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Fee Earner Q&A with Chris Brain
Chris Brain (pictured), joined Bermans in September 2020 and is a Solicitor in our Insolvency team. We spoke to him to learn more about him and his work.
- Can you give us a brief summary of your career so far?
Like many here at Bermans, I studied law at University of Liverpool, followed by the LPC in Liverpool. I then worked as a Paralegal in Liverpool for a firm which specialised in group litigation, before joining Bermans as a Trainee Solicitor in 2020, just a few months after Covid. I qualified as a Solicitor in the Insolvency team in 2022.
2. What area of the law do you specialise in and why?
I work in the Insolvency team. The work is highly technical, and most importantly it is varied, so it always feels fresh. It involves both contentious and non-contentious work, the latter of which includes acting on pre-packaged sales of businesses and certain assets of companies entering administration, both buy-side and sell-side, and I get to act for companies and insolvency practitioners across a wide range of matters.
3. Is there a case or a particular piece of work you were proud to be involved with, if so why?
I recently assisted on the appointment of administrators in respect of the Johnsons 1871 group of companies, which included working on pre-packaged sales of the business and certain assets of some of the companies. These were urgent instructions and some of which included large transactions, with different types of transactions which I found to be especially interesting and rewarding.
4. Away from the law what are your interests and passions?
Attempting to play footy and badminton where I can. I used to play 7 a-side but unfortunately after around 10 years we had to fold the team as we could no longer get the numbers, so I now play a weekly kick-around. Outside of sport, I enjoy going for walks and getting outside with the dog, he’s a mini labradoodle and a massive nutcase.
Also enjoy watching football, though I don’t watch as much as I used to and this is perhaps due to the level of entertainment in today’s game (this is coming from an Arsenal fan and the irony is not lost on me!).
Bullet Round
Sports & Teams Supported: The Arsenal! 22 years of pain, the move to the Emirates and the resulting book balancing, the nice attractive but naïve football (though we might have won a title had Eduardo not lost his leg!), the soured years of Wenger’s decline, and we even made an excellent coach look terrible when we hired Emery. We were the banter team of the division, until the polarising Arteta brought us back. Though it did involve cringey moments, such as playing YNWA at Arsenal’s training ground before getting battered by Liverpool in the proceeding fixture, he managed to win us the title through set pieces and being physically dominant. We must be one of the only league title winners with such low scoring forwards, it’s been awful to watch.
Films (Top 3):
- Blazing Saddles
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- The Nice Guys – miss all the comedy films which we have largely lost since streaming came in, so this one is essentially one of the last good ones to have been released
Music (3 tracks/albums to take on Desert Island):
- Easy Lover by Phil Collins and Phil Bailey; and Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones – these are my karaoke songs
- Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears for Fears
- Stan by Eminem (ft Dido) – objectively the best song ever made
Boxsets:
- Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul
- Daredevil (not the new one)
- True Detective
- Midnight Mass
- The Sopranos
- Chernobyl
- Sherlock
- Friends
- The Office US
- Californication
- Friday Night Dinner
- Game of Thrones would have been on here had they not ruined the final season – can’t even rewatch it now!
Podcasts you listen to/recommend:
The first couple of seasons of That Peter Crouch Podcast were decent
Meal:
Always curry
Holiday destination:
Italy
Favourite book:
LOTR
3 people for a dinner party and why?
Bryan Cranston, Nicolas Cage, and Leslie Nielsen. Plenty of great stories and laughter.