Dechert has agreed to make a payment of £20 million in interim costs to the ENRC in the latest stage of its proceedings against the firm and its former partner Neil Gerrard.

It comes after a decade-long proceeding that resulted in the High Court finding in May that Dechert, its former white-collar crime head Gerrard, and the Serious Fraud Office had committed acts of wrongdoing in their dealings with ENRC as a client.