Public sector - Restructuring & Insolvency

Our public sector team at TLT, led by Claire Graham, acts nationally for public sector bodies through our inclusion on Central Government Legal Services Panel RM6179 and other tender panel memberships.

We advise public bodies generally on restructuring and insolvency issues and have advised the Official Receiver on large national failures including those involving special manager appointments. We have experience of dealing with emergency appointments and creating at speed large teams of lawyers across disciplines to provide support to office holders. We also specialise in contentious litigation pursuing misfeasance claims on behalf of liquidators and recovering debtors' assets in both corporate and personal insolvency cases. This often leads us to advise on complicated trust structures and overseas assets.

We are one of the only 5 firms nationally who are instructed to carry out insolvency investigations into director conduct following the insolvency of a company. We act for the Insolvency Service / Official Receiver in applications to disqualify directors, Bankruptcy Restriction Applications, Provisional Liquidation Applications and the presentation of petitions in the public interest to wind up companies on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. We also have the experience of acting in respect of Scottish companies through our Scottish offices. The team boasts five investigators trained to the Government’s Counter Fraud Standard, each with 20 years’+ experience. These investigators carry out investigations on behalf of the Secretary of State reviewing the conduct of directors and the affairs of live and insolvent companies.

• Successfully acting for the Official Receiver in opposition of a high profile football agent’s application to vary his Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking.
• Successfully acting for the Insolvency Service in respect of an appeal of a judgment made in respect of a director disqualification application brought against corporate directors involving fraudulent foreign investments of several million pounds, connected party transfers at undervalue and divergence of company funds to the directors’ accounts.
• Advising and acting for the Insolvency Service in respect of the high profile winding up an insolvency practitioners’ practice, Vanguard Insolvency Practitioners Limited, together with its corporate group. This was a high importance decision which provided much needed guidance regarding the regulations of insolvency practitioners and the level of transparency required for those who operate Company Voluntary Arrangements which will have far reaching repercussions for the insolvency industry.
• Acting for the Official Receiver on the special manager appointment over Redcar Steel Works (SSI), a matter of significant national interest involving diverse and complex legal issues.
• Acting for the Public Interest Unit of the Official Receiver on various cases with high profile or national strategic importance. Examples include the rescue and financial restructuring of a large open cast tungsten mine; dealing with hazardous industrial equipment; working with various Government Departments in dealing with the wind-down and closure of deep, drift and open cast coal mines; selling trading businesses/divisions on behalf of the Official Receiver; seeking recovery of assets from directors involved in fraudulent activity. This often involves working in conjunction with private sector financial stakeholders and public sector agencies.
• Conducting multiple insolvency investigations into director conduct and directors disqualification applications on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
• Appointed to the market oversight teams for various regulators and public sector bodies in relation to financial distress, including particular expertise in financial services, educational establishments and care provision.
• Undertaken a number of large-scale projects for the disclaimer of onerous property, on behalf of public sector insolvency office holders.