News
Corker Binning recognised as top-tier firm in Chambers and Partners UK Legal Guide 2027
October 15 2026
Maia Cohen-Lask
Partner
"Maia Cohen-Lask is a real star. Super-bright and responsive and a real pleasure to work with. Top class."
Legal 500 2025
BIOGRAPHY & EXPERTISE
Maia is a specialist in white-collar criminal investigations and litigation, as well as having substantial experience in representing clients across the full spectrum of criminal cases.
Maia is ranked Band 3 for ‘Financial Crime: High Net Worth Individuals’ in Chambers and Partners HNW 2026, and as a Next Generation Partner for ‘Fraud: White-Collar Crime (advice to individuals)’ in the Legal 500 UK 2026. In 2024 she was named as one of the 40 leading investigations specialists in the world under the age of 40 in the GIR 40 under 40.
Chambers HNW describes her as “all over the detail, on top of the brief and has a tight grip on the overall direction and strategy of the case.”
Areas of expertise
Maia has represented clients in many of the largest and most high-profile financial crime cases in recent years. This includes cases being investigated and prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, National Crime Agency, Financial Conduct Authority, Crown Prosecution Service, and HM Revenue & Customs, and includes cross-border investigations where clients are being investigated in multiple jurisdictions.
Maia also has significant experience representing clients affected by the UK sanctions regime. This includes applications to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office and the courts for revocation of designation, as well as representing individuals and corporates subject to enforcement investigations for alleged breach of sanctions.
In general crime matters, Maia has represented individuals at every stage from their first interview at the police station through to trial. Her experience covers a wide variety of cases including sexual offences, assaults, blackmail, and drug offences. This includes substantial experience of representing high-profile individuals in sensitive cases with significant media interest.
WORK HIGHLIGHTS
- Secured the revocation of a client’s sanctions designation following an application to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.
- Securing the acquittal in June 2019 of a former Barclays Chief Executive prosecuted by the SFO in a case relating to the bank’s 2008 capital raisings.
- Advising individual suspects in a number of flagship SFO investigations including several LIBOR cases, Rolls Royce, and Glencore.
- Representing a designated person bringing one of the first legal challenges at the High Court under the sanctions regime for the removal of their designation.
- Advising clients investigated by the NCA for alleged criminal breaches of the sanctions regime.
- Representing very high profile individuals suspected of a variety of criminal offences (including drugs offences and sexual offences).
- Representing clients bringing successful Judicial Reviews of police search warrants.
- Representing a company and its director in respect of a prosecution for corporate manslaughter.
- Advising clients under investigation by HMRC on suspicion of criminal tax offences.
Career
Maia began her legal career as a paralegal at Corker Binning, before leaving to successfully undertake pupillage and practise as an independent criminal barrister at a Band 1 ranked criminal set. She returned as an associate in 2015, and became a partner in April 2023.
Maia is the Young Lawyers’ Committee Liaison Officer of the Business Crime Committee of the International Bar Association.
She is a member of Women’s White Collar Criminal Defence Association, the Fraud Lawyers Association and Lincoln’s Inn.
Maia completed her undergraduate degree at Oxford University, before going on to obtain a Distinction in her Graduate Diploma in Law, and an Outstanding in her Bar Professional Training Course.
Maia has spearheaded Corker Binning’s partnership with the Social Mobility Foundation, providing work experience to students who would not otherwise have access to such opportunities.
News & Insights
News
Corker Binning Partners Named Global Elite Team 2026
October 2 2026
Insights
Fraud Trials: Floodgates Opened?
December 15 2025
Comments
Maia Cohen-Lask quoted in the Financial Times’ feature on rate-rigging convictions being overturned in the UK and the US
August 14 2025
Comments
Maia Cohen-Lask quoted in the media on Eugene Shvidler’s failure to overturn his sanctions designation, following highly anticipated Supreme Court judgment
July 29 2025
Comments
Partner Maia Cohen-Lask quoted in the press after the Supreme Court decision in R v Hayes and R v Palombo
July 25 2025
Comments
Maia Cohen-Lask quoted as Tom Hayes’ LIBOR appeal opened at the Supreme Court
March 24 2025
News
Corker Binning secures removal of client from UK sanctions list
March 3 2025
Insights
Is excluding the complainant fair to the defendant?
September 23 2024
Comments
Maia Cohen-Lask Comments on Hayes LIBOR Supreme Court Appeal in Corporate Dispute Resolution
May 16 2024
Insights
Identification Principle on Target?
