Member Article

Top Leeds lawyer appointed regional chair of insolvency trade body R3

One of the city’s leading business restructuring and insolvency lawyers, William Ballmann, partner at Gateley LLP, has been appointed as regional chair of R3, the insolvency trade body.

He has taken over as regional chair from Robert Adamson, northern restructuring partner for Mazars.

Based in Leeds, Ballman has 30 years’ experience of business restructurings, re-financings, rescues and turnaround.

He specialises in advising the management of public and private companies where there is some form of financial or organisational underperformance or difficulty.

Ballman regularly advises banks, asset-based and other lenders at a senior level.

As well as being a member of R3 for over 20 years, he has served on the Yorkshire Region committee for the last five years and, unusually, he also holds a national position as a council member of R3.

In his new role, Ballman will be responsible for raising the profile of the work of R3 and its 300 members in the region.

Ballman said: “Insolvency practitioners are continuing to play a vital part in preserving the value of businesses and saving jobs in the region. This is something which can get overlooked.

“R3 has proved very effective at conveying this message, and my aim as chair is to build on these solid foundations and further improve understanding of the positive role our members play, so ensuring that Yorkshire businesses are aware of all the options open to them should they hit financial difficulties.

“With a range of insolvency tools at their disposal, IPs and restructuring professionals can work with directors and may be able to find a way forward for the business if they are consulted at an early stage.”

Ballman will be assisted by Chris Wood, partner at Clough Corporate Solutions in Cleckheaton, who will continue to serve as vice chair.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .