Wendy Parker

Areas of expertise

• Insolvency & restructuring
  • Directors’ disqualification

    Directors’ disqualification

    Wendy has a substantial workload in insolvency and Director’s disqualification and considerable experience in relation to company law issues involving director’s duties and rights, unfair prejudice petitions and derivative claims and shareholder disputes.

  • Corporate insolvency

    Corporate insolvency

    Wendy Parker is a leading junior and an established name in the field of Insolvency, both corporate and personal, with particular specializations in reconstructions, solvent and insolvent schemes of arrangements, asset recovery and related professional negligence, including solicitors and accountants, director’s duties and disqualification. Recent cases have included substantial building and construction disputes, charter-party agreements and liens, many of which have an international or cross-border dimension.

    Wendy regularly appears in the High Court and advises Companies on effective strategies for both hostile and management-led takeovers and disputes.

    Wendy handles all aspects of company, regulatory, and insolvency law, advising companies both nationally and internationally. Corporate, partnership, and individual insolvency forms the bedrock of her practice. She has advised on numerous partnership issues including dissolution and Section 459 applications. She has experience in the drafting of partnership and LLP agreements as well as advising on takeovers and acquisitions.

    Wendy regularly appears in the High Court and advises Companies on effective strategies for both hostile and management-led takeovers and disputes.

    Wendy’s practice covers a wide range of property-related insolvency work. Including co-ownership and trusts and issues relating to realizations, subrogation, vesting of the bankrupt’s home and issues concerning onerous and disclaimed property.

    Wendy has “developed a strong reputation for real estate-related insolvencies” “extremely capable and effective” in this field, Legal 500.

    Recent Work:

    • Advising on the re-structure and management buy- out of a multi-national software company.
    • Advising a major building contractor on the presentation of winding up petitions in relation to final account statements under JCT and Design and Build Contracts
    • Advising Trustees in relation to complex property and carousel frauds.
    • Advising a Trustee in relation to misfeasance allegations.
    • Representing Tulip Holdings Plc, the (first) successful under-bidder in a multi-million pound take-over battle, advising on strategy and the financial documentation required by The Panel.
    • Advising in the recent case of Protec Scaffolding v Deborah Services Limited, a case involving a comprehensive review of the (historic) reversal of costs orders in winding-up petitions.
    • Advising on the use of prohibited names.

    Relevant Cases

    • Re a Company No 8943 of 2004: Case involving the dispute of a compulsory winding-up of a company, by a creditor and the company representatives.
    • Best Beat Ltd v Rossall: Represented the tenant of business premises to which Part II of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 applied. They requested a new tenancy but Best Beat Ltd served a notice opposing the same which Mr Rossall decided not to contest, giving rise to the right to compensation payable by Best Beat Ltd to Mr Rossall. Best Beat Ltd did not pay Mr Rossall who petitioned for the winding up of Best Beat Ltd. Best Beat Ltd applied to stay the winding up petition under s 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 based upon certain provisions contained in the lease referring to arbitration.
    • Panther Platforms Rentals Ltd v Access Rentals Ltd: Case in which the petitioner argued that  there had been evidence before the registrar of an undisputed debt which a company had shown itself unwilling to pay, that there was no requirement that the petitioner serve a statutory demand in order for it to be entitled to present a winding up petition.
    • Gustavi v Moore: Appeal against dismissal of their application to set aside statutory demands presented against them by the respondents.
    • Re a debtor (No 41 & 42/SD/: Represented the guarantors of a company in respect of the purchase of premises owned by the respondents. When following completion of the sale, £130,000 remained outstanding, a wind-up petition was served.
    • HM Customs and Excise v Tony Newcombe Ltd: company seeking to rescind a winding up order.
  • Personal insolvency

    Personal insolvency

    Wendy handles all forms of personal insolvency claims. She is a leading Insolvency junior – Legal 500.

    Wendy undertakes work involving Demands, Petitions, Annulments, and issues relating to asset realization, transactions at an undervalue and those involving the defrauding of creditors; IVA’s; private and public examinations and challenges Trustee’s costs and expenses and/or decisions as to proofs of debt. Wendy also acts for Intervenor’s in respect of disputes allegedly concerning assets falling within a Bankrupt’s estate.

    Recent work:

    • Re Shamash Case concerning a bankrupt’s application to transfer property back to her.
    • Rainstorm Pictures v Anthony Lombard Knight (2017) Case concerning Bankruptcy of an individual on an award from the Californian Appellate Courts for £25 million. This case on appeal involved complex arguments of enforcement jurisdiction and arguments relating to “fresh evidence”

     

• Commercial dispute resolution
  • Banking & finance

    Banking & finance

    Wendy has a wide knowledge of banking and finance and regularly advises financial institutions and investors alike.  She has extensive knowledge of the law relating to mortgages, loan agreements, and ‘risk’.

