Tom is based at our Central London Office and specialises in Creditors Voluntary Liquidations and Administrations.
This month we are shining the spotlight on one of our colleagues, Tom O’Keeffe, who is based at our London office. Tom works closely alongside our Licensed Insolvency Practitioners and specialises in Creditors Voluntary Liquidations.
We asked Tom to answer some questions, including what got him into the Insolvency profession, what he particularly enjoys about Insolvency, and of course we also asked him what he enjoys in his spare time away from Insolvency.
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What do you enjoy about insolvency? What got you into the profession?
“Originally, I wanted to be an accountant and when working for an accounting firm in Cambridge, my boss at the time asked if I could help his friend with a new business he was setting up. If you haven’t already guessed it, this business was an insolvency firm. After helping out for a couple of months, I was offered a job full time and having found the work interesting decided I would see where this new path would take me.
What drew me initially to insolvency was how different each case was. Whether it was the sector of business, the country the business operated in, the assets of the business or the creditors of the business, each case was different to another and allowed me to have an understanding of how each one worked and how it got to where it was.”
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Past career, firm, experience? Interesting cases you have dealt with?
“I have now worked for a few different insolvency firms both in Cambridge and London coming up to 10 years now. In those 10 years I have worked on both personal and corporate insolvency amassing a wealth of knowledge and experience. At the moment, I primarily focus on corporate insolvency with Antony Batty & Company LLP and mainly deal with Creditors Voluntary Liquidations (“CVL”).
Over the years I have worked on some interesting cases but one of the more interesting cases for me was actually one of my earlier cases, a CVL of a pub. The reason it was interesting wasn’t that it was a complicated case or had a lot of assets to deal with, but it was meeting the sole director and shareholder. I think people get this image that when a Company fails it is all due to the director and that they should have done more or realised sooner. However, with this case, I understood how much the director had tried to save the business, from getting advice on how to save costs, renting out the kitchen to improve the quality of the food to get more customers in, the number of hours the director had worked without getting paid and a few other things. This case allowed me to see a different side to CVLs.”
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Interesting facts about yourself, hobbies, interests.
“Well first and foremost, I am a huge Football fan supporting Spurs. Whilst this does cause me a lot of heartache, it does have its moments. I am also a big fan of many other sports and have been following American Football and Basketball for a number of years, which isn’t the easiest with the time difference.
Another interest of mine is cooking and baking. I enjoy trying new recipes and sometimes attempt to create new dishes, although sa couple of them probably should not have been created! Finally, I am a huge reader of Fiction and try to read whenever I get a chance.”
How to Contact Tom or our Insolvency Practitioners for advice on Insolvency matters
Talk to Tom, or any of his colleagues for Insolvency, Restructuring and Business Turnaround Advice at any of our offices. Click here to see some testimonials for our work.
Our appointment taking Licensed Insolvency Practitioners are Antony Batty, Hugh Jesseman, Claire Howell, Matt Waghorn and Lawrence King.
- London:0208 088 0633
- Brentwood:01277 554002
- Salisbury:01722 512001
- Bournemouth:01202 923009
Or talk to any of our Antony Batty & Company sister companies, located at:
- KWR Thames Valley, Oxfordshire: 01235 507001
