Insolvency and bankruptcy
This area includes:
- Personal insolvency
- Corporate insolvency
- Asset recovery (e.g. office-holder claims, transactions defrauding creditors, void dispositions)
- Claims against directors (e.g. breach of duty, misappropriation of assets, unlawful dividends and directors’ loan account claims)
- Directors' disqualification proceedings / Permission to act
- Receiverships including LPA receiverships
- Corporate and partnership break-up and shareholder disputes.
Members of 3PB’s commercial group advise on all aspects of insolvency, whether that be applications being made within insolvency proceedings or other matters such as applications for administration order, to set aside statutory demands, to restrain winding up petitions or to restrain advertisement of petitions. They also cover the full range of transaction avoidance work (e.g. transactions defrauding creditors, preferences, transactions at undervalue).
We act on behalf of office-holders, debtors, creditors, companies, directors and insolvency practitioners (IPs) providing focused advocacy and advice on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious Insolvency Law and procedure.
Our team regularly appears in the High Court (the Companies Court and the Bankruptcy Division) and in County Courts across the country. One of our team, Cheryl Jones, was appointed a Deputy Bankruptcy Registrar in 2008 and sits in the Bankruptcy Division and Companies Court in the High Court.
3PB is recognised by clients and the leading legal directories for its depth of specialisation and the quality of its legal advice whilst prized for its commercial approach to complex problems. Members regularly deliver talks and workshops for industry groups, solicitors, accountancy firms and other insolvency practitioners across the UK. Members recently contributed to LexisPSL commentary on the Insolvency Rules 2016 and are regular contributors to LexisPSL Restructuring and Insolvency.
For further information about fees please visit this page.
Our Commercial Barristers...
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Former Solicitor General in England and Wales, the Rt.Hon. Michael Tomlinson KC (call:2002) is returning to 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) to practice as a barrister after more than 9 years as an MP and becoming one of UK’s top law enforcement officers. Michael was the first newly appointed King’s Counsel in 2022 and was sworn in as a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council in February 2024. Michael will be based in the...
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3PB insolvency, commercial and property litigation barrister Rebecca Farrell assists landlord to set aside liquidator’s decision to reject proof of debt raising interesting points including (a) the appropriate measure of damages for a breach of covenant claim and (b) whether a landlord can seek its costs of proving for a debt within the proof of debt in the circumstances. In Brown v Ulrick (as the liquidator of S.A.L. Holdings Ltd) S.A.L. Holdings Ltd (in members’...
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Former WilmerHale commercial litigation and arbitration lawyer Kevin Pettican, who practised for nearly twenty years from commercial chancery chambers in London, is set to relocate to Birmingham and join national chambers 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) where he will continue to develop his growing practice in the Midlands alongside his existing practice in London and internationally. Kevin Pettican (call: 1994) joins today, Monday 12 August 2024, and will work alongside 3PB’s recent experienced commercial and international...
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In a judgment handed down last week by the Insolvency and Companies Court ICC Judge Barber determined that it was appropriate to exercise her discretion and dismiss a petition presented against a company incorporated to run a school (“the Company”). In so doing, the Judge acknowledged that: a. the Company demonstrated a strongly arguable case that the majority of the petition debt did not represent rent arrears, but the purchase price for shares in the...
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3PB insolvency, commercial and property barrister Cheryl Jones saw her client, the former postmaster Kavil Singh Rao, have his bankruptcy annulled on the grounds that the order should never have been made. Due to Horizon errors, the Post Office made Mr Rao bankrupt on 20 December 2012. The court has taken over eleven lost and agonising years to correct this injustice, and it should not be forgotten that Mr Rao will continue to suffer with...
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Commercial litigation and insolvency barrister Aaron Luxton joins 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) after moving across from law firm DWF, where he had been a solicitor-advocate and an employed in-house barrister. Aaron has become a tenant of chambers upon the successful conclusion of his third six pupillage, joining the 50-strong commercial litigation team. Working from 3PB's Birmingham office, and practicing nationally, Aaron specialises in commercial, contractual and insolvency disputes. He has a particular interest, and experience,...
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Commercial litigation barrister Saunak Irani-Nayar, who graduated with a BA and MA degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge and has been awarded several scholarships and prizes for his academic results, has become a member of 3PB. He specialises principally in banking, securities and finance litigation, contractual and business-to-business disputes, property disputes and consumer credit litigation. Ranked 1st in his year on the GDL, Saunak achieved one of the highest sets of marks ever...
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3PB specialist Commercial and Property barristers Charles Irvine and Rebecca Farrell (pictured here) reflect on the expiry of remaining temporary measures introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”), which provided important protection to businesses during the Covid pandemic. Rebecca and Charles also examine the impact for Landlords and Tenants of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 (“the Act”) which received Royal Assent on 24 March 2022, including useful guidance that practitioners may...
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3PB’s specialist commercial litigation barrister Jakob Reckhenrich, pictured here, advises clients on the court's approach to requests to pay judgments by instalments. In this newly-penned article, Jakob analyses the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and the recent case law interpreting those provisions. Jakob advises that judgment debtors are usually required to pay within 14 days and that it is for judgment creditors to decide what means of enforcement to use, including the...
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Barrister Jakob Reckhenrich, a multiple-scholarship award winner and Oxford and Brown Universities alumnus, has joined 3PB to advise on commercial, real estate and property disputes. He joins 3PB, initially as a third six pupil, after completing his pupillage at Monckton Chambers and working as a judicial assistant in the Commercial Court, where he assisted, among others, Mrs Justice Cockerill and Mr Justice Butcher. Jakob Reckhenrich came to the Bar after working as an academic philosopher...
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Specialist insolvency barrister Thomas Talbot-Ponsonby of 3PB Barristers successfully acted for the claimant, Mr Hobson, in the highly-topical insolvency case of Hobson v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [2021] EWHC 1317 (Ch) [2021] EWHC 1317 (Ch) concerning whether disqualified directors can continue to act, and under which conditions. In this case, a company director had an undertaking to the Insolvency Service not to act as a company director or be involved...
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3PB Head of Chambers David Berkley KC is delighted to announce that barrister and former Advocate David Parratt KC (call: 1999/Silk: 2017) has joined full-time from Arnot Manderson Chambers in Scotland, having previously been a door tenant with the national chambers. David (pictured here) is a leading counsel for international and UK arbitrations and also has experience acting as arbitrator. He is renowned for his work in commercial, construction, engineering and energy disputes. He has...
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