What is a Typical Week in the Life of an Insolvency Practitioner?

We asked Steve Illes, partner and Insolvency Practitioner at Antony Batty and Co London about a typical week

Many of the solicitors and accountants who refer work to us here at Antony Batty’s London office will broadly know what an insolvency practitioner does during the working week, but do they know the detail? Probably not. When it comes to businesses, most probably don’t know, unless they need to use our services. To the general public, we only become news when there is a high profile CVA, such as Philip Green’s Arcadia, or the collapse of Carillion.

Day to day, week to week, there is, of course, much more to what we do, and a great deal of it centres around helping businesses survive and turn things around, rather than liquidation and administration. In this article, Steve Illes, one of our insolvency practitioners, and a partner too, describes what a typical week at the office looks like.

A Typical Day for Steve

There is, of course, no such thing as a typical day, as anything can happen, and often does. However, a day can go something like this:

• Starting the commute into the London office, Steve will have a flick through the Morning Account to look at interesting articles in the insolvency arena. He’ll also try and review and respond to any emails that have come in.
• Quite often he will meet a contact from the industry – an Accountant or a Lawyer to catch up and see how they are getting on and if there are any developments with their clients that might require our input. Insolvency work is no different to any other business – you must work hard to get your instructions.
• A ‘phone call to the director of a potential client to provide initial advice and arrange for a meeting to formalise that advice that could lead to an appointment.
• Have conversations with the team on general case progression of current clients, sign out letters and statutory reports for the day.
• Occasionally, there will be an evening meeting with a client, or a further catch-up, either at a client’s or company event.
• Returning home, as with most people, a final review of emails before switching off for the day.

Some Key Activities During a Week

The typical working day for an insolvency practitioner such as Steve shows how much is packed in to 10 or more hours and it can change in an instant. Taking the longer time period of a week, you can see the specific meetings and tasks that are booked into the diary in advance:

• A meeting with a bankrupt in Durham. We might be based in Central London, with satellite offices in Brentwood, Salisbury and The Cotswolds, but our clients come from all over the county.
• Closing a trading site as part of a liquidation.
• Internal staff meeting followed by a presentation from solicitors with a technical update.
• Discussions with solicitors and funders regarding an on-going litigation.
• Reviewing books and records on an investigation case in conjunction with the case manager.

Another week could, of course, look completely different, with the focus being on an administration, for example, or restructuring work to help a business turn itself around.

Whatever Steve’s week turns out to be like, contact him or call him on 0208 088 0633 if your business, or a client’s business needs the advice of an insolvency practitioner. It doesn’t have to be in London. As you can see, Steve will travel as far as Durham if needs be.