Guildhall The Watershed

Transcription

1 Guildhall The Watershed Thursday 4 June 2009 The Watershed, 1 Canon s Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TX The Insolvency team is proud to host another topical and distinctive one-day seminar. The day will be chaired by Chief Bankruptcy Registrar Baister and will cover practical and topical insolvency issues including bankruptcy, retention of title, and insolvency litigation costs. Key topics covered Corporate Issues for 2009 Bankruptcy: Realisation issues in personal insolvency Retention of The new Ethical Guide The Insolvency Service so what gives? Trusts Insolvency litigation costs Fee: VAT per delegate All additional delegates VAT per delegate 23 Broad Street, Bristol BS1 2HG Tel Fax Bristol insolvency@guildhallchambers.co.uk (see booking form for details) 5.5 CPD hours

2 Seminar programme 8.45 Registration & Refreshments Lunch 9.30 Welcome Chairman s address Chief Registrar Baister 9.40 Five important Insolvency milestones for 2009 Catherine Burton, DLA Piper & Martha Maher, The latest on the Stone & Rolls litigation and liquidators rights to sue former auditors Landlords and quality of life post-sunberry The Lehman administration and why third parties cannot have their assets back TUPE and Wellswood The CA ruling in Sigma Finance Corp: clauses in security trust deeds and the pari passu rule The only limit to our realisation of tomorrow will be our doubts of today realisation issues in personal insolvency Simeon Gilchrist, Edwin Coe LLP & Paul French, Use it or lose it after Lewis v Metropolitan Charging orders: getting them, enforcing them and are you bound by them? Mortgage redemption penalty + equitable accounting + equity of exoneration = low value home: the reality and how to deal with it Be careful if you do attempt to realise: Council tax and Ella Human Rights again Rooney scores Coffee Retention of : A thorn in the side? Gerard McMeel & Stefan Ramel, Incorporation issues: signature, notice, course of dealing Construction and categorisation: all moneys, mixing, tracing and following Assessing creditors claims: identification of goods and dealing with resale proceeds Practical issues: insolvency procedures and potential liabilities Making sense of debt solutions Nick Howard, Director of Policy and International Affairs, The Insolvency Service Overview of personal insolvency Early learning points from the DRO regime Regulated DMPs? Update on the IVA market Twilight trusts: protection from those you cannot trust? Peter Cranston, Eversheds & Hugh Sims, The necessary building blocks for a trust Their current role in pre-pack work Typical problem scenarios Re BA Peters Plc: a new priority? A comparative glance around the globe The future Coffee Liability of insolvency practitioners for the legal costs of litigation Chief Registrar Stephen Baister and Stephen Davies QC, IP as losing party normal CPR rules apply/ discontinuance examples of personal liability Indemnity out of estate when disapplied and super-priority of adverse costs Sanction and undertakings in damages given by IPs IP s own time as a recoverable legal cost Security for costs and IP liability for costs as a 3rd party Insolvency University Challenge Chair: Neil Levy, Insolvency lawyers v insolvency IPs Close relax at Watershed bar Issues arising out of the new Ethical Guide Tracy Stanhope, ICAEW & Christopher Brockman, The Fundamental principles Threats and how to identify them What safeguards? How the rules apply to insolvency appointments Professional and personal relationships Fees and remuneration

3 About the team is home to the largest specialist insolvency team led by a specialised silk outside London. Stephen Davies QC was called in 1983 and took silk in Stephen s practice covers the full spectrum of insolvency cases, from large corporate failures and cross-border relationships to sports and personal insolvency. He has appeared in over 80 reported insolvency cases, including two of the handful of insolvency cases to reach the House of Lords during the last five years - concerning the nature and extent of insolvency set off (Frid) and the vesting provisions in the insolvency legislation (Mulkerrins). During 2005 he acted for the applicants in the TXU litigation and for various football clubs, including Wimbledon FC (CA) and Exeter City FC (HC) in the first reported cases caused by the football creditors rule. In 2006 Stephen was heavily involved in litigation concerning a failed PFI project and acted for the ICAEW in the professional conduct proceedings arising out of the appointments in Boo.com. In 2007 he appeared in the Court of Appeal in Nurkowski (transactions defrauding creditors), Neville v Krikorian (unlawful loans) and Whitehouse v Wilson (assignment of causes of action). During 2008 he represented the Official Receiver in the trial of the disqualification proceedings relating to the demise of the Accident Group and for the Football League in its dispute over the football creditors rule with Leeds United FC. He also acted in a public law dispute with the Welsh Assembly Government, in the Rivkin litigation and appeared before the Court of Appeal on various insolvency appeals. In 2009 Stephen appeared in the Court of Appeal on a case concerning time bars for claims in CVA (Gold Fields), is instructed in the Farepak