Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers
Our dedicated insolvency and restructuring lawyers provide expert guidance on all aspects of insolvency and business recovery, whether for companies or individuals.
From litigation and dispute resolution to strategic business rescue, restructuring, and advisory support, we help you navigate challenges with confidence and clarity.
The connected relationships that our team have with their clients ensures they understand the practical and commercial challenges faced by individuals, business directors, shareholders, trustees of charities, and leaders of educational institutions dealing with financial distress.
Working closely with insolvency practitioners (liquidators, administrators, bankruptcy trustees, nominees, supervisors, and receivers) our team provide clear, strategic advice from the pre-insolvency stage through to case closure and everything in between.
Lenders, landlords, and other creditors affected by the insolvency of their customers, suppliers, or tenants, can benefit from our knowledge to help understand their rights and take the best steps to protect their interests. We can also support the family members of individuals facing bankruptcy, ensuring they have the guidance they need.
We deliver pragmatic, concise advice, often under tight time constraints, during what can be highly challenging situations.
By supporting clients across the full insolvency and restructuring spectrum, we take a holistic approach, ensuring you receive well-rounded, practical solutions tailored to your needs.
Our expertise
Our dedicated team of insolvency lawyers are here to support you with specialist guidance from our Birmingham, Bristol, London, and Watford offices. We combine deep insolvency and restructuring expertise with a strong understanding of regulated sectors, such as charities, education, and healthcare and life sciences, ensuring tailored solutions that meet your specific needs.
As our team are active members of R3 , the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, we know that truly understanding your challenges is key to delivering the right support. Many of our team have hands-on industry experience, insolvency qualifications, and secondment experience with clients across various sectors. This practical insight allows us to provide clear, pragmatic advice that aligns with your goals.
For added efficiency, some of our team hold higher rights of audience, enabling us to represent you directly in court - often at short notice - helping you navigate complex situations in a cost-effective way.
We are here to work by your side, providing the expert guidance you need to move forward with confidence. Our team advises on the following areas:
We help directors, charity trustees, and governors identify signs of insolvency, understand their fiduciary duties in times of financial distress, and explore solutions, whether through business rescue or a managed closure.
We assist with claims involving misfeasance, wrongful and fraudulent trading, breaches of duty or trust, director loan repayments, and clawbacks of illegal dividends. Our expertise extends to director disqualification proceedings, including applications for leave to act as a director after disqualification. We also advise on reusing a prohibited company name under the Insolvency Act 1986.
We guide purchasers, including management teams and investors, through the complexities of acquiring a business from administrators. Our support includes navigating insolvency-specific requirements, such as pre-pack Evaluator reports, to help clients achieve their desired outcome.
We strive to help individuals, institutions and businesses in distress avoid formal insolvency where possible. Our services include assessing and implementing restructuring plans, standalone moratoriums, and voluntary arrangements. We also manage solvent reorganisations, including s110 restructures and solvent liquidation processes for controlled business closures.
We support lenders, secured creditors, and other stakeholders in enforcing insolvency rights. Our services cover statutory demands, winding-up and bankruptcy petitions, administration applications, and representation in court hearings. We also assist with loss recovery through proof of debt submissions, personal guarantee enforcement, and retention of title claims.
We guide individuals and their families through insolvency challenges, from setting aside statutory demands, applications for debt respite (via a mental health moratorium or breathing space moratorium) and representation at bankruptcy petition hearings, to bankruptcy annulments, income payment agreements, and property possession defences. We also advise on public and private examinations and compliance with insolvency-related information requests.
We assist insolvency practitioners at every stage of their appointments: advising on trading issues, asset realisation, creditor matters, and case closures. Our support includes drafting insolvency sale agreements and handling investigations into antecedent transactions.
We advise foreign creditors, shareholders, and investors with interests in distressed UK companies. Working with our global legal network, we provide seamless cross-border restructuring and recovery solutions.
We assist clients in respect of fraud related disputes arising out of or resulting in insolvency proceedings. Our team has significant experience in obtaining interim relief including disclosure orders, injunctions, freezing orders and investigating and recovering assets on behalf of clients.
The key strength of VWV is in its depth of knowledge and quality of legal analysis. The individuals with whom I have worked are meticulous, thoughtful, thorough and very intelligent.
Our work highlights:
Education insolvency acquisition
We represented an investor in acquiring a chain of 28 early years' nurseries from administrators, working around the clock over three days to ensure uninterrupted care and education for young children and their families. With support from our education and employment teams, and our deep understanding of regulatory requirements like Ofsted, we helped our client navigate the complexities of an insolvency purchase, ensuring a smooth transition of operations.
Pursuing insolvency claims against directors
We acted for the administrators of a group of telecommunication companies based in the UK and worldwide in pursuing significant claims against their directors in respect of alleged breaches of duty and in relation to a number of payments made in the period prior to the insolvency of the UK company. The matter was successfully resolved at a mediation. This is representative of regular instructions that we receive acting for both insolvency office holder and directors.
Misfeasance defence
When the directors of a construction company faced liquidator claims of a significant value, including allegations of misfeasance, unlawful dividends, and preferential payments, we stepped in to defend them. Leveraging our expertise in challenging liquidator claims, we secured a favourable settlement with staged payments, significantly reducing their financial exposure and avoiding a costly court battle.
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