If you or your business is struggling to keep up with payments or you want to wind up your affairs efficiently and cost-effectively, we can help you find the best solution. By sharing our in-depth knowledge and experience of insolvency and business recovery processes, we can help you choose a recovery or exit strategy that’s right for you. We also support insolvency practitioners, creditors and individuals facing financial problems.
Our team of corporate recovery and insolvency solicitors will:
Provide you with some breathing space and protection from your creditors by considering with you whether administration is the right option for your business.
Whether your company is ultimately sold, liquidated, or continues trading, an administration order can often be the best way of dealing with a company in financial difficulties. We can help you through the process.
Offer guidance and act quickly on your behalf if you’ve been served with a statutory demand or winding-up petition by a creditor, or if a receiver has been appointed over your company.
We’ll make sure the situation is resolved as quickly as possible so that you can get back to business.
Explore the potential of a Company Voluntary Arrangement
To ensure that your relationship with your creditors is put back on track without the need for winding up or other formal insolvency processes.
If compulsory liquidation by a creditor is unavoidable, help ensure you and your stakeholders emerge from the process as painlessly as possible.
If you’re considering whether a creditors’ or members’ voluntary liquidation might be the right option for your company
We can explain the process to you and support you through the procedure.
If you’re a director or shareholder of a company and you are concerned about protecting your personal position on an future insolvency event.
We can go over the risks and put in place some methods of avoiding personal liability as a director of an insolvent company.
If you’re a director faced with personal proceedings against you following an insolvency situation
Including claims by an insolvency practitioner, or a claim against you for directors disqualification we can explore your options and act on your behalf.
For insolvency practitioners
We’ll offer hands-on and practical support with the legal side of your work.
For creditors
We can provide advice and act for you on the best options to recover your debt.
For individuals facing bankruptcy
We can advise on your personal position and act on your behalf so that you get back on your feet as soon as possible.
Even extremely successful businesses can hit a bad patch. And most entrepreneurs have seen a business fail at least once. It comes with the territory. Whatever the level of difficulty your business is currently facing, our expert insolvency solicitors and corporate recovery lawyers can help. Liquidation isn’t inevitable, and there are numerous options open to you, from an administration order from which your business may emerge intact, to a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement where your debts can be rescheduled. We have helped businesses of all sizes get back on their feet and move on after financial distress.
Working with you to understand your needs, we will help you answer the following questions:
Being in financial trouble is bad enough, but things can escalate quickly if you ignore important documents. Unpaid creditors owed as little as £750 can issue you with a statutory demand that, if not responded to promptly, can lead to your assets being frozen. If you’ve become reluctant to open your mail, please call us in – we have considerable experience dealing with creditors and insolvency law, and we can take some of the weight off your shoulders.
Insolvency is not the end of the road for all companies. Many come out of Administration able to trade and on good terms with their creditors. Understanding what your options are and the potential for a positive outcome is critical when you are facing a potential insolvency situation, and we’ve got the expertise to help you explore your choices before and during the Administration procedure.
Even if you’ve got cash flow problems, approaching your creditors proactively can reap rewards. We can help you find a mutually satisfactory arrangement that keeps creditors on board, whether that’s via a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement, or an information agreement.
Directors can become personally liable for decisions taken in the period preceding insolvency, and this can lead to orders for financial compensation to be paid, and even criminal proceedings. If you are concerned that your company is, or may become, insolvent, please get in touch, and we can provide your board with guidelines on permissible transactions, pre-insolvency, and how best to protect both you and your creditors to avoid any issues for the directors on a formal insolvency situation
Our team can take the stress out of a formal winding up and help you complete the formalities in a cost-effective and streamlined way.
We completely understand that when you’re confronted with financial difficulties, as an entrepreneur or key stakeholder, getting the necessary legal advice can help keep you afloat long enough so that you can find the best possible solution for your business, whatever that may look like. Our aim is to give start-ups the chance to access legal support that is more cost-effective and fuss-free when compared with traditional law firms. And with our legal subscription plans that’s exactly what you get: swift, budget-friendly access to an expert team of solicitors with the commercial acumen to advise you on the crucial next steps to take for your business.
