Ex-Halliwells partners prepare for mediation with liquidators over £20m windfall

The group of 32 ex-Halliwells partners are set to enter mediation with the failed firm’s liquidators, BDO partners Dermot Power and Shay Bannon, between the 22 and 24 April.

The mediation will take place in London, with the parties striving to settle BDO’s High Court claim for the £20.4m windfall that Halliwells’ equity partners pocketed following a reverse premium deal with their Manchester office landlord, Allied London (17 June 2011).

Kallipetis is an accredited mediator with CEDR and ADR Chambers, and a founding member of Independent Mediators – a virtual chambers for mediators – which was established in 2007 (15 June 2007). He used to be the head of Littleton Chambers, stepping down after seven years in 2006, and is now also a door tenant at Quadrant Chambers.

Kallipetis is esteemed as one of the City’s leading lights in mediation, with experience of a wide range of disputes, like partnerships, banking, insurance, employment, and race and sex discrimination.

One fellow mediator described Kallipetis as “a highly respected mediator” with “an avuncular manner and a passionate belief in arbitration’s worth”.

BDO, which became Halliwells’ liquidator in January having been its administrator since 2010 (17 January 2012), and Kallipetis both declined to comment.