Research
Personal Insolvency
John's principal research interest is English personal insolvency law and policy. His doctoral work, which was supervised by Professor Ian F. Fletcher QC and Dr. Ian Williams (both UCL), focused on the application of the SCAMLAD themes model (Stigma, Compositions & Moratoria, Liberalisation, Amelioration and Discharge) to personal insolvent debtor treatment in the early modern period and the present day.
Throughout his career John has continued to develop his personal insolvency research by examining the fundamentals of personal insolvency law. By expanding on the SCAMLAD model John has been attempting to formulate an overarching structure, purpose and policy rationale for personal insolvency law.
Corporate Insolvency
In addition to his work on the personal side of the subject John has also written on the corporate side. His main contributions have focused on timeliness and the nature of consensual restructuring in the context of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) procedure and the Scheme of Arrangement procedure. John has argued that early and consensual approaches to restructuring lead to better outcomes for creditors.
Funded & Commissioned Research
John completed the Bankruptcy Courts Survey 2005 (BCS) for the Insolvency Service in 2005. This work led to an invitation to address the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee on the 7th March 2006 on the effects of the Enterprise Act 2002 in England and Wales.
In 2007 John completed a second major research project for the Insolvency Service and Grant Thornton LLP entitled Personal Insolvency Law in England and Wales: Debtor Advice, Debtor Education and the Credit Environment.
In 2009 John wrote a number of 'Thought Leadership' position papers on aspects of corporate restructuring for KPMG. These papers have now been published as articles.
Baker Tilly commissioned John to write a research paper on the history, policy and substance of insolvency bonds in 2011. A truncated version of this work has appeared as an article in Insolvency Intelligence.
In 2013 John commenced work on the ICAEW Cork Archive project.