Restructuring

Some of the most contentious issues that face administrators come from the people that manage or work in the insolvent business. We are able to offer support to administrators with: 

• Legal opinion We have a senior team all with City backgrounds who offer clear, decisive and high-quality advice. We rarely sit on the fence.
• Sounding board We recognise that most administrators have significant HR expertise in-house and we are always happy to offer a second opinion.
• Litigation Our team is highly experienced in advising on employment litigation and unlike many employment teams, we are as adept in the High Court as in employment tribunals.
• International We are international lawyers who regularly work on multi-jurisdictional matters. Through our membership of Littler we have access to specialist employment law advice across the globe.

We know matters move quickly and time can be short. We are highly responsive. We are frequently called on to offer our expertise where the main legal advisors do not have the strength or depth of expertise which clients and their lead advisors require.

Domestic

• Advising the administrators of Woolworths, including mass redundancies and the initial defence against the resulting protective award claim for failure to consult and managing all other resulting employment litigation.
• Advising the administrators of Waterford Wedgwood, including redundancies, negotiating the employment aspects of the sale of the business and managing the resulting employment litigation.
• Advising on management changes and the restructuring of Revolution Vodka Bars.
• Advising the administrators of CityLink in connection with the sale of assets and TUPE.
• Advising administrators of a privatised company on claims by management to lifelong private health care.
• Advising administrators in relation to numerous “pre-pack” administrations.

International

• Advising administrators of Lehman Brothers with employment law issues across EMEA involving overseas insolvency regimes, unwinding offshore employee benefit trust structures and legacy tax/NICs issues.
• Advising on the restructuring of RBS’s investment banking division across over 50 jurisdictions following RBS’s collapse and receipt of government support in 2008.
• Advising on the implementation of a global incentive plan for senior management in connection with the Chapter 11 restructuring of a global steel manufacturer with operations in US, Germany and Far East.
• Advising on the restructuring of a global technology business’s operations across multiple jurisdictions, involving both redundancies and new role mapping.
• Advising on the closure of a global manufacturing company’s UK site and its withdrawal from the UK market.