Judge & Priestley LLP

Dispute resolution.

Partner and and Joint Head of J&P Credit Solutions

Rachel is one of the Partners at the firm and she jointly heads the J & P Credit Solution division. Rachel takes the lead on legal debt recovery activities within the division and is also heads the division’s litigation team.

In addition to her management responsibilities Rachel continues to deal with a wide range of complex debt recovery litigation and insolvency matters. Rachel’s expertise has also led to her being invited to sit on a number of internal local authority panels providing legal guidance and support on debt recovery strategy and approach to individual complex cases.

Experience

Rachel’s career has been focused on debt recovery litigation and she acts for a broad range of clients including local authorities, utility companies, debt purchasers, banks, large national and multi-national organisations as well as private individuals.

Rachel deals with the full range of contractual disputes but has also developed a particular expertise in a number of niche local authority debt recovery areas to include disputes relating to residential and homecare charges. Rachel has led in this complex area of recovery providing guidance to local authorities across the country and pioneering unique debt recovery solutions to tackle particular issues which exist with these debts, such as her development of our deceased debtor recovery service.

Further Rachel has tackled some of the historically difficult local authority debt types to include overpayment of housing debt matters including cases involving serious fraud. She is constantly expanding her expertise as the range of local authority debts increase for example she is assisting local authorities to recover the relatively new Community Infrastructure Levy debts.

Rachel has for a number of years assisted local authorities with their revenue debts assisting in the collection of council tax and non-domestic business rates debts (NNDR). For the former helping local authorities to realise monies tied up in charging orders through our order for sale service. Rachel has also assisted clients to investigate and deal NNDR cases where debtors seek to evade liability including where they use foreign entities to hold tenancy agreements/leases.

Rachel has also developed an expertise in utility debt litigation dealing with complex supply debt disputes across the full range including residential, SME and Industrial and Commercial supply debts.

Rachel also specialises in Insolvency matters acting on behalf of creditors in disputed bankruptcy and winding up petitions. As well as acting for trustees in bankruptcy and liquidators in realising assets and taking legal action against bankrupts, former directors or other third parties.

The Credit Solutions Litigation team which Rachel heads supported by Uday Patel, deals with defended and disputed litigation cases generated from our bulk Claims and Enforcement team. In addition they are directly referred litigation cases where a bulk approach is not appropriate e.g. where a complex dispute exists there is particularly sensitivity on the matter or due to the value of the debt.

Rachel recently delivered a well attended seminar on Deceased Debtor Recoveries at the Law Society.

Recent Highlights

Rachel has acted for a local authority client in respect of an adult social care debt where the customer passed away and the deceased family failed to pay the significant residential care debt which remained outstanding. Rachel obtained an Insolvency Administration Order on the case despite the family seeking to argue the English Courts did not have jurisdiction to deal with the matter. London Borough of Brent v Estate of Leanora Francis [2018] BPIR 451.

Ursuline High School, Wimbledon; Ursuline High School and Wimbledon College Sixth Form; University of Leicester 2002 LLB (Hons).

Football, politics, film.