    Wendy works for leading High Street Banks and Lenders in sensitive and complex litigation

    Recent Work:

    • Representing Tulip Holdings Plc, the (first) successful under-bidder in a multi-million pound take-over battle, advising on strategy and the financial documentation required by The Panel.
    • Advising in the recent case of Protec Scaffolding v Deborah Services Limited, a case involving a comprehensive review of the (historic) reversal of costs orders in winding-up petitions.
  • Civil fraud & asset tracing

    Civil fraud & asset tracing

    Wendy deals with all aspects of civil fraud such as obtaining injunctions, recovering assets, establishing or challenging the jurisdiction of the courts, and enforcing any judgment obtained. When working in this area, she is able to draw on her knowledge of the company, partnership, insolvency, and property law.

    Relevant Cases:

    McCreanney v McCreanney and others [2003] All ER (D) 161 (Apr): Case concerning economic duress, an unconscionable bargain, and the validity of a property transfer.

  • Commercial arbitration

    Commercial arbitration

    Wendy’s experience lies in domestic arbitration, often in partnership disputes.

    Recent Work:

    • Dispute between family members (former business partners) following dissolution of partnership.
    • Dispute concerning the treatment of payments towards acquisition of assets in one partner’s name.
  • Commercial litigation

    Commercial litigation

    Wendy is an experienced advocate in all areas and is a keen exponent for a business-like approach to legal disputes and their early resolution. The major element of Wendy’s commercial practice relates to commercial disputes involving recovery, title retention, and disputes arising from construction contracts.

    Wendy also undertakes work in all aspects of commercial litigation including; agency and commercial agency; claims for restitution; debt factoring and debt recovery.

    Wendy’s practice covers a wide range of contractual and professional negligence claims.  The contractual side includes agency, bailment, sale of goods, supply of services, exclusion, and limitation of liability clauses, guarantees and indemnities, misrepresentation, quasi-contract and restitution, and conflict of laws.  She is experienced in all forms of resolution, whether by litigation, arbitration, or ADR.

    She has extensive experience in contractual and connected disputes whether between companies, partnerships, and individuals.  She deals with matters of agency, bailment, supply of goods and services, conflict of laws, exclusion, and limitation of liability clauses, misrepresentation, guarantees, and indemnities, quasi-contract, and restitution.

  • Companies, joint ventures & partnerships

    Companies, joint ventures & partnerships

    Wendy undertakes a broad range of corporate work including disputes arising from the sale of businesses or companies, disputes between those involved in the running of the business through the medium of companies, quasi partnership and derivative claims and actions for breach of director’s duties.

    Wendy also deals with a variety of partnership disputes.

    Recent Work:

    • Restitutionary claims by creditors and individual directors regarding assets held in legal ownership of various companies.
    • Minority shareholding dispute based on quasi partnership.
    • Minority shareholding dispute between members of the same family as to treatment by controlling shareholders of income and assets of property owning company.
    • Derivative claim brought by executors of former director.
    • Claim against liquidator of company arising from the loss of goods the subject of bailment on company premises on the basis that the liquidator knew or ought to have known that goods did not belong to company.
    • Advising partners in litigation over value of dissolved partnership.
    • Acting in a case involving the concealment of assets and contracts by one Partner.
    • The benefits or otherwise of LLP’s and Solicitor’s practices.
  • Private international law

    Private international law

    Wendy has been involved in a high-profile and complex share holder’s dispute working out of Nairobi and Mombasa and a high-value and sensitive transactional dispute in Sierra Leone.

    Wendy also advises in respect of cross-border insolvency enforcement, and has assisted in jurisdictions from Korea, Sweden, Finland, the US and Iran

    • Rainstorm Pictures v Anthony Lombard Knight (2017) Case concerning Bankruptcy of an individual on an award from the Californian Appellate Courts for £25 million. This case on appeal involved complex arguments of enforcement jurisdiction and arguments relating to “fresh evidence” in both jurisdictions.
• Professional liability
  • Financial professionals, insolvency professionals, directors & officers

    Financial professionals, insolvency professionals, directors & officers

    Wendy undertakes work involving claims made against Directors and Contributories.

  • Legal professionals

    Legal professionals

    Wendy’s experience of working for solicitors has gained her expertise in property-related professional negligence disputes where the defendants are solicitors or surveyors.

    Recent Work:

    • Advising lenders and solicitors in relation to mortgage fraud;
    • Acting for the claimant purchaser in a solicitor’s negligence case where the defendant had failed to identify restrictions in title and/or defective leases.
• Property
  • Real property & mortgages

    Real property & mortgages

    Wendy undertakes litigation involving Mortgage frauds and securitisation/leverage disputes, and Trusts of Land.

  • Trusts of land

    Trusts of land

    Wendy regularly undertakes advisory work in relation to Trusts of Land and litigation involving the beneficial ownership of property and assets.

• Insurance coverage

  Insurance coverage

  Wendy is experienced in the interpretation of insurance policies and in matters of coverage.  She has dealt with a number of claims against insurers on the policy, including claims defended on the grounds of non-disclosure or that the event was not covered or that the premium was not paid; also claims where the issue is the quantum of loss or level or quantification of a business interruption claim.

  Recent Work:

  • Acting in a claim against the liquidator of company arising from the loss of goods the subject of bailment on company premises on the basis that the liquidator knew or ought to have known that goods did not belong to company.
  • The enforcement of ATE Policies and alleged non-disclosure.
  • Solicitor’s insurance claims relating to payment of net sale proceeds to third-parties.