Melia Hirst
Partner
Contact details
Melia is a partner at Blake Morgan and based in the Southampton office.
Melia is a specialist corporate restructuring and insolvency solicitor, dealing with all aspect of restructuring and insolvency work, with a particular focus on non-contentious advisory and transactional matters. Melia regularly acts for insolvency practitioners, banks and commercial lenders, asset-based lenders, directors, boards and management teams and charity trustees.
Main areas of practice
With 20 years of dedicated insolvency experience, Melia acts on a wide range of matters in connection with business distress and insolvency, as well as solvent restructurings and winding-ups.
Melia is well known for advising on time-critical turnaround assignments, including involving the sale of an insolvent business/assets by administrators on pre-packs and also acting for purchasers wishing to acquire businesses from an insolvent seller which has entered administration or liquidation.
It is common for Melia to be engaged on complex restructuring and insolvency assignments involving sector-specific issues. She has had recent experience in advising on matters concerning insolvent charities, independent schools, registered care providers, pharmacies as well as construction, manufacturing and engineering businesses and retail and hospitality operators.
Melia closely works with and supports her clients at all stages of business distress, advising in a prompt and efficient manner in order to maximise the available options and secure the best commercial outcome.
Clients
Whilst Melia frequently acts for insolvency and turnaround professionals acting as administrators, liquidators, receivers, supervisors of voluntary arrangements, she also regularly advises boards of directors experiencing financial challenges in connection with their businesses. Melia provides support and guidance at board level to consider strategies around safeguarding the interests of creditors, where possible with a view to avoiding formal insolvency, as well as protecting those who are running the business from personal liability.
Melia also has a wealth of experience in assisting banks, lenders and other stakeholders (such as landlords and suppliers) who are concerned about, or impacted by the insolvency or business failure of a borrower, tenant or customer with a view to identifying legal and commercial strategies to minimise business disruption and financial loss. Melia will often support commercial lenders in relation to appointing administrators over a borrower or LPA receivers over their assets to maximise recovery prospects.
Expertise & Services
Career
Melia has developed her career and expertise at large regional law firms in or around the South of England.
From qualification in 2006, Melia specialised exclusively in restructuring and insolvency advisory work. She previously developed her expertise at the firm as a junior lawyer between 2007 and 2015 before progressing her career to become a Partner at two other regional law firms and returning as a Partner to Blake Morgan LLP in 2026.
Contact details
Memberships
- Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3)
- Regional committee member of the Southern and Thames Valley Region of R3
Significant Experience
- Advising administrators of a charitable company following the closure of its independent school after it had undergone a building project and entered into a dispute with its main contractor. Assisted with the dispute and eventual settlement and supported work on the sale of the property. Advised the administrators on all aspects relating to the administration of the company.
- Advising on the pre-pack administration of a domiciliary care operator and assisting the administrators with the business sale process to a new provider to ensure continuity of provision for clients.
- Advising on the purchase of the business and assets of a bespoke luxury joinery and installation business by its main competitor who wanted to protect the supply chain, preserve jobs and pick up the pipeline of the insolvent company’s work.
- Advising a number of lenders who were impacted by a large group collapse involving the administration of more than thirty special purpose vehicle companies that operated holiday and touring parks and campsites that had been acquired for redevelopment. Dealing with the appointment of LPA receivers of a number of the companies within the group and assisting with their dealings with the property assets and eventual sales.
- Providing strategic, urgent and daily advice to a board of directors of a large group of engineering companies which were suppliers to the defence industry. The board faced a business-critical situation caused by an interruption to its funding line. The directors needed advice and assistance in working through various options for the group and exploring restructuring strategies. With the help of various professional advisors which led to an acquisition supporting the resulting restructure, the group managed return to solvent trading within a period of 6 weeks.
