Frances Coulson

Partner, Head of Insolvency & Restructuring

Insolvency & Restructuring
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Expertise

Frances undertakes most areas of personal and corporate insolvency, specialising in contentious insolvency especially cases involving fraud, as well as provisional liquidations and injunctive work generally. She is a long serving member of the London Solicitors’ Litigation Association Panel of Supervising Solicitors with extensive experience of executing and supervising search orders and bankruptcy warrants.

She was Head of Insolvency and Litigation at Moon Beever where she ran a substantial team of insolvency and litigation specialists and was a member of the disciplinary and admissions committees, then Chairman of the Appeal Committee at ACCA for ten years with good regulatory experience during and since that service. She is a member of Insol Europe (Council Member) and of Insol International, and the IBA. Frances is a regular speaker in the UK and abroad on insolvency, litigation and anti-fraud issues, and practice management. Frances was recently made an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.

Frances has also managed significant debt contracts for the public and private sectors over the last 3 decades.

Career History

Frances gained her LLB (Hons) at Kings’ College, London University in 1983. She then attended Chester College of Law. She joined Moon Beever in 1984 (where she trained) qualifying in 1986, and became a partner in 1988, becoming Managing Partner in 2000 and Senior Partner in 2014. She joined Wedlake Bell from Moon Beever in July 2021 when the firms merged and is a member of the Board.

Frances was formerly Chairman of the SPG Committee of R3, the Insolvency trade body representing 97% of licensed insolvency practitioners. She was President of R3 2011-12 and a member of council until April 2022. She remains a member of R3 Policy Group and Chairs the R3 Fraud Faculty. She became appointed to the Board of the Insolvency Service as a non executive director in April 2022. She now chairs the R3 Fraud Group. She is Deputy Chair of the Fraud Advisory Panel, a charity dedicated to anti-fraud work, and a member of the Economic Crime Prevention Group. She is a Special Constable with the National Crime Agency receiving a Director General’s commendation in 2016 for her innovative work with the NCA.

A pre-eminent practitioner who is well regarded, with a solid and strong practice.

Chambers UK, 2023

She is very plugged in and has a very good feel for how cases will be decided.

Chambers UK, 2023

She is a straight shooter and very hard nosed. If it is near the knuckle, she is a useful person to have in a fist fight.

Chambers UK, 2023

Frances Coulson is very solid and dependable.

Chambers UK, 2023

The three key litigation partners that we work with are Richard Saunders, James Latham and Francis Coulson, and they all similarly provide a significant level of senior input on every case that they work on.

Legal 500, 2023

Frances Coulson provides vision, profile and leadership but then lets her team get on with it unless there is a specific issue which warrants her attention.

Legal 500, 2022

Frances Coulson is a very effective and tenacious litigator who always gets results. She is highly experienced and deserves her formidable reputation in the market.

Legal 500, 2022

News

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Edward Fennell’s Legal Diary: The significance of the Insolvency Service Statistics for April-June 2022

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Third Party Cost Orders

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Place of residence

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Bulletins

Broad Idea International Ltd v Convoy Collateral Ltd (British Virgin Island) [2021] UKPC 24 – No Substantive Proceedings Required for Freezing Order

Freezing orders (indeed injunctions of all kinds) are an important tool in litigation, so a judgment of the Privy Council on the subject is worthy of attention, especially when itRead more