R3 experts fear more economic gloom (From The Northern Echo)

R3 experts fear more economic gloom

10:33am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

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EXPERTS from five of the region’s leading law firms will meet to discuss the future of the business insolvency regime this week at a members-only event hosted by the North-East section of insolvency trade body R3.

Representatives of Ward Hadaway, Dickinson Dees, Eversheds, Watson Burton and Clarke Mairs will outline recent developments in the sector and the likely implications for changes to the insolvency regime that are due to come into effect later in the year.

The meeting comes at a time when a recent survey of R3 members found the majority of them believed that the full impact of the recession on the business community was yet to be felt.

During the last recession, the peak for liquidation was 1992 – three years after the recession had started – and R3 expects it will be repeated this time round.

Jim James, North-East regional chairman of R3 and head of the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Unit at Newcastle-based law firm Ward Hadaway, said: “The impact of the recession has naturally seen corporate insolvency and all the issues related to it, such as redundancy, employment rights and contractual arrangements, become far more prominent on the regional and national business agenda.

“The recent announcement of the official end to the recession does not mean that all the problems caused by it have worked their way through – and as hard as insolvency professionals can work to try to save companies and safeguard jobs, we fully expect the number of businesses entering administration to continue to grow for some time to come.

“The insolvency regime is evolving all the time, both through the introduction of new Government regulations and the impact of case law.”