Kevin originally trained as a lawyer, undertaking a law degree whereby he achieved a 2:1 LLB (Hons) degree and successfully completed the Law Society Final Exams.
Kevin subsequently entered the insolvency profession and is a licensed Insolvency Practitioner (currently non-appointment-taking), Kevin has over 25 years of experience of dealing with a wide range of insolvency matters.
Spending much of his career with a national firm of insolvency specialists, Kevin progressed to Director of Insolvency, where he gained extensive experience of turnaround work, focussing primarily on Company Voluntary Arrangements and Administrations and latterly heading up the firm’s Administration team in the Manchester office.
Kevin was responsible for many of the complex and challenging matters. He was the first IP nationally to deal with the administration of a Credit Union.
Kevin had to navigate the issues of ensuring the cases were progressed in an efficient and profitable way, whilst remaining wholly compliant with regulation and legislation.
Utilising the extensive skill set that his experience of turnaround and insolvency work equipped him with, Kevin decided to focus his skills on solvent acquisitions and since 2017 has been an advisor to a buy and build acquisitions group. Whilst the group focus traditionally has been on share sales, with Kevin’s experience and knowledge, they are now able to acquire businesses in distressed situations – typically where there is a narrative around the reason for failure, and there are high barriers to entry and a strong management team.
Using skills gained during his years as an IP, Kevin was instrumental in a renegotiation of the contracts which have ensured the long term survival of the private forensic sector following the acquisition of a forensic business out of Administration in 2018. Kevin remains on the board as a non-executive director.
Realta was incorporated to bring together the transactional and advisory aspects of Kevin’s work, with the compliance and regulatory focus from Kay, to provide a full-service offering for solvent and distressed transactions, combined with compliance and regulatory advice.
Originally trained as a lawyer, Kay has 25 years of experience in the Insolvency Sector, originally working as an Insolvency Administrator and then Manager and subsequently specialising in Compliance and Regulatory matters.
Undertaking a law degree where she obtained a 2:1 LLB (Hons) degree, Kay subsequently successfully completing the Law Society Final exams and an LL.M in International and European Law before joining the insolvency profession.
Kay’s legal training has proved invaluable in providing her with the analytical and problem-solving skills required to resolve complex technical issues arising in insolvency appointments, drafting legally compliant documentation and effective systems within IP practices and her understanding of the legal system and litigation has enabled her to identify and manage areas of risk.
Having worked for several medium-sized IP practices, Kay has gained ‘hands on’ experience across the whole range of insolvency appointments, including both personal and corporate insolvency. Kay has also successfully undertaken the insolvency-specific CPI examination.
Working for a national insolvency practice for over 10 years, Kay was fortunate to gain experience in the creation and development of a bespoke compliance function serving multiple IPs across the firm’s country-wide offices. Experiences ranged from the development of systems and documentation, file review and office-specific reviews and assistance to dealing with complaints and involvement in ICAEW regulatory monitoring visits.
More recently, Kay has undertaken work for a Company that provides an external compliance function for numerous IP practices across the country providing document packs across the range of insolvency procedures and providing Insolvency Compliance Reports (ICRs). On joining the practice in 2017, Kay undertook a project to implement the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 into insolvency work packs used extensively across the insolvency profession.
Taking time out to undertake a PGCE during her time in insolvency, Kay is also a qualified teacher and has a strong belief in the power of effective training on insolvency matters to enable IP practices to both manage risk and work efficiently.
Kay has prepared and delivered training sessions on matters such as the insolvency fees regime, changes to working practices arising from the implementation of the 2016 Rules, GDPR, and most recently, the Insolvency Code of Ethics 2020.