litigation and in the Court of Appeal for the appellants in Lewis v Metropolitan Properties. He advises regularly on the legal issues arising out of the new structures and techniques thrown up by the credit crunch. Christopher Brockman (1985) is unusual in having been dual qualified as a solicitor (1988) and a barrister from when that first became possible. He practised as a solicitor from 1987 to 1991 in London for leading London firms. He joined from a major regional firm in 2005 having been a partner specialising in all forms of insolvency from Chris is a member of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and a fellow of R3 (Association of Business Recovery Professionals), he is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator. He has spoken at the R3 National Conference on Personal Insolvency on more than one occasion and at numerous regional meetings. Chris practises in all areas of personal and corporate insolvency law including: administration orders (both opposing the making of an order and on consequential applications); compulsory winding up (opposing petitions and preventing presentation or advertisement of petitions); freezing orders; wrongful trading/breach of directors duties claims; 236 applications to examine directors and examination of directors; defending trustees against claims for negligence/breach of duty; Bankruptcy Restriction Orders; Company Directors Disqualification proceedings. He has recently advised on the insolvency consequences of complex restructuring agreements. He has a particular speciality in emergency applications of all forms, from worldwide freezing orders to applications to prevent the presentation or advertisement of winding up petitions. Neil Levy (1986) specialises in banking disputes and advising on financial transactions. He has particular experience of domestic banking transactions, having worked as part of the Lloyds Bank in-house legal team from , in London and Bristol. His field of expertise also covers professional negligence in financial transactions, insolvency and commercial disputes. Neil is a contributor to two leading banking textbooks: Paget s Law of Banking and Penn & Shea: The Law Relating to Domestic Banking. For the last three years Neil has been heavily involved in advising on commercial and financial aspects of large-scale local authority PFI projects. Neil s recent cases include Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council v Currie & Brown Project Management & Others (2008), a substantial ongoing professional claim against technical advisers to a PFI project, and Bank of Scotland v Neath Port Talbot CBC (2006), concerning the sale of assets forming the subject-matter of the same PFI project. Neil s banking cases include Triodos Bank NV v Dobbs (2004 & 2005) which concerned a lender s claim on a guarantee and cross-claims against the lender and receivers for misrepresentation, conspiracy, liability as a shadow director, and breach of duty in connection with the sale of a failed property development. Other reported cases in which Neil has appeared have involved disputed mortgages (Edwards v Lloyds TSB, 2006; Corbett v Halifax Building Society, 2003) and challenges to the enforceability of credit agreements as extortionate credit transactions (London North Securities Ltd v Meadows, 2005; Broadwick Financial Services Ltd v Spencer, 2002). Martha Maher s (1986) practice covers contentious and non-contentious insolvency, company disputes in particular shareholder litigation, unfair prejudice petitions, partnership break up, and issues affecting LLPs. She is an experienced commercial litigator. Her recent cases have included successfully representing the Liquidator of the Jade Group of companies in fraudulent trading and professional negligence proceedings against a firm of accountants with allegations involving off-shore Employee Benefit Trusts and the prolongation of the life of a loss-making company to the detriment of HMRC. One of the interlocutory proceedings involved the accountants unsuccessfully applying to strike out the claims and/or for summary judgement and is now reported under the name of Walker v Holt [2008] BCC 458. She has advised the majority shareholders in a dispute involving a large European retail manufacturer and successfully acted as mediation advocate to avert litigation in a complex family building partnership breakup. She has advised in relation to the insolvency aspects of a multimillion pound multi-party pension scheme deficit and has represented an international air transport group in the successful defence of insolvency proceedings against it. She is advising administrative receivers in an ongoing dispute in relation to a s36 IA 86 remuneration claim being brought against them by the liquidators of a property and investments group. She has numerous reported cases. She has considerable mediation experience, is a CEDR accredited mediator and sees mediation as a key resolution tool in insolvency and commercial proceedings particularly in the current economic climate. Jeremy Bamford (1989) specialises in commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on contentious individual and corporate insolvency, live company work (in particular shareholder disputes and unfair prejudice petitions), disqualification proceedings (10 years