April 22 2024
Insights
What Russia Case Reveals About UK Sanctions Enforcement
October 17 2023
Insights
Prosecuting companies for criminality in their supply chains – an impossible prospect
June 3 2023
News
Corker Binning promotes two lawyers to its partnership
March 20 2023
Insights
Bloomberg LP v ZXC – a step towards greater fairness for uncharged suspects
August 5 2022
News
Maia Cohen-Lask featured in Solicitors Journal on the reporting of criminal trials
April 12 2022
News
Corker Binning announces Danielle Reece-Greenhalgh as a new Partner alongside two Of Counsel promotions
March 17 2022
Insights
Unaoil: A practical rebuke to the SFO, but no abuse
December 16 2021
Insights
GameStop: David, Goliath and the FCA
April 15 2021
News
Andrew Smith and Maia Cohen-Lask write for G+C Magazine on the risks for execs caught in the sights of a public inquiry
April 12 2021
News
Maia Cohen-Lask writes for The Barrister on adverse inferences
February 4 2021
News
Jessica Parker and Maia Cohen-Lask contribute to the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper on Search Warrants
June 7 2018
News
Maia Cohen-Lask discusses the Sentencing Council’s new guidelines in cases of Domestic Abuse in Criminal Law & Justice Weekly
March 3 2018
Comments
Maia Cohen-Lask’s statement on Vladimir Bukovsky’s judgment in The Times Law Brief, the Daily Mail and the Express & Star
February 12 2018
Insights
Cash Forfeiture: Insufficient Protections?
September 28 2017
News
Maia Cohen-Lask examines criminal cash forfeiture in Lawyer Monthly
September 28 2017
News
Maia Cohen-Lask examines the impact of the SMR on the recruitment of CCO’s in Thomson Reuters Accelus
September 18 2017
Insights
The Trial: A Murder in the Family (Part Five)
May 26 2017
News
Maia Cohen-Lask examines The Law Society’s practice note on s2 interviews in Solicitors Journal
May 8 2017
Testimonials
"Peter Binning and Maia Cohen-Lask are my go-to partners. They deal with complex matters with great skill, but what sets them apart is their truly collaborative approach and willingness to go the extra mile to deliver for the client."
Legal 500, 2026
"Maia is the embodiment of enthusiasm: keen about her cases and knows everything about them. As counsel, Maia is who I want behind me in the court. It's like having another brain plugged into my head!"
Chambers HNW 2025
"Maia is as sharp as a tack. She is all over the detail, on top of the brief and has a tight grip on the overall direction and strategy of the case."
Chambers HNW 2025
"Maia Cohen-Lask is a real star. Super-bright and responsive and a real pleasure to work with. Top class."
Legal 500 2025
“It is hard to rival Maia for energy, commitment and analysis. You want her on your side.”
Chambers HNW 2023
“Maia is a legal and evidential dynamo with an incredible work rate, excellent analysis skills and commitment to the case that is incomparable. She is a true pleasure to work with, and one to watch for the future.”
Chambers HNW 2023
"Maia Cohen-Lask – a first class lawyer whose mind scours through cases like Vim. An intellectual giant with a great sense of humour which makes her a real pleasure to work with too. I trust every single word that comes out of her mouth, as well as I trust my own memory."
Legal 500 2023
"great, very enthusiastic and very good with clients; quite confident and outgoing, gets done what needs to be done."
Chambers HNW 2022
"Maia Cohen-Lask is an intellectual powerhouse, utterly committed to her cases and brimming with energy, as a result of which she often has the best grip on the facts of any team member and plays a crucial role in litigation."
THE LEGAL 500 2022
"Senior associate Maia Cohen-Lask is a rising star in the team."
THE LEGAL 500 2022
- Secured the revocation of a client’s sanctions designation following an application to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.
- Securing the acquittal in June 2019 of a former Barclays Chief Executive prosecuted by the SFO in a case relating to the bank’s 2008 capital raisings.
- Advising individual suspects in a number of flagship SFO investigations including several LIBOR cases, Rolls Royce, and Glencore.
- Representing a designated person bringing one of the first legal challenges at the High Court under the sanctions regime for the removal of their designation.
- Advising clients investigated by the NCA for alleged criminal breaches of the sanctions regime.
- Representing very high profile individuals suspected of a variety of criminal offences (including drugs offences and sexual offences).
- Representing clients bringing successful Judicial Reviews of police search warrants.
- Representing a company and its director in respect of a prosecution for corporate manslaughter.
- Advising clients under investigation by HMRC on suspicion of criminal tax offences.