Insolvency Litigation

We have considerable experience in advising on all aspects of insolvency litigation, including acting for insolvency practitioners, companies, individuals and directors.  We are uniquely placed to assist with complex insolvency litigation matters, with particular strength in fraud cases.

In addition to the experience of our commercial litigation team, we can also draw on the expertise of our leading specialists across the firm which means that we are uniquely placed to assist with complex insolvency litigation. We have the benefit of internal specialists in areas including fraud, employment, real estate, regulation, corporate and criminal law to enable us to advise clients on the wide variety of legal issues that can crop up in an insolvency process.

We have particular strength in fraud cases. We are regularly instructed to assist in asset tracing including utilising the full spectrum of insolvency powers available to investigate, locate and preserve assets. We have extensive experience in cross border recovery, asset freezes and search orders and we have the benefit of working with our leading criminal law team and professional advisers in other jurisdictions to assist as necessary.

We can advise on the full range of contentious insolvency matters, including:

• administrations;
• bankruptcy;
• liquidations;
• provisional liquidations;
• claims by insolvency practitioners;
• preferences and transactions at an undervalue;
• statutory demands and winding-up petitions;
• advice on Insolvency Act section 234 (delivery up of property), section 235 (duty to co-operate) and section 236 (provision of documents and information);
• voluntary arrangements (individual and corporate);
• wrongful trading;
• fraudulent trading;
• other fraud and misconduct offences;
• investor and shareholder disputes;
• claims against former officers;
• protection of assets and injunctions; and
• asset recovery.

Please see the following pages to access the advice you need:

• Insolvency Practitioners
• Individuals (including advice on bankruptcy and individual creditors) 
• Companies 
• Directors 

Examples of recent cases

The recent insolvency litigation work we have undertaken includes:

• acting for insolvency practitioners in obtaining multiple urgent out of court administration appointments including advising on their powers and post appointment issues including ROT claims, purported exercise of liens, cross border elements, furloughing/redundancy of staff and termination of leases;
• advising office holders and directors on their powers and obligations under section 234 (delivery up of property), section 235 (duty to co-operate) and section 236 (provision of documents and information) of the Insolvency Act 1986;
• advising creditors in proving their claims in both administrations and liquidations including successfully challenging the joint liquidators’ failure to adjudicate in a timely fashion and negotiating payment in full plus interest;
• advising office holders, creditors and shareholders on their rights and powers to bring claims against delinquent directors including antecedent transactions (particularly, risk of wrongful trading and fraudulent trading claims);
• acting for the liquidator of a Cayman company in relation to a pension scheme being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office;
• advising companies on statutory demands and obtaining injunctive relief in relation to the presentation of winding-up petitions;
• negotiating the discontinuation of directors’ disqualification proceedings against our client, including payment of a significant proportion of his costs;
• acting for a trustee in bankruptcy seeking to challenge various transactions, including a divorce settlement, and to challenge an employee benefit trust on the basis that it was a sham;
• acting for a liquidator seeking to recover fees paid to the former administrators on the basis that they were excessive for the amount of work done and raised in breach of the fiduciary duties owed by the former administrators.
• acting for a liquidator to recovery early termination charges mistakenly paid under a factoring agreement;
• acting for a company challenging a third party debt order and a charging order obtained by trustees in bankruptcy on the basis that the ‘loan’ the orders are based on was in fact a settlement into a trust;
• acting for a director whose company had been placed into Provisional Liquidation following the service by HMRC of Notice of Assessments in excess of £7million. HMRC issued a winding up petition against the company and the Provisional Liquidator issued misfeasance proceedings against the director. We represented the company in opposing the winding up petition which was listed for a 10 day hearing. The matter was heavily contested and was settled just before the hearing.

For more information, have a look at our frequently asked questions on insolvency litigation and read our case studies.

We can give advice and discuss the various options available for funding insolvency litigation which may include acting on a Conditional Fee Agreement or obtaining litigation funding from a third party funder.