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Directors ordered to pay petitioners’ costs of a winding up petition
Nick Hughes
Lucy is Legal Director in Kingsley Napley’s Dispute Resolution team, based in London. Lucy has a wealth of experience in insolvency across numerous sectors in both contentious and non-contentious corporate and personal insolvency.
Lucy advises insolvency practitioners, companies, directors, landlords, suppliers, creditors and others affected by insolvency. Whilst not shy of litigation, where she can, Lucy looks to resolve disputes without having to go to trial.
Lucy also specialises in advising insolvency practitioners appointed as receivers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and has particular expertise in advising on the interaction of POCA and insolvency. Lucy is the secretary of the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers’ Association.
Areas of expertise
- Asset tracing and recovery
- Challenging antecedent transactions
- Directors’ duties and liability on insolvency
- Company rescue
- Bankruptcy
Recent work
The below includes work during Lucy's employment at her previous firm:
- Acting for insolvency practitioners on out of court administration appointments; including advising on their powers, post-appointment issues and the validity of their appointment.
- Acting for directors of companies in liquidation; advising on their duties to cooperate and issues raised by the liquidators, including potential claims in relation to antecedent transactions.
- Acting for office holders investigating potential claims, including preferences, transactions at an undervalue and void dispositions.
- Acting for a creditor who requested a public examination of the director of the company in liquidation, including providing detailed evidence, and successfully resisting a third party costs order against the requesting creditor.
- Claims by a liquidator against an errant company director in relation to a number of companies from which he had taken money and unravelling the complex corporate structure used to hide his beneficial ownership.
- Advising a company that was a subsidiary of a charity on its insolvency and assisting the liquidators with the recovery of assets.
- Advising HNW individuals on their position as creditors of a bankrupt and on potential antecedent transaction claims against them.
- Acting for an interim manager of a charitable trust appointed by the Charity Commission; advising on claims by third parties, including a disputed claim by HMRC, and on the conduct and liability of the trustees.
- Advising a high street bank on its re-financing of companies in CVAs and advising landlords affected by CVAs on their rights and available actions.
- Obtaining recognition in the High Court of a Malaysian liquidation just prior to trial in order to take advantage of a stay of proceedings.
- Acting for trustees in bankruptcy on the realisation of a number of properties as well as obtaining a civil restraint order, an order for private examination and indefinite suspension of discharge.
- Advising the trustees of an occupational pension scheme on a judgment creditor's rights against the judgment debtor’s beneficial interest in the scheme; on the creditor’s application for an order under Blight v Brewster and successfully challenging a charging order against the scheme.
- Regularly acting for POCA receivers on wide ranging issues affecting the realisation of assets, including disputes over ownership, applications for receiver’s costs and on claims against receivers.
What clients and directories have said
Lucy is a stalwart in the world of POCA law."
Chambers and Partners, 2025
On behalf of the family, I would like to thank you, Lucy, from the bottom of our hearts for the immense care and attention you have shown towards reaching a settlement. We really do appreciate your guidance and professional input. It has been a great pleasure for all of us to work with you. We would have no hesitation in calling upon you or recommending you and your firm to our friends and colleagues.”
A client, 2023
Lucy is commercial, responsive and very technically knowledgeable. Lucy has a thorough understanding of POCA and is a hugely effective litigator”
Chambers and Partners, 2022
She has unparalleled experience and ability in representing receivers”
Chambers and Partners, 2021
POCA Work & Asset Forfeiture – Band 3
- Star Associates
Memberships
- R3
- IWIRC
- POCLA
