Insolvency barristers for the Insolvency and Companies Court in London.
Company and personal insolvency counsel for winding up and bankruptcy petitions, injunctions, antecedent transaction claims and director proceedings in the Rolls Building.
Insolvency Barristers for London clients
Clerk&Counsel places independent insolvency barristers on company and personal insolvency matters in London and the surrounding region. We are a clerking agency rather than a chambers, so each instruction runs directly between the client and the barrister on a fee agreed in advance.
Insolvency is unforgiving on timing. A statutory demand carries an eighteen day window to apply to set aside, a winding up petition can be advertised within days of presentation, and once it is advertised the company bank account is usually frozen whatever the underlying merits. Getting insolvency law barristers involved early in a London matter is normally what decides whether a position can still be argued.
We act for creditors enforcing debts, companies and directors resisting petitions and recovery claims, insolvency practitioners pursuing assets into the estate, and individuals facing bankruptcy. Where the matter is suitable, an insolvency direct access barrister can be instructed without a solicitor, and panel members holding a litigation extension from the Bar Standards Board can issue and conduct the proceedings as well as appear at the hearings.
Areas of work in London
Winding up petitions
Preparing, issuing and opposing petitions, applications to restrain presentation or advertisement, and validation orders under section 127.
Bankruptcy and statutory demands
Personal insolvency work including set aside applications within the eighteen day window, opposed petitions, annulment and rescission.
Antecedent transactions
Transactions at an undervalue and preferences under sections 238 and 239, and claims under section 423 against transactions defrauding creditors.
Director claims
Wrongful trading, misfeasance under section 212, overdrawn loan account claims and personal guarantee proceedings.
Disqualification
Defending Secretary of State disqualification proceedings, negotiating undertakings and applying for permission to act.
Restructuring
Company voluntary arrangement challenges, restructuring plans, scheme work, administration applications and pre pack issues.
Office holder applications
Applications for directions, remuneration disputes, examinations under section 236 and asset recovery proceedings.
Construction insolvency
Adjudication enforcement where a party is in liquidation, retention and trust arguments, bonds and cross claims.
Where these cases are heard
The Insolvency and Companies Court sits in the Rolls Building, 7 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1NL. It takes the largest volume of company and personal insolvency work in England and Wales, including the winding up list, the bankruptcy list and the full range of applications under the Insolvency Act 1986.
The winding up and bankruptcy lists run to a tight timetable and are heard by ICC Judges, with heavier applications and appeals released to a High Court Judge of the Business and Property Courts. Urgent injunctions restraining presentation or advertisement of a petition are dealt with on short notice, sometimes the same day.
Smaller London petitions and personal insolvency matters can also be issued in the county court hearing centres at Central London, Clerkenwell and Shoreditch, Croydon and Romford, where the county court has jurisdiction. Interim applications are frequently listed remotely, which widens the pool of counsel available at short notice.
What drives this work in London
London generates insolvency work from every direction: financial services and fund structures in the City and Canary Wharf, professional services partnerships, the hospitality and retail estate across central London, property development and PRS schemes, and a very large SME base spread across the outer boroughs.
Cross border matters are concentrated here. Recognition applications under the Cross Border Insolvency Regulations 2006, foreign office holders seeking assistance, and disputes over centre of main interests come to the ICC more than anywhere else in the jurisdiction.
Direct access enquiries in London are dominated by company directors served with a statutory demand or petition, landlords and suppliers enforcing debts, and individuals resisting bankruptcy petitions or trustee claims over the family home.
What instructing counsel costs
Fees are fixed and agreed before any work starts. A written advice on a statutory demand, a petition or the merits of a recovery claim typically starts at around seven hundred and fifty pounds plus VAT, depending on the volume of documents.
An attended hearing in the winding up or bankruptcy list usually starts at around one thousand pounds plus VAT. Contested applications, injunctions to restrain a petition and multi day trials are priced on the papers once counsel has seen the chronology.
Where a panel member holds a litigation extension and is instructed to conduct the case, the work is staged so that you know the cost of issue and service, the cost of the first hearing, and the cost of any contested final hearing separately.
Court fees, the petition deposit payable to the Official Receiver and any transcript or expert costs are separate disbursements and are set out at the same time.
Insolvency deadlines are short and the consequences of missing them are permanent, so the sensible time to get counsel involved is when the demand or the first office holder letter arrives, not after the petition is advertised.
Send us the documents with a short chronology and we will come back with counsel options, an indicative fixed fee where direct access applies, whether a litigation authorised barrister can act on the record, and conflict check timing.
Every barrister we place is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Clerk&Counsel is a clerking agency and does not provide legal services itself.
Insolvency Barristers in London, common questions
Where are insolvency cases heard in London?
The Insolvency and Companies Court sits in the Rolls Building, 7 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1NL. It takes the largest volume of company and personal insolvency work in England and Wales, including the winding up list, the bankruptcy list and the full range of applications under the Insolvency Act 1986.
Can I instruct an insolvency barrister in London without a solicitor?
Yes in most suitable cases. Public Access lets an insolvency direct access barrister advise, draft and appear on a fixed fee, and where counsel holds a litigation extension they can also issue the petition or application and go on the court record.
How much does an insolvency barrister in London cost?
Written advice typically starts at around seven hundred and fifty pounds plus VAT, and an attended list hearing at around one thousand pounds plus VAT. Contested applications and trials are quoted on the papers, always as a fixed fee agreed in advance.
How quickly can counsel be instructed on an urgent petition?
Injunctions to restrain presentation or advertisement are the most urgent work we handle, and we can usually place counsel within twenty four to forty eight hours once conflict checks clear.
Do you cover personal insolvency as well as company work in London?
Yes. We place counsel on statutory demands, bankruptcy petitions, annulment and rescission applications, income payments orders and trustee in bankruptcy claims over property, as well as the full range of company and insolvency work.
Are counsel locally based?
We use a mix of counsel based in and around London and London counsel who travel or appear remotely. The choice is led by fit, experience and availability rather than postcode.