William Willson

 

Contact Details:

 

3-4 South Square, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5HP

Telephone +44 (0)20 7696 9900

Fax +44 (0)20 7696 9911

Email williamwillson@southsquare.com

Web www.southsquare.com

 

Education:

 

MA (Oxon) Classics (First Class), Somerville College

Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Distinction), City University, London

Bar Vocational Course, ICSL, London

 

Scholarships and Awards:

 

Coombes Scholarship (Somerville College)

Mary Somerville Prize (Somerville College)

Hardwicke Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn)

Lord Mansfield Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn)

Levitt Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn)

Sweet & Maxwell Prize for Company Law (ICSL)

 

Bar Career:

 

Visiting Tutor in Law, City University, 2006 - 2007

Called to the Bar, October 2006 (Lincoln’s Inn)

Tenant at 3 - 4 South Square, October 2007

 

Pre-Bar Career:

 

After leaving university, William Willson travelled extensively in Central Asia, working for the Times of Central Asia and gaining a certificate in Russian language at the Slavonic University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

 

On return to the UK, he spent three years working in documentaries /current affairs television, with a particular focus on terrorism, the intelligence services and the former Soviet Union.

 

His credits include AVENGING TERROR (C4), where he set up and wrote the first major western documentary interview with President Putin of Russia; SPY SECRETS (C5), in which he was the first person to conduct broadcast interviews with former directors of MI5, MI6, the CIA and the KGB; THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR (C4), which won three BAFTA awards; DISPATCHES (C4), and NEWSNIGHT (BBC2).

 

Areas of Practice:

 

Corporate and Personal Insolvency Law

Commercial/Chancery Law

Company Law

 

Recent Cases:

 

Schwarzschild v Harrods Ltd [2008] EWHC 521 (QB) (successful appeal against summary judgment, availability of limitation defence in cause of action founded on statutory conversion under s 2 (2) of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977)

 

Publications:

Contributor to Company Directors: Duties, Liabilities and Remedies (OUP, 2008)

 

Contributor to Totty & Moss on Insolvency (Sweet & Maxwell)

 

Contributor to International Corporate Rescue (Chase Cambria)

 

Pro Bono:

Fully-trained FRU representative (social security and employment)

 

Bar Pro Bono Unit (personal insolvency)

 

Interests:

 

Travel and Cricket