Insolvency role push

Solicitors have the opportunity to take a greater role in insolvency proceedings, a Manchester-based lawyer said this week, after he claimed to be the first to combine the role of solicitor and insolvency practitioner to place a company into administration.

Mark Hovell, a dual-qualified partner at George Davies, which acts for the Professional Footballers Association, was appointed by the players at second division Huddersfield Town to act in their administration application.

The players were creditors of the club as they had not been paid in full since before Christmas.

As part of the process, the applicant submits a '2.2 report', named after the relevant section of the Insolvency Rules 1986, which sets out the information a judge must consider.

The applicant is often an accountant who then proposes himself as the administrator.

However, in the Colt Telecom Group case last December, the Court of Appeal said that in contested petitions, practitioners asked to give expert evidence to support a case should not then be able to propose themselves as the administrator.

Mr Hovell submitted the report to Leeds Crown Court last week, which made the order, although it was not contested.

'Unlike accountancy firms, law firms are not set up to deal with the actual administration of the businesses and do not, therefore, compete with the insolvency practitioner accountants, who are interested in that role,' he said.

'However, because it's possible to have dual qualifications, there's no reason why lawyers, if they are an expert in a particular field or industry, can't submit the initial 2.2 report and advise the court.'

Mr Hovell said the Huddersfield case was significant 'because I think from now on, it will become far more common place in contested cases for solicitors to take on this new role'.