Andrew Tonge

Andrew Advises

Andrew provides specialist advice to a broad range of clients, including:

• Insolvency Practitioners
• Companies, C-Suite/Directors, and Shareholders
• General Counsel
• Debtors and Secured and Unsecured Creditors, including Commercial Lenders and Private Debenture Holders
• Finance Professionals and Lawyers
• Web3, Blockchain and DeFi Professionals including Crypto Custodians, Token (including Stablecoins) Issuers

Experience Highlights

Andrew has built an impressive track record of handling complex, high-value and often high-profile restructuring and insolvency matters. His experience encompasses urgent interventions, strategic board-level advice, complex litigation and innovative solutions at the intersection of insolvency law and emerging digital asset technologies.

Key matters include:

• Advising boards of directors in the corporate twilight zone: identifying insolvency, compliance with directors’ duties, avoiding personal liabilities, and advising on the management and control of catastrophic insolvency events such as litigation and trade interruptions, maintaining the asset base, crucial payments and avoiding preferences
• Urgently placing companies into administration and liquidation
• Advising secured and unsecured creditors and other stakeholders
• Advising in pre-pack disposals of business and assets
• Representing a former fund operator in the high-profile liquidation of The Connaught Income Fund, Series 1, which collapsed into liquidation with alleged losses of circa £100 million. Andrew acted in the ensuing high-value litigation in the High Court, including the reported case of The Connaught Income Fund, Series 1 (in liquidation) v Capita Financial Managers EWHC 3619 (Comm), All ER (D) 56 (Nov) and in the regulatory investigation conducted by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, in which the FCA pursued multi-million-pound fines. The collapse of the Fund led to the creation of an All-Party Parliamentary Group and was the subject of an independent review into the handling of the Fund by the FCA (and its predecessor, the FSA)
• Advising in complex and high value litigation in the High Court (Queen’s Bench Division (Commercial Court) and Chancery Division (Insolvency and Companies List)) and the negotiation of complex settlements
• Advising on insolvency investigations, including in relation to sections 234, 235 and 236 of the Insolvency Act
• Advising in high profile law firm insolvencies which have reached mainstream news and the House of Commons
• Advising in relation to money laundering risks and interaction with the National Crime Agency
• Advising on the effects of insolvency in crypto custody
• Advising on trusts and title relating to crypto assets
• Advising in relation to security over crypto assets
• Advising in relation to corporate structures in Web3 projects including token issuance

Career History

Previous Law Firms

• Nexus Solicitors Limited, Director (2011 – 2022)
• Nexus Solicitors, Partner (2007 – 2011)
• Hill Dickinson, Partner (2004 – 2007)
• Previously at other law firms since 1995

Education

• Solicitor of the Senior Courts
• Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test
• Bar Vocational Course
• LLB (Hons)

Other

• With the International Digital Assets Counsel Association, Andrew took part in preparing the contribution to “Digital Assets and English Insolvency Law” a public consultation by the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the LawtechUK Delivery Panel
• Andrew is a former Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law (Banking and Finance Law, Commercial Law and Practice)
• Prior to studying law, Andrew served in the Royal Navy, operating classified nuclear weapons systems aboard Polaris class submarines as part of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
• Andrew has been an active scuba diver for many years and is a qualified diving instructor. He was the co-founder of a diver training school, training scuba divers throughout the UK.