his legal team will be the conduct of the custodial interview — almost certainly under caution, managing the evidential record, and advising on whether Mandelson exercises his right to silence.
The Allegations: What the Epstein Files Revealed
The arrest flows directly from the US Department of Justice’s release of the Epstein files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by President Trump on 19 November 2025.
The DOJ released over 3.5 million pages of documents in January and February 2026, including email correspondence purportedly showing Mandelson, during his tenure as Business Secretary in Gordon Brown’s government between 2008 and 2010, forwarding sensitive government material to Epstein.
The documents alleged to be most legally significant, as reported by The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Irish Times and international outlets, include:
- Emails appearing to show Mandelson disclosed a planned €500 billion EU bailout before it was publicly announced
- An alleged tip-off to Epstein about Gordon Brown’s resignation in May 2010
- Discussion of a proposed tax on bankers’ bonuses and advice that a foreign bank client should “mildly threaten” then-Chancellor Alistair Darling
- Bank records showing $75,000 in payments from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson in three transactions in 2003 and 2004
The Metropolitan Police first confirmed the investigation on 3 February 2026, with Metropolitan Police Commander Ella Marriott stating officers were investigating “a 72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences.” Properties in Wiltshire and Camden were searched on 6 February. Today’s arrest is a natural but significant escalation of those inquiries.
Mandelson has consistently denied wrongdoing, stating he has “no record or recollection” of the payments and that none of the communications “indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour.”
Misconduct in Public Office
The offence of misconduct in public office, a common law offence with no statutory maximum sentence (in practice, courts have imposed terms of up to life imprisonment) — is, as CNN’s legal analysis notes, “notoriously difficult to prosecute” and “lacking clarity.” The Crown Prosecution Service guidance requires prosecutors to establish that the defendant was a public officer acting as such, that he wilfully neglected or misconducted himself to a degree that amounts to an abuse of the public’s trust, and that there was no reasonable excuse.
Tax Policy Associates published a significant legal analysis in February concluding there is “a realistic prospect that Mr Mandelson could be convicted”, while acknowledging material uncertainty due to the archaic nature of the offence and the evidential questions around the authenticity and provenance of the email cache.
The willfulness requirement is likely to be the terrain on which Mishcon fights hardest. Walsh’s team will be focused on whether prosecutors can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mandelson knew that forwarding the materials in question was wrong, not merely that he exercised poor judgment in his dealings with Epstein.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has separately called on the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate potential insider dealing arising from the alleged disclosure of market-sensitive information, a parallel civil regulatory track that could add to the complexity of the legal landscape Mishcon must navigate.
A Systemic Political and Legal Crisis
Today’s arrest follows that of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) on 19 February 2026 — the first arrest of a member of the British royal family in modern history — who was released under investigation after ten hours of questioning, also on suspicion of misconduct in public office relating to his role as UK trade envoy.
He is represented by Blackfords’ Gary Bloxsome alongside Matrix Chambers’ Clare Montgomery KC, as LawFuel has reported.
The political casualties mount. Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney resigned on 8 February. Mandelson himself resigned from the Labour Party on 1 February and from the House of Lords days later. His advisory firm Global Counsel, whose clients included Barclays, Tesco, and the Premier League, has ceased trading and entered administration, with Interpath Advisory appointed as joint administrators.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who appointed Mandelson as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 and dismissed him in September 2025 — told Parliament that Mandelson “betrayed our country, our parliament, and my party.” The government has confirmed that tens of thousands of emails and documents relating to Mandelson’s vetting and appointment will be published in early March, a disclosure that Cabinet Office minister Darren Jones confirmed on Monday will begin in that timeframe.
What Lawyers Should Be Watching
For practitioners advising on white-collar matters, governance, and public law, this case is essential watching on several fronts:
The misconduct in public office threshold. The Law Commission has previously recommended that the offence be replaced with a modern statutory equivalent. The Mandelson case, with its question of whether email disclosures to a private individual constitute a wilful abuse of ministerial office , will test the outer limits of the common law offence and may itself generate pressure for legislative reform.
Criminal defence strategy post-arrest. The decision to exercise the right to silence versus making a prepared statement under caution is among the most consequential tactical calls Walsh will face. Given the volume of documentary evidence already in the public domain and the government’s plan to release thousands more documents, the interview strategy will be determinative.
The intersection of criminal investigation and public disclosure. The government’s decision to publish Mandelson’s vetting materials while the Metropolitan Police investigation is live raises legitimate concerns about prejudicing proceedings — a tension that lawyers advising public sector clients should note carefully.
Parallel regulatory exposure. The FCA referral request adds a further dimension. If the regulator takes up the insider dealing question, Mishcon would be advising a client simultaneously under criminal investigation, subject to potential regulatory inquiry, and engaged in US Congressional proceedings — a genuinely multi-jurisdictional crisis instruction.
