On Wednesday 29 April the Outer House of the Court of Session in Edinburgh issued an opinion sanctioning two schemes of arrangement proposed by Premier Oil Plc and Premier Oil UK Limited (together, Premier Oil) (the Schemes). The Court addressed multiple grounds of challenge and did so without hearing live evidence, despite disputes of fact between the parties.

Germany’s Frankfurt District Court recently dealt with the question of whether a debtor’s lawyers’ fees arising from restructuring advice prior to insolvency could be challenged and claimed back in insolvency. The court held in the first instance (07.05.2015, Az. 2-32 O 102/13) that the lawyers of an insolvent German company in the solar industry had to repay €4.5 million after the out-of-court restructuring failed.