Richard Ascroft > Chambers of Anna Vigars KC > Bristol, England > Barrister Profile

Richard Ascroft

0117 930 9000 richard.ascroft@guildhallchambers.co.uk

Work Department

Insolvency; commercial; company law; company directors disqualification; banking and financial services.

Position

Richard is a barrister who specialises in insolvency law, company law and commercial litigation. He has over 20 years advisory and advocacy experience and has appeared in courts at all levels including the House of Lords. Richard is identified in the major legal directories as a leading junior in his chosen fields and was on the Attorney General’s Regional Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown for 16 years. He is also a contributor to the leading work on directors’ disqualification.

Career

Called 1995, Lincoln’s Inn. Admitted barrister and solicitor, High Court of New Zealand 1990; junior counsel to the Crown (A-G’s provincial panel) 2002 to date. Contributing editor, ‘Mithani: Directors’ Disqualification’.

Richard has a comprehensive knowledge of the Insolvency Act 1986 and related legislation and acts on behalf of debtors (individuals and companies), office holders, bankrupts and directors. His practice involves all aspects of personal and corporate insolvency including:

• Company director disqualification proceedings
• Bankruptcy Restriction Orders and Debt Relief Restriction Orders
• Misfeasance claims (breaches of trust and breaches of duty)
• Bankruptcy
• Transaction avoidance claims (voidable preferences, transactions at an undervalue; transactions defrauding creditors)
• Administrations
• Voluntary liquidations
• Voluntary arrangements
• Unlawful returns of capital
• Prohibited names (s 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986)

Recent work includes:

• Acting for Asil Nadir’s trustee in bankruptcy
• Advising a major electronics retailer on the enforceability of a reservation of title clause against administrators
• Securing permission for an undischarged bankrupt to act as a company director
• Obtaining the release from disqualification undertakings of two former Farepark directors
• Advising in relation to alleged breach of duty by the former partners of an LLP

Memberships

R3, Chancery Bar Association, Insolvency Lawyers’ Association.

Education

Otago University, New Zealand (LLB (Hons); Oxford University, Keble College (BCL).