prosecution experience; defended with Stephen Davies QC in the high profile World of Leather plc [2006] BCC 596 and Finelist Plc [2005] BCC 596 cases), disciplinary proceedings involving IPs and bank recovery proceedings. He contributed chapters on the new administration regime to Insolvency and the Enterprise Act 2002 (Jordans) and regularly contributes to Mithani: Directors Disqualification (Butterworths). Articles: Abuse of Process Insol Int 19 (2006) 150; Bankruptcy Restriction Orders IL&P 22 (2006) 123. He is a member of R3, the ILA and ChBA. He has for many years been recommended as a leading junior for his Restructuring/Insolvency, Chancery and Commercial Dispute Resolution work in Chambers directory and the Legal 500. Paul French s (1989) insolvency practice covers every aspect of litigation and advice, from the bankrupt s home (especially exceptional circumstances, the equity of exoneration, transactions at an undervalue/ preferences/transactions defrauding creditors and the impact of ancillary relief claims) to multi-million pound claims by administrators (In re Unigreg Ltd, Neville (as administrator of Unigreg Ltd) v Krikorian and Re Parkside Group). He successfully represented Exeter City Council in determining that non-domestic rates were an administration expense (re Trident Fashions Plc [2007] EWHC 400 (Ch); [2007] Bus LR 813), a case

4 that had such an impact that the law had to be changed to avoid its consequences. He is an editor of the Bankruptcy and Personal Insolvency Reports (Jordans) and of Lawson: Individual Voluntary Arrangements (Jordans) and contributed a chapter to the new edition of The Modern Law of Meetings (Jordans). Richard Ascroft (1995) was previously admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1990 and practised in Wellington at Bell Gully for three years. His work spans the full range of insolvency procedures (bankruptcy, administration, liquidations, voluntary arrangements) and has seen him appear in courts at all levels including the House of Lords. He regularly acts for and against office holders in relation to transaction avoidance claims and directors misfeasance proceedings. Richard also has significant experience of the company directors disqualification and bankruptcy restrictions order regimes, having acted for and against the Secretary of State/Official Receiver. Reported cases include In re West End Networks Ltd [2004] 2 AC 506 (Crown set-off); Re Buildlead Ltd (No 2) [2006] 1 BCLC 9 (removal of liquidators); In re Walker Wingsail Systems Plc [2006] 1 WLR 2194 (discontinuance of claim). Gerard McMeel (1993) specialises in commercial litigation and financial services. His practice often involves issues with an insolvency dimension, and he has particular expertise in retention of title, characterisation of securities and construction of documents. Recent instructions include: advising a lender dealing with an intermediate lender in a 75 million indirect financing arrangement, where the intermediate party had gone into administration as a result of the collapse of an Icelandic bank, as to whether its security over the proceeds of sub-loans was fixed or floating, including the status of Atlantic Computers in the wake of Spectrum; advising a spreadbetting firm on the collapse of counter-party and the impact of the changes to the Financial Services Authority s client assets rules in the wake of MiFID; advising the liquidators of independent financial advisers on the impact of the litigation over precipice bonds between the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Abbey/ NDF; and advising a financial intermediary on a package to mitigate the fall-out of AIG s decision to cut returns on investment bonds. In Chambers and Partners 2009 Gerard is ranked Band 1 in Commercial Dispute Resolution and is said to combine a powerful academic intellect with strong commercial sense. Gerard is also Professor of Law at the University of Bristol and the author of The Construction of Contracts (OUP, 2007). Matthew Wales (1993) is a busy commercial junior with a practice spanning all types of property disputes and litigation, in the County Court, High Court, Land Registry and Lands Tribunal. His insolvency work is similarly property-centred, and includes, for instance, commercial leases, co-ownership, possession and the whole range of issues encountered in the realisation of property assets in an insolvency context. Nicholas Briggs (1994) specialises in all aspects of corporate and personal insolvency as well as company law. He has represented clients at all levels of court from county court to the House of Lords. The past 12 months has seen Nicholas very active in the courts representing Adminstrators, Liquidators, Trustees in Bankruptcy, individuals and directors. Out of court Nicholas has been advising and working on a large claim made against Administrative Receivers arising from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Enron. He is currently representing and advising clients who are embroiled in a shareholder dispute and derivative claims made under the new provisions of the Companies Act Nicholas sits as a Deputy Registrar of the High Court in both the Companies Court and Bankruptcy Court. He is a member of the ILA, R3, the Chancery Bar Association and the Western Chancery and Commercial Bar Association. Nicholas is the author of many published articles concerning topical insolvency issues, a co-author of Insolvency and the Enterprise Act 2002 (Jordans), a co-author of Modern Law of Meetings 2009 (Jordans ) and is a contributor to Gore-Browne on Companies (looseleaf). Booking form Please complete the form in BLOCK CAPITALS First delegate VAT = Second delegate VAT = Contunued overleaf

