Insolvency Disputes
We advise on the full range of disputes that can arise when businesses and individuals are in financial distress.

“They offer excellent knowledge of the local Scottish market. They are extremely responsive to our needs and are available at short notice to get involved in what can be time-consuming, complex issues.”

Chambers (2025)

Our Insolvency Disputes team includes specialists in business restructuring, formal insolvency, and litigation (including our in-house Solicitor Advocates). We also frequently work with experienced external Counsel in high-value and complex disputes.

We are experienced in working with directors and officers (D&O) liability insurers, and in funded litigation, and can explore all the options available to help finance proceedings. Sometimes mediation or other alternative methods will achieve the most commercial and cost-effective outcome: we are skilled in those too.

Our experience includes:

Disputed insolvency proceedings, including contested bankruptcy/liquidation/winding up proceedings and provisional liquidation appointments
Director misconduct investigations and director disqualification proceedings
Public interest winding up proceedings
Personal and corporate guarantee enforcement
Acting in litigation arising from the appointment of bankruptcy trustees, administrators, liquidators and receivers, including:
- reviewing and challenging pre-insolvency transactions, including transactions at undervalue/gratuitous alienation and unfair preference claims
- valuation and adjudication of claims/proofs submitted in formal insolvency proceedings
- directors’ loan claims
- breach of fiduciary duty/misfeasance claims against former directors and shadow directors
- wrongful and fraudulent trading risk and claims
- challenges to unlawful dividend payments
- professional negligence claims arising in the insolvency context
- fraud litigation

Meet our key contacts

Gillian Carty

Partner and Chair

Meet our full team

Gillian Carty

Partner and Chair

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Leonore Dupont

Director

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Alec Fair

Associate

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Christopher Garden

Director

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Laura McMillan

Partner

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Ben Pilbrow

Partner

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Alexandra Roobottom

Associate

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Philip Sewell

Partner

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Sarah Walker

Director

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Serena Weir

Senior Associate

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Related articles and insights: Insolvency Disputes

Two people in discussion across paperwork

15 June 2026

Assigning claims: Re Styles & Wood Group Ltd (in liquidation)

Contributor: Alec Fair

Liquidators assigned potential claims against a company’s directors to a third party, and the directors challenged this. But the legal bar is high for any challenge to be successful.

12 June 2026

The importance of early advice: GQA Qualifications Ltd v Clayton

Contributor: Alec Fair

What can directors lawfully do if they feel that other directors and shareholders are not acting in the company’s best interests?

11 June 2026

Everything forever all at once – but not always: Webb and Hussain v Eversholt Rail Limited and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

Contributor: Alec Fair

Liquidators are entitled to request certain documents that might be relevant to their work and the liquidation, but how much is too much?

10 June 2026

A new approach to challenges to CVAs? Advocate General for Scotland v Petrofac Facilities Management Ltd

Contributor: Alec Fair

In a challenge to a CVA, the Court of Session took a new approach to assessing whether it was unfairly prejudicial to certain creditors.

25 April 2025

Inaccurate personal data – what approach do the courts take and how do the principles of defamation law help?

Contributor: Ruairidh Leishman

In Pacini v Dow Jones & Co Inc, the court applied principles from defamation law to a data protection claim, to determine the meaning of allegedly incorrect personal data contained within two news articles. The case was the first to consider the single meaning of a statement as a preliminary issue in a claim solely based on data protection and the alleged inaccuracy of personal data.

14 January 2025

Winding up on the rise – practical issues to be considered

Contributor: Gillian Carty

As businesses brace for challenges in 2025, rising costs and an increase in winding-up petitions highlight the issues surrounding unpaid debts. Creditors need to exercise caution, while debtors should promptly communicate any disputes.

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