Catherine Addy reappointed to the IRC
The Lord Chancellor, in consultation with the Chancellor of the High Court, has today confirmed the reappointment of Catherine Addy to the Insolvency Rules Committee (IRC). Catherine Addy will serve as an additional barrister member of the committee for 3 years, remaining in post until 29 March 2019. The IRC is an advisory, non-departmental public body which operates under section 413 of the Insolvency Act 1986. It is consulted by the Lord Chancellor before government makes any rules under section 411 (company insolvency rules) or section 412 (individual insolvency rules) of the Act. The IRC comprises a High Court judge attached to the Chancery Division, as well as various members of the judiciary, legal and accountancy professions.
In addition to being a member of the Insolvency Rules Committee, Catherine is the current junior barrister member of the Bankruptcy and Companies Court Users’ Committee. She was formerly an elected member of the Bar Council (2001-2007) and the Chancery Bar Association representative on the Bar Council (2010-2012) and she remains co-opted to a number of its committees. She was Chairman of the Young Barristers’ Committee in 2004, the Chairman of the Bar Conference (Human Rights – Taking Liberties) in 2007 and the elected Treasurer of the Chancery Bar Association from 2008-2012. She has recently been elected as a Bencher of the Middle Temple (2014) and is one of the Inn’s Accredited Advocacy Trainers.
About Catherine Addy
Catherine Addy read law at Cambridge and went on to read the LLM in which she achieved a first. She was a Queen Mother Scholar and a Harmsworth Entrance Exhibitioner and has been in practice at Maitland Chambers since completing pupillage in 1999.
Catherine practises in most areas of chancery and commercial litigation but has a particular interest in insolvency work, both corporate and personal, and is currently a publicly appointed member of the Insolvency Rules Committee (appointed pursuant to s413 of the Insolvency Act 1986 following an open competition). She is a member of Jordan Publishing’s Advisory Board for Insolvency and a contributor to Gore Browne on Companies (Chapter 61: Liquidation – Civil and Criminal Liabilities and Officeholders’ powers of investigation).
She has been instructed in relation to various high profile insolvencies including litigation arising out of the collapse of Barings, appearing for the Crown in Spectrum Plus, advising HM Treasury and the Bank of England in relation to Northern Rock, variously representing the unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers, the successful defendant directors in the disqualification proceedings arising out of the collapse of Farepak and, more recently, acting for the administrators of the entity trading as ‘Blockbusters’ and appearing in the Game Group litigation concerning administration expenses. In addition to her insolvency related practice, she has much experience of other company and commercial litigation (including financial services, property and trust law matters, and conflicts of laws issues).
Catherine also regularly advises and acts for a number of government departments, including HMRC, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the Treasury Solicitor and the Attorney-General; She is currently a member of the Attorney General’s 'A' Panel, having first been appointed as Junior Counsel to the Crown in 2003
In 2015 Catherine won 'Company/Insolvency Junior of the Year' at the Chambers UK Bar Awards having previously been shortlisted for Chancery Junior of the Year (2014) and Insolvency Junior of the Year (2012). She continues to be highly recommended by Chambers UK and Chambers Global for Chancery-Commercial litigation, Restructuring & Insolvency and Company.