5 Booking form (continued) Please complete the form in BLOCK CAPITALS Third delegate VAT = Booking details Please be advised that our seminar last year proved exceptionally popular so please book early to guarantee a place. Delegate fee: VAT per delegate. All additional delegates VAT per delegate. The fee for this seminar includes a comprehensive conference folder, lunch and all other refreshments. Multiple booking discounts this applies only to delegates booked at the same time from the same firm. If you would like to register more than four delegates, please photocopy the booking form attached. To book, please use one of the following methods Post your completed registration form to: Insolvency Team Seminar,, 23 Broad Street, Bristol BS1 2HG Fax your complete booking form to us on us at insolvency@guildhallchambers.co.uk Booking terms: Please send a cheque with your form or wait to be invoiced. A VAT invoice will be sent to you on receipt of your booking form/details. All invoices for this seminar must be paid within 30 days of the invoice date. Cheques are made payable to Confirmation of registration: If you have not received confirmation of your registration one week before the conference, please telephone to confirm that your registration form has been received. Forth delegate VAT = Substitute delegates: Substitute delegates will be accepted at any time please telephone to let us know the name of the substitute. Cancellation: Provided written notice is received at least ten days before the seminar, the seminar fee will be refunded less a 20 (+VAT) administration charge. CPD Accreditation: Under the Law Society s CPD scheme and the Bar Council s New and Established Practitioners Programme the conference is accredited with 5.5 hours CPD points (Law Society reference BAI/GUCH). The seminar will also contribute to CPD requirements under the terms of the ICAEW s CPD policy. If you have any enquiries, please call Louisa Hope on or insolvency@guildhallchambers.co.uk Terms and conditions: We reserve the right to vary the content, timetable, location or speakers; or to cancel the seminar totally in which case we will refund any payment made in respect of the cancelled conference. The despatch by us of written confirmation of your booking constitutes a legally binding contract. Neither the members of nor the speakers will be liable by reason of breach of contract, negligence or otherwise for any loss or consequential loss incurred by any person acting or omitting to act in reliance upon material or presentation given at or in connection with the event.

6 Katie Gibb (1999) joined Chambers in 2001 after completing her pupillage in London. She specialises in insolvency work both personal and corporate. Katie has experience in dealing with all aspects of personal insolvency including realisation of assets, matrimonial home disputes, transactions, defrauding creditors and annulments. On the corporate insolvency side, she regularly appears in the High Court on all insolvency matters including receiverships, administrations, liquidations, directors misfeasance actions and transaction avoidance claims. Her practice also encompasses company and partnership law, including unfair prejudice petitions, shareholder disputes and breach of directors duties claims. In 2007, Katie was appointed to the Attorney General s panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown. Hugh Sims (1999) specialises in commercial and insolvency litigation. His insolvency work is extensive, covering corporate insolvency, shareholder disputes, directors rights and duties, personal insolvency, insolvent partnerships, sporting insolvencies and directors disqualification. He has appeared in a number of Chambers recent reported and notable cases and contributed to the following publications: Gore-Browne on Companies ( ), Insolvency and the Enterprise Act 2002 (Jordans), Escaping Bankruptcy (Insolvency Lawyer (2002) Issue 1) and Enterprise Act 2002 Corporate Wrinkles (Insolvency Lawyer 2004) Vol 17 No 4). Hugh is on the Attorney General s Panels of Junior Counsel to the Crown, and is a member of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and R3. Stefan Ramel s (2002) practice encompasses corporate and personal insolvency law, with a particular specialism in cross-border disputes whether under the common law, the UNCITRAL Model Law or the EC Regulation. He is regularly instructed both for and against officeholders in insolvency litigation. He is a member of R3 and the Insolvency Lawyer s Association and a contributor to Gore-Browne on Companies; he also writes the Recent Cases column in the R3 Recovery magazine. Recent reported cases include Pannell v the Official Receiver [2008] EWHC 736 (Ch) [2008] BPIR 629, French v Barcham [2008] EWHC 1505 (Ch) [2008] BPIR 587 and Re Rivkin; Warner v Verfides (a firm) [2008] EWHC 2609 (Ch), [2009] BPIR 153. Ross Fentem (2003) joined in 2008, having