Carly Sandbach, Barrister, Exchange Chambers

Carly Sandbach (call 2006) is an Insolvency Specialist whose practice encompasses all areas of corporate and personal insolvency litigation. Having made her mark very early in her career, for the last 13 years in a row Carly has been recommended as a Leading Junior in the Chambers UK Guide. In Chambers UK Guide 2022 she is recommended as a Leading Junior in both the fields of Commercial Dispute Resolution and Restructuring/Insolvency, and the Legal 500 ranks her as a Tier 1 Leading Junior for both Company and Insolvency and Commercial Litigation.

She is described as an ‘excellent junior with a prolific commercial practice’. Clients say she is sensible and down-to-earth, fights cases with vigour and is proactive and able to quickly grasp the issues – “she manages to get results when they’re not expected and is a fighter”. She is ‘tenacious’ and ‘pugnacious’ when she needs to be, is extremely hard-working and has a good commercial attitude. As to her advocacy, she is described as “a superb advocate who is very sharp and always adds value”. She has earned a reputation for thoroughness: her preparation for hearings and conferences is described by the Legal 500 as simply ‘outstanding’. She is a“[t]echnically astute and a shrewd tactician. Provides holistic and well-reasoned advice but possesses an acute commercial mindset, as well as showing an engaging ability to work with the instructing solicitor on the negotiation aspects of a case.”

Carly was successful before the Court of Appeal in the Second Appeal in Yang v Official Receiver & Ors [2017] EWCA Civ 1465, clarifying a significant area of personal insolvency law on which there was no existing authority. 

In 2010 Carly was appointed as Junior Counsel to the Crown (Provincial Panel) and was re-appointed in 2018 to Regional Panel A. She sits on the General Technical Committee of R3.