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Natalia Aguilar

Natalia Aguilar

Senior Associate

0161 836 8981
0734 173 6422
natalia.aguilar@brabners.com

Natalia is a Senior Associate in our corporate defence and compliance team.

A specialist financial regulatory practitioner with a focus on tax disputes — particularly those involving allegations of fraud — Natalia is incredibly detail-orientated and frequently engaged in high value, complex cases before the First-Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), Upper Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal.

Natalia has developed expertise in dealing with seizures of goods by Border Force and in judicial review challenges to the decisions of regulators. She is frequently instructed in non-contentious compliance reviews of anti-money laundering (AML) and prevention of facilitation of tax evasion policies for FTSE-500 clients and high value dealers.

Her clients range from national and international companies to private individuals across many sectors, including wholesale, transport and logistics, recruitment, construction and financial services. 

Navigating disputes and proceedings with regulators can be an incredibly difficult and stressful process for clients — especially since the consequences can involve criminal convictions, director disqualifications, personal penalties and significant reputational damage. That’s why Natalia works hard to address her clients’ concerns and provide always-on legal support. She investigates every possible avenue and opportunity available to clients before recommending any course of action.

Since qualifying in 2019, Natalia has worked on major multi-million-pound cases, including managing the trial of six successful appeals against assessments and personal penalties in excess of £25m made by HMRC against a businessman, alleging VAT and duty evasion between 2004 and 2014. This followed a three-month trial involving 50 witnesses and over 100,000 documents.

Recognised as an ‘Associate to Watch’ by Chambers and Partners in 2023, Natalia was also nominated twice in that same year for ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in separate legal awards and identified as a ‘Rising Star’ by Northwest Business Insider in 2022.

An avid reader and writer, Natalia has had numerous articles published that cover a range of regulatory topics, including in The Times and Property Week. She regularly delivers training to Fortune 500 companies on these topics, as well as to members of the ICAEW in conjunction with the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

A drummer and former cheerleader, Natalia loves spending time with her rescue Alaskan Malamute Sikku. In her younger years, she aspired to become a forensic psychiatrist before taking on an additional A-level in law and getting hooked on learning about contentious work. 

After graduating from university in 2014, Natalia started her legal career in personal injury at a high street law firm before moving to the insurance department at a full-service national law firm. She later joined the insolvency and restructuring team at an international commercial law firm where she began her training contract, undertaking seats in construction, commercial litigation and regulatory.

Natalia joined us in November 2023 and is based in our Manchester office.

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