Frances Coulson

Frances heads the Insolvency & Restructuring team, where she leads a substantial team of lawyers in contentious and non-contentious work.

She has extensive experience in insolvency and disputes and injunctive relief, acting in many cases where injunctions are required, including acting numerous times as an independent supervising solicitor.

Specialising in fraud and insolvency litigation, Frances has also managed significant contracts for the public and private sectors over the last 3 decades.

• Leading team acting for Liquidators in payroll fraud case and international asset recovery- Mercy Global Consult Ltd v Adegbuyi-Jackson & Ors [2023] EWHC 3203 (Ch)
• Pursuit of directors in relation to historic  tax avoidance scheme, and subsequent appeal
• Re Marylebone Warwick Balfour Management Ltd [2022] EWHC 784 (Ch)  and Hunt -v- Singh [2023] EWHCA 1784
• Acting for the the Trustees throughout in Edward Wojakovski in Bankruptcy
• Acting as Interim Manager with Partner Robert Paterson, of College Farm, appointed by the Charity Commission in August 2024.

Frances regularly writes for insolvency publications and has appeared frequently on radio and television. She is on the editorial board of LexisNexis for Insolvency and for the London Gazette.

Frances is a deputy chair of the Fraud Advisory Panel, the UK charity that acts as the independent voice of the counter fraud community committed to tackling fraud and financial crime.

Frances is a non-executive Director of the government Insolvency Service, and sits on the Insolvency & Companies Court Users Committee.

She is a former president of R3 (the trade association for UK insolvency and restructuring professionals) and now chairs the R3 fraud group and is a member of the R3 council and its policy group.

Since October 2024, Frances has been the deputy president of INSOL Europe, a membership organisation of over 1,300 members from over 50 countries, and is also a member of its fraud group. She takes over as President in Vienna in October 2025

She was formerly a member of the regulatory and conduct committee of the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA), and is a former Chair of Appeals at the ACCA.

Frances is a special constable with the National Crime Agency, appointed under the Crime and Courts Act 2013, and she received a Director General’s Commendation in 2014.

An enthusiastic lobbyist for the insolvency profession and its framework and for victims of fraud, Frances is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and has given evidence several times to parliamentary committees on finance, lending and insolvency.

Frances became the third person to be inducted to the IWIRC (International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation) Hall of Fame in 2023 in Washington, D.C., elected by her peers in the profession.

She is also a non-executive board member of the Insolvency Service, the government executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade.