Malcolm Niekirk will set up the new insolvency and restructuring team at the firm.
Frettens are delighted to announce that Malcolm Niekirk has joined the firm as a partner. He will set up a new Insolvency and Restructuring team and work closely with the other well-established commercial teams from 1st March.
Malcolm has some three decades of experience in insolvency and is regarded as one of the leading practitioners on the south coast.
Frettens are now one of only a handful of firms on the South coast who have a specialist insolvency team.
Managing partner, Matt Fretten is clearly pleased with the new addition to the team:
“We are absolutely thrilled that Malcolm has joined the partnership. His reputation in his specialist field is second to none in the area. To have such an accomplished and experienced partner join the firm will strengthen our commercial offering and provide real value for our clients.
Malcolm is exactly the sort of person we look for at Frettens. An expert in his field, but crucially, bright, approachable and easy to talk to.”
Having spent time as a practising solicitor and partner, heading the insolvency teams at two large regional firms, Malcolm set up his own consultancy in 2016. He has spent the last four years working as the ‘Insolvency Guru’, keeping insolvency practitioners out of trouble, offering advice on specific cases and generally.
In addition to that, he was also a director at Peter Hall from 2017, getting first-hand experience in a boutique restructuring and insolvency practice.
He offers technical advice, drafts documents, negotiates, and helps sell stuff. He also is an occasional conference speaker and offers training. He sometimes represents others – creditors, company directors and debtors – involved in the insolvency process.
He passed JIEB more than twenty years ago and is an insolvency practitioner, but with the firm intention of never taking a formal appointment.
Malcolm will be based in the firm’s Christchurch office; however will service clients from all over Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.
“I have worked with Frettens on several projects recently and know quite a few of the people there as former colleagues. So I am delighted to have the opportunity to develop the friendships and join them as part of the team.’
“I am really looking forward to working on building a corporate restructuring team as part of the ambitious, developing legal practice at Frettens.
“In recent years, through my advisory practice, I found myself working with a number of legal practices, seeing many of them as a client might. Frettens really stood out from the crowd, with their teamwork and approach to solving problems. I am delighted to be joining them.”
Malcolm will be working closely with Insolvency Practitioners in the area. He has built some great relationships throughout his 30 years in the industry, but is always looking to build new ones.