Mark Sands
Mark has nearly 40 years of experience in the insolvency profession, with more than 15 years as an appointment taking insolvency practitioner. Mark’s focus for the last 20 years has been on personal and contentious insolvency cases, with several years spent at a litigation funder reviewing insolvency claims for funding. Mark worked on several reported personal insolvency cases, which still influence insolvency practice today. Mark’s last few roles have had a national footprint as a result of which Mark is as well known in the regional centres as in London. At Opus Mark is leading and developing their personal insolvency offering.
Practice Area
Panel
- Consulting Editorial Board
Qualified Year
- 1992
Experience
- Apex Litigation Finance (2021 - 2025)
- Quantuma Advisory (2017 - 2021)
- RSM Tenon (2009 - 2017)
- KPMG (1989 - 2009)
- Grant Thornton (1985 - 1989)
Membership
- Insolvency Practitioners Association
- R3
Qualification
- JIEB (1992)
Education
- Priory Comprehensive (1985)
4 Contributions by Mark Sands
PRACTICE NOTES
Insolvency claims: funding and litigating versus selling or assigning—pros, cons and key considerations
What options are available when deciding how to fund litigation?
Litigation funding, in its broadest sense, means reviewing every way to finance the different costs of pursuing a claim through trial, enforcement and ultimate recovery as appropriate. These routes may include one or more of the following practical mechanisms:
the litigating IP pays some or all costs on a standard private client basis, i.e. meeting costs from money available in the insolvent estate (if any) as they fall due and are incurred
solicitors are instructed under a conditional fee agreement (CFA) or damages-based agreement (DBA), or via a split approach where part of their fees accrue on that basis and part are paid as they arise by agreement
counsel is engaged on a CFA or DBA, or on a mixed model with some of their fees accruing on that basis and some paid as they are incurred
after-the-event (ATE) insurance is obtained to meet any adverse costs order if the case is lost, on terms that the premium is wholly or partly deferred
security for costs is provided by means of a specifically tailored ATE insurance policy where appropriate
court fees and other disbursements
...
Restructuring & Insolvency
PRACTICE NOTES
Insolvency investigations and litigation without estate assets: funding methods, cost protection and assignments for insolvency practitioners (England and Wales)
This Practice Note covers:
funding issues facing insolvency practitioners
the development of litigation funding
which costs different funding routes meet
general options for funding litigation
insolvency-specific funding solutions
key points for IPs when using litigation funding
exposure to an opponent’s costs
Funding concerns for insolvency practitioners
Insolvency practitioners (IPs) must maximise returns for creditors of an insolvent entity, and current or potential claims can be crucial assets of the estate. IPs are obliged to manage the estate’s claims, or at least decide whether prospective actions should be pursued. Yet inquiries and proceedings are costly and outcomes are uncertain. Planning should address:
the IP’s legal fees (solicitors and counsel)
disbursements, including court fees and expert reports
the probable need to provide security for costs
Under CPR 25, defendants are likely to seek security for costs against an IP at an early stage, because they may fear that the claimant lacks the resources to meet their costs if the defendant succeeds...
Restructuring & Insolvency
PRACTICE NOTES
Litigation Funding for Insolvency Practitioners: Case Selection, Cost Structures (CFAs/DBAs/ATE), Funders’ Returns, Waterfalls, Champerty, and the Post‑PACCAR Landscape (England and Wales)
What is it?
Third-party litigation funding (Funding) involves a separate entity (the Funder) advancing money to cover part or all of the litigation costs, in exchange for an agreed return if the matter is won or resolved by settlement. Although the idea of Funding is straightforward, it carries many subtleties and particulars, with choices that must be weighed and contrasted before identifying what suits a claim. Funding is specialised—the expense and eligibility thresholds mean a number of disputes do not qualify for Funding. The market of Funders is growing, with differing requirements and preferred investment niches. Funding itself is not regulated; however, many Funders belong to the Association of Litigation Funders (ALF) (the ALF website can be viewed here) and adhere to the ALF’s voluntary code of conduct. Numerous professionals who arrange Funding, including solicitors and brokers, are regulated. Any deployment of capital by a Funder will proceed under a litigation funding agreement (LFA), typically a long-form contract describing each party’s duties, and it is often supported by an undertaking from the solicitors representing the funded party. They set out each party’s obligations in detail, reflecting nuances and options to be considered and compared when carefully determining the best route...
Restructuring & Insolvency
PRACTICE NOTES
Using the Insolvency Services Account: obligations of official receivers and insolvency practitioners, EAS processes, investments/interest, local account authorisations, unclaimed dividends and fees in bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations
The official receiver (OR) is designated as trustee in bankruptcy (trustee) or as liquidator to manage and investigate every bankruptcy and court-ordered winding up, including those of partnerships. The Secretary of State or the creditors may, in place of the OR, appoint an insolvency practitioner (IP) to act as trustee for personal insolvencies or as liquidator for corporate cases. Under the Insolvency Regulations 1994, SI 1994/2507, as amended (the Regulations), the OR or IP, as appropriate, is obliged to pay into the (ISA) any funds they receive while administering all bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations. Before 1 October 2011, sums from voluntary liquidations could also be lodged in the ISA; now, only unclaimed dividends in a voluntary liquidation may be paid into the ISA. Likewise, unclaimed dividends arising in an administration or an administrative receivership may be paid into the ISA once the company has been dissolved. The Regulations also permit payments out of the ISA for disbursements, expenses and distributions to creditors and, in a liquidation, to contributories, or, in a bankruptcy, any surplus to the bankrupt. By contrast, an administrator may utilise their own...
Restructuring & Insolvency
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