practised for five years from Henderson Chambers in London, gaining broad experience in advocacy and advisory work across a range of legal disciplines including multi-million pound commercial disputes, complex credit and finance matters and financial services disputes. He undertakes litigation and advisory work in commercial, banking and finance, insolvency and property. His insolvency practice includes winding up petitions, administration applications, transaction avoidance, statutory demand disputes, bankruptcy petitions, voluntary arrangements, and professional negligence actions involving insolvency practitioners. Daisy Brown (2006) became a tenant at in 2007 and specialises in property, commercial and insolvency law. Her insolvency work covers litigation and advice in both personal and corporate insolvency including possession and sale applications, annulments, transaction avoidance claims, winding up petitions, administration applications and directors misfeasance actions. Daisy is a member of R3. About the guest speakers Chief Registrar Baister was admitted as a solicitor in 1981 and specialised in litigation and insolvency. He was appointed a deputy bankruptcy registrar in 1993 and became a full time registrar in In 2004 he was appointed chief bankruptcy registrar. He has served on the Insolvency Rules Committee and the Insolvency Court Users Committee and is a co-author of the Encyclopaedia of Forms & Precedents (Butterworths) and Atkin s Court Forms (personal insolvency) (Butterworths); he is also a contributor to the White Book (company law and insolvency) (Sweet and Maxwell). He is a contributor to Muir Hunter on Personal Insolvency (Sweet and Maxwell) and gives occasional lectures on insolvency topics for the Judicial Studies Board. Catherine Burton has specialised in corporate recovery work since qualifying as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons in She spent 14 years with DLA Piper and two years as Head of Technical and Compliance at Begbies Traynor, before rejoining DLA Piper in September last year to coordinate the work of its European Restructuring Group. Catherine is an active member of R3 s General Technical Committee. Last year, she became a member of HM Treasury s Expert Liaison Group for the purposes of the Banking Bill. She is a contributor to Tolley s Insolvency Law (Lexis Nexis), author of the insolvency chapter of Tottel s Practitioner s Guide to Joint Property (Tottel) and a member of the Insolvency Court Users Committee. In 2007 she became an adviser to the Insolvency Service at the United Nations for the UNCITRAL Working Group developing a legislative guide for cross border corporate group insolvencies. Simeon Gilchrist qualified as a solicitor in 1992 having read Law and French at Leicester and Strasbourg universities. Simeon has both contentious and transactional insolvency expertise, advising insolvency practitioners, banks, distressed companies and individuals in a wide range of both corporate and personal insolvency matters. Simeon s current transactional caseload is dominated by Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986, company administration and structured exits more commonly known as pre pack sales. Cases range from corporate governance issues in relation to article 88 of table A, challenges to inter-linked Company Voluntary Arrangements, the tracing of assets in liquidation, defending directors in disqualification proceedings and pursuing directors in relation to pre-insolvency dispositions and misfeasance. Simeon co-edited and contributed to Tolley s Company Meetings handbook, being responsible for company meetings in insolvency proceedings and, more recently, contributed to and edited parts of Tolley s Director s Duties concerning the disqualification legislation. Simeon lectures on a range of procedural and substantive elements of insolvency law and practice to insolvency practitioners and banking staff. Having lived and studied in France, Simeon is bilingual. Nick Howard was awarded an honours degree at Sheffield Polytechnic in 1981 and then joined the Insolvency Service working in the Bradford Official Receiver s office as an examiner and later in the Leeds office. In 1987 he was promoted to Assistant Official Receiver and moved to the Bristol office and in 1993 he spent a year covering for the Official Receiver in the Plymouth and Exeter offices. He was appointed as Official Receiver in the Leeds office in After five years running the Leeds office, Nick was appointed to the North East Regional Director post in the Insolvency Service with responsibility for the Leeds, Newcastle, Stockton, Hull and Sheffield offices. In 2008 he moved to the post of Director of Policy based at Insolvency Service HQ at Bloomsbury Street, London Tracy Stanhope works in regulatory policy at the ICAEW and is also secretary to the Joint Insolvency Committee. As secretary of the JIC, she has been closely involved in the development of the code of ethics for insolvency practitioners. Before joining the ICAEW, Tracy was assistant director of policy at the Insolvency Service, with responsibility for personal insolvency policy. She also worked on the bill team during the early stages of what became the Companies Act 2006, and was an assistant official receiver in the Insolvency Service s public interest unit.