Finding the right legal partner
Choose a legal partner you can trust: we’ll help protect your goals, your business and your people so you can move forward with confidence and focus on growing your business.
Clear itemised invoices, subscription plans with up to 50% discount, and fixed fee products help you plan and manage legal spend – with no nasty surprises.
We’ve supported over 8,000 businesses since 2014, with an ‘Excellent’ rating on Trustpilot and a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 60+ from monthly client surveys.
We’re here to make things easier, not add complexity. That means fast response times, practical expert legal advice delivered in plain English, and dedicated client service and account management support.
We’re an SRA regulated firm, but more importantly, we build quality, data, and compliance best practice into everything we do.
Appointing a legal partner is a big decision. That’s why we’re open about our values, culture and model, so you can see what makes us tick. And because a productive partnership starts with understanding, we always begin with a conversation – listening to your goals, pressures and plans, then tailoring our support to fit.
Our solicitor managed to balance a tricky restructuring with lots of moving parts to create a simple solution that has passed muster with our stakeholders!
James Harris Co-Founder, Altairian Capital Holdings
Over the years Harper James have helped us navigate complex legal issues and red tape, providing distilled options and legal consultancy that far exceeds the service levels we’ve previously experienced from more traditional law firms. The team act like our own in-house counsel so, regardless of which lawyer we work with, we feel supported and that they truly have our best interests at heart.
Michael Edwards Co-Founder, Inspire Group
Quite frankly I was stunned at the low cost of the service given the value it provided us.
Dr Matthew Carr CEO, Luffy.ai
Quick, concise and best of all reasonably priced
Tim Pedley Company Secretary, Biorelate Ltd
The quality of service was exceptional. Working with our lead solicitors, Eleanor and Gemma and the rest of the team, wasn't just good, it was great. A small sentence with a few words would never be enough to encapsulate the people of Harper James Law Firm. smart and swift, efficient and methodical, I would recommend to anyone to have a go and find out. We will always remain grateful for bringing us closer to our goals.
Tolis Vasileiou Managing Director, Crave Drinks
Our insolvency solicitors can provide you with all the support necessary when you’re faced with financial hurdles. But as a fully integrated commercial law firm, we understand that businesses in difficulty often face a number of issues, from how to deal with redundancies and reorganisation, to finding ways to refinance debt.
In addition to our insolvency team, we have broad expertise in a number of complementary specialisms such as employment law where you may need to restructure your workforce, dispute resolution when you need help to manage your creditor relationships, corporate law for contractual or informal agreements with creditors, mergers and de-mergers, and banking and finance law for debt restructurings. Whatever your situation, our solicitors can offer holistic advice that’s tailored to you.
Find out more about the team here:
Senior Solicitor - Recovery & Insolvency
Eleanor is a senior insolvency solicitor with over 20 years' specialist knowledge in all aspects of insolvency, both corporate and personal, covering contentious and non-contentious matters.
Director of Legal Strategy and Operations & Head of Corporate
Adam is Director of Legal Strategy and Operations & Head of Corporate, responsible for the legal services aspects of Harper James.
Partner - Corporate
With over 30 years of experience in corporate law, he has advised businesses from high growth start-ups to FTSE 100 (and international equivalent) in their M&A strategy, execution, fundraisings and joint ventures.
Senior Solicitor - Corporate
Callum is a senior corporate solicitor at Harper James, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and investments, as well as other corporate/commercial matters.
Senior Solicitor - Dispute Resolution
With over 20 years’ experience, Richard advises businesses on disputes, guiding them toward practical, cost-effective outcomes through negotiation, litigation, or ADR. He partners with in-house teams and senior leaders to shape strategy and provide clear advice.
Senior Solicitor - Recovery & Insolvency
Tania is a senior solicitor with over 20 years’ specialist insolvency experience and advises across the full spectrum of corporate and personal insolvency.
"Harper James is a one-stop shop for anything legal. It has excellent breadth, with experience on a large number of deals and multiple departments for different legal areas."
Chambers and Partners
Pricing and service plans
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £259 per month, with £174 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 33% discount on our Standard Rates.