Law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP has strengthened its restructuring and insolvency (R&I) practice area with the arrival of partner Ian Benjamin, who will be based in its London office.

Mr Benjamin is a non-contentious R&I lawyer. His practice covers a broad range of mandates, advising domestic and international clients on all aspects of R&I matters across a range of sectors, including real estate, hospitality, leisure and retail, financial services, automotive and healthcare. He acts for a variety of stakeholders, including lenders, distressed investment funds, insolvency practitioners, trade creditors, landlords, directors, sponsors and foreign lawyers. He joins from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where he was a partner for seven years. 

“We are really pleased to be able to bolster our restructuring and insolvency team with the hiring of Ian,” said Susan Moore, head of restructuring and insolvency, Stephenson Harwood. “The extent of restructuring and insolvency activity in the short and medium term is expected to be unprecedented as a result of the economic fallout from coronavirus. Ian brings a level of experience and expertise that complements and strengthens our team, and enables us to help our clients navigate these unprecedented times.”

Stephenson Harwood's global R&I practice is a multi-jurisdictional team of lawyers, who advise a wide array of stakeholders on all issues arising in connection with financial distress. The team's work covers all sectors, and encompasses domestic and international debt restructurings, schemes of arrangement, company voluntary arrangements, administrations (including pre-packs), receiverships, liquidations, personal bankruptcy, insolvency litigation and investigations, fraud and asset recovery, refinancings, workouts and turnaround strategies, debt for equity swaps, distressed M&A, distressed investing and loan to own strategies.