Freeths North East Hires ex Evershed Sutherland Insolvency Head

11th January 2021

National, full service law firm, Freeths LLP, have recruited the former head of insolvency of Leeds and the North East, from Eversheds Sutherland.

Paul Dutton was recruited in a strategic move to further bolster the sizeable national restructuring and insolvency practice. This brings the national insolvency and restructuring team to 35.

Head of National Restructuring at Freeths, Joey Byrne said, “We are delighted to have recruited such a senior and experienced restructuring partner in Paul who has worked in local, national and international restructuring for 30 years. For the last 20 years Paul worked at Eversheds Sutherland as head of restructuring team for Newcastle, Manchester and, latterly, Leeds, where he focused for the last 6 years. This gives us genuine coverage in the NE and is a wonderful compliment to Helen Bates who has established a growing team in Leeds.”

Managing Partner of Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester, John May said, “We had identified restructuring as an investment area pre-Covid, but of course with the pandemic and resulting economic challenges to businesses this need accelerated, so Paul’s addition to the Freeths’ team to help client businesses and their stakeholders find solutions to current, and future, difficulties is most welcome.”

Helen Bates, Director of Insolvency in Leeds, commented, “Paul’s experience is an invaluable addition and reinforces the strength of our team in Leeds and the NE as we continue to grow, enabling us to remain well positioned to deal with all aspects of restructuring, turnaround and insolvencies and focused on delivering exceptional client service during the unprecedented times ahead.”

Paul Dutton said: “I am delighted to have joined Freeths as the team, and the firm overall, has such an impressive CV. With the pandemic and Brexit, 2021 and beyond will be a challenging time for many UK businesses.  Drawing on my, and the team’s extensive restructuring and turnaround experience, we can expand our client support and guide directors to get through financial or trading difficulties while avoiding additional personal risks.”

Freeths insolvency and restructuring team have expertise with both contentious and non-contentious matters. The team act for the majority of the large insolvency practices nationwide, as well as supporting stand-alone practices.