Year of call: 2012
Douglas Cochran has a wide-ranging commercial and chancery practice, with particular specialisms in the fields of insolvency (corporate and personal), contractual disputes, and competition law.
Doug routinely appears in the Business and Property Courts, especially in Manchester and Leeds. Equally happy working as sole Counsel or with a leader, Doug particularly relishes the challenge of oral advocacy.
Doug’s reported cases include:
Doug holds an LLM (First Class) from Cambridge University. During his undergraduate legal studies at Cambridge, Doug was awarded the George Long Prize for the highest mark in jurisprudence in Cambridge University. During his time at university, Doug won over twenty intervarsity debating competitions, including the John Smith Memorial Mace (formerly the Observer Mace).
Prior to commencing pupillage, Doug worked for the UK Competition Commission as a Legal Researcher, conducting legal research relevant to the market investigations and merger inquiries conducted by the Commission.
Doug has a wide-ranging commercial practice and is regularly instructed to represent, advice, and settle pleadings on behalf of clients who are parties to commercial disputes, including sale of goods, claims under guarantees, and cases which turn on questions of contractual interpretation.
Emery Planning Partnership Limited v Bevan [2022] EWHC 494 (QB): Appeal before Turner J following a contested trial regarding the Claimant’s burden of proof in a commercial dispute in which the Claimant was put to proof as to the value of services provided pursuant to contract.
Senna v Henderson [2021] EWHC 453 (QB); Senna v Henderson [2020] 12 WLUK 108: Summary judgment and strike out sought for various claims based on allegations of abuse of process.
Thackray v Wise [2021] EWHC 2059 (Ch): Securing an extended civil restraint order following dismissal of repeated applications.
Doug is instructed in a wide range of contentious company and partnership disputes, especially in relation to petitions alleging unfair prejudice pursuant to s.994 of the Companies Act 2006. Equally, he has been instructed on a number of matters where company directors are pursued for breach of duty.
Schofield v Jones [2019] EWHC 803 (Ch): Concerned the Court’s discretion to make an order pursuant to s.306 of the Companies Act 2006 in circumstances where the minority shareholder was intimating a claim pursuant to s.994 alleging unfair prejudice.
Doug is instructed across the range of Chambers’ insolvency practice.
His experience includes opinions, drafting and advocacy on a wide range of insolvency matters including:
In Re: Servico Build Tec Limited (in Liquidation) [2022] EWHC 2498 (Ch): Trial in which the assignee of the liquidators sought relief against the Company’s former director, stemming from the former director’s participation in a tax avoidance scheme and transfers said to have been at an undervalue.
In Re: JDK Construction Limited [2023] EWHC 2805 (Ch): Application by liquidators for orders affirming the validity of their appointment, following representations from an aggrieved former shareholder who claimed to have been defrauded of her shareholding.
Wood v Lowe [2015] EWHC 2634 (Ch) [2015] EWHC 2634 (Ch): Insolvency case concerning the treatment of hundreds of chattels in a bankrupt’s estate, which had become interspersed with chattels and some of which were claimed to be exempt as tools of the trade.
Legal 500 2025
‘Douglas’s insolvency work complements the commercial litigation work in which he also engages. He is a highly effective advocate by reason of his straightforward and clear manner, both in court and in dealing with clients, and he also possesses a dry sense of humour which, at an appropriate moment, can lighten any difficulty encountered either in the course of a hearing or client conference.’
