Julie Nettleton

Grant Thornton UK LLP

London www.grantthornton.co.uk

julie.g.nettleton@uk.gt.com Tel: +44 20 7728 2412

Biography

Julie Nettleton is a director in Grant Thornton UK’s insolvency and asset recovery practice. Julie is a chartered accountant and a fellow of INSOL International. Julie has over 25 years of experience in insolvency and restructuring and extensive experience in the management and execution of large and complex insolvency assignments. These assignments frequently involve multiple appointments across a variety of offshore and onshore jurisdictions, large and complex debt structures, significant litigation, and allegations of fraud.

What inspired you to pursue a career in restructuring and insolvency?

I started my professional life as a trainee in a tax practice, and very quickly realised that that path was not for me. I was intrigued by the stories that a family member who was a trainee in an insolvency team told me about much more interesting and varied work, so I decided to switch tracks and have never looked back. The challenges and opportunities which are available even to junior members of our profession were, and remain, a huge draw for people who are looking for a different perspective on a career in accounting.

How has the market changed since you first started practising?

The insolvency and restructuring market is an entirely different place from when I began my career. The level of sophistication of practitioners, advisers and creditors has increased exponentially and the industry attracts the brightest minds, not just the “cowboys” of the past.

How do you effectively coordinate on cases when working alongside experts with other areas of expertise?

Communication, coordination and respect are the fundamentals for working in a multidisciplinary team. It’s necessary for there to be a leader for the purposes of driving the team towards the common goal of providing the best product or solution for stakeholders and holding people accountable for their part in doing so. Roles and expectations need to be clearly set out from the beginning, and egos must be left at the door, which can sometimes be a tough pill to swallow for experts at the top of their game.

What unique challenges do cross-border or multi-jurisdictional insolvencies pose for practitioners? What are some of the key processes you undertake when managing such a case?

Cross-border cases are often huge exercises in project management and identifying the right team for that job at an early stage is crucial to the effective running of the assignment.

I always like to assign a technically and commercially switched-on person as the “car-crash monitor”, whose role it is to watch out for the tensions which often arise between jurisdictions and can derail a global strategy. Those tensions can be thrown up by inconsistences in the law between jurisdictions, as well as by competing timetables and priorities and navigating around them is vital for a successful outcome.

What attributes make for an effective restructuring and insolvency specialist in today’s climate?

To succeed in today’s climate, it is not nearly enough to be technically astute. Practitioners must match the commercial sophistication of stakeholders and be responsive to the global forces driving financial markets. We also need to be people managers of the highest calibre, to ensure that we are getting the best from our internal and external teams. Coordinating a global multidisciplinary team is an art not a science and requires genuine investment in the people around you.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I was once advised that the smartest way to build a strong team was to recruit people who are different to and ideally smarter than me! That made me doubt my own worth to the team for just a moment, but on reflection, surrounding yourself with bright people with different perspectives is absolutely the right approach.

Peers and clients say: “She has great experience of complex recovery claims” “I was very impressed with her handling of large corporate restructuring proceedings”