Halliwells LLP was an English law firm practising from offices in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Sheffield, with 116 partners and around 850 employees. The LLP was established in 2004 to take over the practice of Halliwell Landau. Key individuals involved in its management were senior partner Alec Craig and managing partner (then executive chairman) Ian Austin, London office head Clive Garston, Liverpool office head and then managing partner Jonathan Brown, and Sheffield office head Suzanne Liversidge.

Insolvency

On 20 July 2010, the High Court made an order putting Halliwells into administration. Dermot Power and Shay Bannon of BDO LLP were appointed administrators. Halliwells' practice was sold as a

pre-packaged insolvency Pre-packaged insolvency (a "pre-pack") is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructure plan is agreed in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the United Kin ...

to four other firms:

Hill Dickinson Hill Dickinson is a British international commercial law firm headquartered in Liverpool, United Kingdom. With more than 175 partners and 840 staff, the firm operates from five UK offices and four overseas offices. History Hill Dickinson's ori ...

, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Gateley, and Kennedys. At the time, this was the largest English law firm to go into administration. The administrators initially blamed market conditions and high rents for the firm's failure. An additional factor behind the firm's failure was a property transaction connected to Halliwells' decision to become an anchor tenant in the

Spinningfields Spinningfields is an area of Manchester city centre, in North West England, developed in the 2000s between Deansgate and the River Irwell by Allied London Properties. The £1.5 billion project consists of twenty new buildings, totalling approxima ...

business development in Manchester. The firm received a reverse premium of £20 million from the landlord, which was shared between the firm's 32 equity partners, who each took between £250,000 and £1 million. This was kept secret from the junior partners. The administrators have sued the 32 recipients and have alleged that Halliwells’ equity partners altered the minutes of a meeting about the reverse premium before passing them on to the rest of the firm. There has been an attempt to resolve the dispute by mediation. Ian Austin and Suzanne Liversidge have each spoken publicly about Halliwells' failure and denied any personal responsibility. In March 2012, 36 of the former junior partners who were not told about the reverse premium threatened to sue the 32 equity partners who took the £20 million.

References

{{Legal services in the United Kingdom Defunct law firms of the United Kingdom Law firms established in 2004 2004 establishments in England Law firms disestablished in 2010 2010 disestablishments in England