Directors’ duties revisited: the impact of Sequana and BHS

Event information

In this webinar, Ali Zaidi and Sophia Bompas of Edwin Coe LLP will consider the shift in directors’ duties when a financially distressed company moves closer to insolvency and the associated implications of the Supreme Court decision in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA & Ors [2022] UKSC 25 and the recent High Court judgments in Wright and Rowley & Ors v Chappell & Ors [2024] EWHC 1417 (Ch) and [2024] EWHC 2166 (Ch).

Key benefits

• Updated analysis of two significant and recent cases in the development of the law on directors’ duties and, in particular, breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful trading and “misfeasant trading”;
• Practical considerations for insolvency practitioners when considering what actions constitute a claim for wrongful trading and/or “misfeasant trading” and the associated timeframes;
• A wider consideration of other factors on the liability of directors in claims for wrongful trading and “misfeasant trading”, including the taking of professional advice, delegation of board responsibility, scope of liability and D&O insurance policies.

About the speakers

	Sophia Bompas, Restructuring & Insolvency Partner, Edwin Coe LLP Sophia is an insolvency and restructuring specialist within Edwin Coe’s Chambers-ranked insolvency team. Sophia has extensive experience advising on contentious and non-contentious corporate and personal insolvencies. Her broad insolvency practice sees her acting for clients across a range of industries and sectors, including insolvency practitioners, creditors, debtors, banks, directors of financially distressed companies, as well as individuals in financial difficulty. She also advises clients on a variety of commercial litigation matters, including shareholder, corporate and contractual disputes.
	Ali Zaidi, Head of Litigation and Insolvency, Edwin Coe LLP Ali Zaidi is a partner and Head of Litigation and Restructuring & Insolvency and specialises in insolvency, reconstruction and fraud-related cases.His practice includes asset tracing abroad, pursuing and defending claims of misfeasance by directors, conducting and defending Insolvency Act examinations, advising on asset avoidance schemes, pursuing directors personally for fraud and deceit, and defending directors in disqualification proceedings. Ali has worked on several high-profile insolvency cases including a multi-million pound bankruptcy and corporate Ponzi frauds.
	Victoria Alexandrou, Insolvency Manager, ICAEW (Facilitator) Victoria has over 20 years’ insolvency experience. She has worked in firms ranging from a sole practitioner to one of the Big 4 and completed JIEB in 2011. She joined ICAEW’s QAD department in 2016 as a reviewer, completing both insolvency and practice assurance visits, before being promoted to manager in 2024. Outside of work, Victoria enjoys running, watching motor sports, especially WRC, and is a avid reader.

CPD hours

ICAEW's revised Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Regulations bring in new CPD requirements. This includes a minimum number of hours and an ethics requirement. Attending this webinar could contribute up to 1 hour of verifiable CPD, providing you can demonstrate that the content is relevant to your role.

A copy of the webinar booking confirmation email is accepted as evidence of verifiable CPD. You will need to save the email as a JPEG or PDF before uploading it to your record. Click here to use ICAEW’s self-assessment tool to help you work out how much CPD you will need to fulfil each year.

Costs

This webinar is free to attend.

ICAEW members and non-members are welcome to join. This event is organised by the Restructuring & Insolvency Community. Please click here to join online.