Joseph Curl KC is an experienced advocate specialising in insolvency litigation. He was called to the Bar in 2007 and took silk in 2021. Immediately prior to taking silk he was ranked Band 1 as a leading junior by Chambers & Partners and was Insolvency Junior of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards 2019.
His recent experience of heavy trials includes:
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- Leading successfully for the joint liquidators of the BHS Group in Re BHS Group Limited (in liquidation); Wright v Chappell [2024] EWHC 1417 (Ch), [2025] Bus LR 1639, which was ranked among The Lawyer magazine’s Top 20 trials of 2023. It led to the largest-ever award for s.214 wrongful trading and introduced the concept of “trading misfeasance”.
- Appearing successfully as sole trial counsel for the BVI joint liquidators in Re MBI International & Partners Inc (in liquidation); Mitchell v Al Jaber [2023] EWHC 364 (Ch). This case went on to the Supreme Court (where Joseph appeared with Tom Smith KC and Jon Colclough) and was one of The Lawyer magazine’s Top 10 Appeals of 2025; the Supreme Court restored the order of the trial judge: [2025] UKSC 43.
He is currently instructed by the joint liquidators of Somerfield Supermarkets in their claim against the Co-op, which is listed for a 7 week trial in early 2026.
Joseph is ranked as a leading silk in both the major directories. Chambers and Partners 2026 says:
“He has a huge capacity for work and can digest complex matters and present them in a straightforward way to either his clients or a court. He’s a hugely skilled advocate.”
“He has great advocacy and phenomenal cross-examination with an encyclopaedic knowledge of insolvency case law.”
“He’s a good advocate who is well liked by people and is very pragmatic.”
“He is superlative on his feet, totally in command of his submissions and cross-examination, and is so persuasive in front of judges.”
Legal 500 2026 says:
“Joe is always excellent whether advising, drafting or on his feet. His legal skills are outstanding and he combines these with keen commercial awareness.”
He has appeared in many cases involving challenges to office-holder decision-making or conduct including:
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- McAteer v Hat & Mitre Plc (in liquidation) [2024] EWHC 1601 (Ch), [2025] 1 BCLC 518 – successfully denied a shareholder standing to bring proceedings against liquidators on the basis that his interest was de minimis and he was not acting in the interests of the liquidation.
- CFJL Property Partners Limited (in administration); Nardelli v Richardson [2024] EWHC 2740 (Ch) – successfully defended administrators against removal and unfair harm proceedings brought by directors and shareholders.
- Brake v The Chedington Court Estate Ltd [2023] UKSC 29, [2023] 1 WLR 3035 – leading Supreme Court authority on the test for standing to be heard in an insolvency.
- Re Edengate Homes (Butley Hall) Ltd (in liquidation); Lock v Stanley [2022] EWCA Civ 626, [2022] 2 BCLC 1 – successfully defended a liquidator both at first instance and in the Court of Appeal against an attempt to challenge his decision to assign a cause of action.
- Davey v Money [2018] EWHC 766, [2018] Bus LR 1903 – successfully defended appointing QFC against serious allegations of wrongdoing, giving rise to the leading authority on administrators’ duties.
- Re Longmeade Ltd (in liquidation) [2016] EWHC 356 (Ch), [2017] 2 All ER 244 –represented the liquidators of this Lehman entity in the leading authority on office-holder decision-making where a proposed course of action is opposed by the majority of creditors.
Joseph’s experience in acting for liquidators or their assignees in attacking failed tax avoidance schemes engaged in by company directors is probably unrivalled at the Bar. He has acted against the directors of two of the major promoters of such schemes (OneE and Root2) and his name generally appears on the winning side in most of the reported cases to have reached court, including Re Implement Consulting Ltd (in liquidation); Toone v Ross [2019] EWHC 2855 (Ch), [2020] STC 382, [2020] 2 BCLC 537, Re Daystreet15 Ltd (in liquidation) [2020] EWHC 1140 (Ch) and Re PV Solar Solutions Ltd (in liquidation); Ball v Hughes [2017] EWHC 3228 (Ch), [2018] 1 BCLC 58.
On the personal insolvency side, he has acted in a number of high-profile bankruptcies including:
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- James Stunt – acted since 2019 for the trustees in bankruptcy of the gold dealer and art collector James Stunt, giving rise to reported cases in the Criminal Court of Appeal (on the difficult interplay between POCA restraint and bankruptcy: R v S [2019] EWCA Crim 1782, [2020] 1 WLR 109) and the Chancery Division (in an unusual dispute over title to a painting by Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Hyde (as trustee in bankruptcy of James Stunt) v Stunt [2024] EWHC 630 (Ch)).
- Pramod Mittal – successfully achieved the revocation of the IVA of a bankrupt member of the Mittal family of steel industrialists: Moorgate Industries UK Ltd v Mittal [2022] EWHC 3009 (Ch), [2023] BPIR 476.
Joseph is one of the general editors of Doyle, Keay & Curl: Annotated Insolvency Legislation 2025, now in its 13th edition, published by LexisNexis. He is also the co-author of Insolvency Litigation (with Andrew Keay, Stewart Perry and Louis Doyle KC) published by Elgar in 2025; and Corporate Governance and Insolvency: Accountability and Transparency (with Andrew Keay and Peter Walton) published by Elgar in 2022. Most recently, he has contributed a chapter titled The Legacy of Sequana for Oxford University Press’s forthcoming Directors and Creditors: Law and Liability, currently in press to be published in early 2026.
Joseph worked for DLA Piper UK LLP between 2001 and 2007.
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“He has a huge capacity for work and can digest complex matters and present them in a straightforward way to either his clients or a court. He’s a hugely skilled advocate.”
“He has great advocacy and phenomenal cross-examination with an encyclopaedic knowledge of insolvency case law.”
“He’s a good advocate who is well liked by people and is very pragmatic.”
“He is superlative on his feet, totally in command of his submissions and cross-examination, and is so persuasive in front of judges.”
“Joe is always excellent whether advising, drafting or on his feet. His legal skills are outstanding and he combines these with keen commercial awareness.”
![Brake & Anor v The Chedington Court Estate Ltd [2023] UKSC 29](https://southsquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Brake-Anor-scaled-e1728649908896.jpeg)
