12 May – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – SJ Berwin is pleased to announce the appointment of Hammonds partner, Michael Woollard, who will be joining the Reconstruction & Insolvency department. Michael has over 20 years experience as an insolvency and reconstruction lawyer and has been at Hammonds since 1991. He was the London lead partner in the insolvency and reconstruction section of the Finance Law Department.
Michael is a well-known name in the market place. He is on the general technical committee of R3 and is recognised as a leader in his field. He is described in this year’s Chambers directory as “technically superb” with “a strong and loyal following in the market”. He recently acted for the administrators of the voluntary arrangement of Enron Direct Limited.
Stephen Maffey, head of SJ Berwin’s Reconstruction and Insolvency department, commented: “This is a great addition to SJ Berwin’s Reconstruction & Insolvency team. We are delighted that Michael is joining us – his appointment will provide the expertise in the asset based lending community that we need to support our successful and expanding banking practice.” Michael’s appointment follows the recent announcement of the arrival of Clifford Chance partner, Laura O’Neill to the firm’s corporate department.
Michael will be joining a well established Reconstruction & Insolvency team. Stephen Maffey has been with the firm for over 9 years undertaking a wide range of contentious and non-contentious insolvency related work.
Michael Woollard comments: “I am very much looking forward to joining SJ Berwin. I was particularly impressed by their focused and commercial approach to clients and I’m delighted to be joining a firm with a strong entrepreneurial client base which will present opportunities for private equity / VC-related work.”
Michael’s arrival brings the SJ Berwin partners across Europe to a total of 141.