Restructuring & Insolvency Associate/Senior Associate

'Brilliant team that are always available to support with quality and practical advice.'
'Offer practical and workable solutions to complex situations. Always bring a commercial angle to recommendations.' - Legal 500

We are looking for an associate to join our well regarded Restructuring & Insolvency team. The position will be based at our London office. We are looking for either an Associate or Senior Associate with strong contentious insolvency credentials.

The practice

We undertake the full range of stressed and distressed work including advising on pre-insolvency operational and financial restructuring and turnaround through to insolvency litigation, enforcement and related commercial litigation. Where appropriate, we also undertake insolvency work including company voluntary arrangements, administrations, receiverships and liquidations. Our clients range from clearing banks, to corporates, to insolvency practitioners. We also work with private equity houses and turnaround professionals.

We have good relationships with key financial-sector players in this area including a number of major banks, alternative financial institutions, and the FSCS. We have strong working relationships with leading insolvency practitioners, including Alvarez & Marsal, Interpath, Teneo, PwC, AlixPartners, FRP, Grant Thornton, and BDO. We undertake pension restructuring work (we are on the PPF panel) and have considerable expertise in a range of sector areas that are currently encountering financial difficulties, such as retail, financial services, digital business, energy and renewables, real estate & infrastructure, and leisure & hospitality.

Reflecting our growth and increased prominence in the market, we have continued to win appointments on major restructuring and insolvency assignments, a selection of which are outlined in the 'Work highlights' section below. Our work on Wirecard was nominated for the Restructuring Team of the Year award at The British Legal Awards 2022.

Over recent years we have experienced significant growth in high profile cross-border mandates. Our cross-border expertise has grown partly due to our ability to leverage our flourishing international office network, which now includes restructuring specialists in Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Warsaw.

Following the strategic recruitment of a partner specialising in contentious insolvency work, the team is looking to recruit an associate, or senior associate, to assist in growing that arm of the practice. This is an exciting role, with scope to help shape a strategically important division of an already varied and successful practice. This position might suit applicants from either a litigation or restructuring team with strong litigation experience.

The team

The team works cross-office in London and Bristol. The core team is made up of four Partners, one Legal Director, two Associate Directors, one Senior Associate, one Associates, one Trainee Solicitor, and one Paralegal.

Work highlights

Advising the administrators (Alvarez & Marsal) on the administration of Railsbank (trading as Railsr), a complex insolvency of a regulated entity.

Acting for the special administrators (Interpath) of Viola Money (Europe) Limited (in special administration) in the precedent-setting first use of the new Payment and Electronic Money special administration regime.

Advising Wirecard Card Solutions Limited on the disposal of its business and assets as a going concern and subsequently advising the liquidators on its solvent wind-down.

Advising the administrators (FRP Advisory) of Xpress Money Services Limited (in special administration) on the second use of the new Payment and Electronic Money special administration regime.

Advising the administrators (Teneo) in connection with the administration of Midas Construction Limited (a business with a turnover of c. £300m) and related entities.

Advising the administrators (Interpath) on the successful sale of the business and assets of Castleoak Offsite Manufacturing Limited and the assignment of its leasehold property following its entry into liquidation.

Advising the administrators (Alvarez & Marsal) of Avro Energy Limited (in administration).

Advising the administrators (FRP Advisory) of Bonmarché, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, and Peacocks.

Advising administrators (AlixPartners) of Agent Provocateur on a pre-packaged sale. A number of parties submitted offers for the business, leading to negotiating and documenting multiple transactions concurrently and the secured lender being repaid in full.

Advising Specialist Aviation Services Limited (SAS), and its joint administrators from FRP Advisory, on a complex sale of the aviation provider's business, maintaining continuity for air ambulance services across the South of England.

Advising the administrators (Wiggle) on the trading administration of Wiggle and Chain Reaction, and a sale of its business and assets.

Technical skills and experience

You will have gained strong experience in litigation, whether in a general litigation setting or specifically in Restructuring & Insolvency litigation. As a guide, due to the nature of the work and the structure of the team, we are looking to appoint either an Associate or a Senior Associate in this area, although we will consider candidates with more or less experience.

Your career development

Like all our lawyers, you will benefit from our multi-award winning career development programme. At each stage of your career this provides you with:

• clear expectations of your role and what it takes to progress;
  • high quality clients and work, with early responsibility and client exposure;
  • thorough assessment and individual feedback from a range of experienced colleagues;
  • robust technical training with early skills-based development, increasingly tailored to you; and
  • reward for your contribution, progression, and potential, rather than based solely on PQE or tenure.

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits.

For more information or to apply

At Osborne Clarke LLP we welcome direct applications - if you would like any further information about the role, or the firm, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact, in complete confidence, Angharad Jenkins in the Recruitment team on 0117 917 3127 or email angharad.jenkins@osborneclarke.com.

At Osborne Clarke we value difference and encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities, and sexual or romantic orientations. We want everyone to feel that OC is a place where you can be yourself and where you belong, and our range of interest groups and diversity networks - not to mention our great teams - are a part of making that a reality.

Being an inclusive employer is important to us and we are committed to ensuring every applicant's recruitment experience is free from unnecessary barriers. We have made a number of external commitments such as the Race Fairness Commitment and Women in Law Pledge, and are working with organisations like Stonewall to become a more inclusive employer. We want you to be able to show us your best during the recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to be made during the application, interview process or when working with us, please let us know.

If you have a dis/ability+, to include physical disability, hidden disability, long-term health condition or neurodivergence and meet the requirements listed in this job advert, we would be delighted to offer you a guaranteed interview. We want you to be able to show us your best during the recruitment process.

We support working families via a range of family and caring friendly policies and will accommodate flexible working where we can. We value the health and wellbeing of our people: for example, we're signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, have an active network of mental health champions and offer free initiatives and flexible benefits to all our people.

Although we include closing dates for our roles as a guide, we review and progress applications on a rolling basis.

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