Commercial debt recovery solicitors
Explore how we help businesses with their legal requirements when disputes arise.
Contact our teamRecovering your debts quickly and cost-effectively letting you get on with business
A debt can be a distraction and needs to be recovered quickly and cost-effectively. Unpaid debts could harm your business, from affecting cash flow to damaging your reputation. Acting quickly and appropriately is vital to ensure the matter doesn’t drag on. Our team of commercial debt recovery solicitors will take decisive action and deliver the right results.
What is debt recovery?
Debt recovery is a legal process that allows creditors to recover unpaid debts from debtors. It involves legal action to collect outstanding debts, including court proceedings, asset seizure, and wage garnishment. The law provides guidelines and procedures for debt collection, ensuring fair treatment of both parties involved.
How Moore Barlow can help
If you need to recover a debt, you’ll want it done as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, without it becoming a distraction to your business or personal life. Unpaid debts can be massively damaging for any business. It can affect your cash flow, which in turn can create uncertainty, cause issues with paying your own staff and suppliers and ultimately harm your reputation.
Acting quickly and taking the right course of action is imperative to ensure the matter doesn’t drag on and to get debts paid as quickly as possible. There are specific steps you can take to achieve a speedy and effective resolution.
Ben Millward
Senior Associate | Sports Law, Debt Recovery, Business Dispute Resolution
Your local debt recovery experts
Our debt recovery specialists are well-known for taking decisive action and delivering the right results. We will support you with a complete debt recovery service, including pre-issue recovery, issuing claims in the County Court and High Court, and enforcement of judgments. In some circumstances, County Court or High Court proceedings may not be the most effective method of recovery, so our debt recovery experts will discuss alternative options with you, such as insolvency proceedings or possession and sale proceedings.
Our tailored commercial advice is focused on collecting debts quickly and economically. We are experienced, committed and highly motivated to achieve the result you want. Where litigation is necessary, we’ll discuss and agree our fees before starting work, so you can be sure the action is justifiable and worthwhile. Keeping you informed and confident about the outcome is vital and a central aspect of our service. We can also advise on and help you develop and improve your credit control procedures.
Why choose our team for commercial debt recovery?
- Dedicated expertise – Our solicitors focus on business-to-business debt recovery and understand the nuances of commercial contracts, credit control, insolvency warning signs and enforcement.
- Tailored strategy – Every debt is different. We assess your case, evaluate affordability and risk, and map a recovery route that aligns with your business objectives.
- Efficient process – We act quickly on pre-legal stages (letters, reminders, negotiations) and move into formal proceedings only when necessary, keeping legal costs contained.
- Comprehensive enforcement – From issuing proceedings, obtaining judgments to using enforcement tools (writs of control, charging orders, winding-up petitions), we apply the right mechanism for each situation.
- Transparent reporting – You’ll have clear insight into progress, cost expectations and likely outcomes so you can make informed decisions without surprises.
Who we work with
We act for a wide spectrum of clients, including:
- SMEs and micro-businesses that need to protect working capital
- Mid-sized and large companies seeking systematic debt-recovery support
- Service providers, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors
- Clients across sectors such as technology, construction, retail, professional services and logistics
Whether you have a single unpaid invoice or a portfolio of historic debt, we have the resources and experience to act.
Our team of dispute resolution solicitors
Susannah Marsh
Partner | Financial Services Litigation, Real Estate Finance
Andrew Reid
Legal Director | Business Dispute Resolution, Professional Negligence
Esther Millard
Legal Director | Business Dispute Resolution, Professional Negligence
Ben Millward
Senior Associate | Sports Law, Debt Recovery, Business Dispute Resolution
Rachel Hetherington
Senior Associate | Business Dispute Resolution, Dispute Resolution
Our commercial debt recovery process
- Early intervention – We begin with a thorough review of your contract terms, debtor history and previous correspondence. Often the debt can be settled or agreed upon at this stage without formal action.
- Pre-legal collection – We send pre-action letters, engage in structured reminder programmes, negotiate repayment plans and review underlying credit control practices to strengthen your position.
- Formal legal action – If necessary, we issue court proceedings in the appropriate forum, apply the relevant Pre-Action Protocols and manage the litigation route to secure a judgment efficiently.
- Enforcement and insolvency tools – With a judgment in hand, we deploy enforcement options such as warrant of execution, freezing orders, charging orders and insolvency petitions to secure recovery. We also advise on debtor arrangements including IVAs or CVAs where appropriate.
- Strategic review & prevention – Beyond recovery, we offer advice on credit-control best practice, contract drafting and debtor management to minimise future risk and foster healthier creditor-debtor cycles.
Contact us
We offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach which not only includes comprehensive debt recovery services, but also our insights and expertise in related matters such as property, commercial, insolvency and dispute resolution. So whether you are a large lending institution, national accountancy firm or a business owner, we can support you with practical advice and a comprehensive and seamless service.
We have offices in London, Richmond, Southampton, Guildford, Lymington and Woking, meaning we are ideally placed to offer specialist debt recovery assistance on a local and national level.
