Matthew Parfitt > Erskine Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Erskine Chambers Offices
1, Paper Buildings
London
EC4Y 7EP
England
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Matthew Parfitt
Position
Matthew is an advocate, litigator and adviser who specialises in company and insolvency law. He was appointed to the Attorney General’s panel to act in government litigation in 2010 (C Panel) and 2015 (B Panel), and has substantial unled advocacy experience. He is ranked in Chambers & Partners and in the Legal 500 as a leading junior for company law, and in the Legal 500 for insolvency. The directories say he is a “clever, accommodating and client-friendly junior counsel”; “he is quietly persuasive and his advocacy is faultless”; and he has “a cool head, a comprehensive knowledge of his field and an excellent responsiveness to pressurised demands”. His most notable recent court work includes: Burnden v Fielding [2019] EWHC 1566 (trial: unlawful dividends and transactions defrauding creditors); [2018] UKSC 14 (Supreme Court – limitation period for claims against directors); public interest winding up trials: Re Viceroy Jones New Tech Ltd [2018] EWHC 3404 Ch (truffle tree pension scheme); BHS Group v Retail Acquisitions [2017] 2 BCLC 472 (winding up; disputed debts; meaning of ‘insolvency’); Allers v Anno 11 [2016] EWHC 388 (first instance and Court of Appeal) – construction of compulsory purchase power in a company’s articles of association.
Career
Called 2005; Lincoln’s Inn.
Memberships
Chancery Bar Association; Commercial Bar Association.
Education
Winchester College; Exeter College, Oxford (2003 MA Hons Classics (First Class)); City University (2004 CPE).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Insolvency
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Matthew Parfitt – Erskine Chambers ‘Matthew has a calm, thoughtful presence which reduces the client’s stress in any situation. He is also very capable in working through complex information and summarising the position for the court in a simplified and clear way.’
Erskine Chambers handles both contentious insolvency and corporate restructurings, with members acting on litigation arising from large insolvencies in the wake of the financial crisis, with Peter Arden KC having been instructed by a creditor in Re Project Lietzenburger Strasse Holdco S.A.R.L to oppose a restructuring plan proposed by a Luxembourg company, covering aspects of German law. Raquel Agnello KC has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, and covers restructuring based matters, including CVAs and acting for various businesses. Matthew Parfitt sits as a deputy insolvency judge and has a focus on public interest winding up, and the appointment of provisional liquidators, and Anna Scharnetzky is frequently instructed in contentious restructurings and claims brought by or against office-holders.
London Bar > Company
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4Matthew Parfitt – Erskine Chambers ‘Matthew is fiercely intelligent, calm, decisive, and a commanding advocate who is unafraid to take difficult points.’