Karen O'Flynn is recognised domestically and internationally as a leading restructuring and insolvency practitioner and commercial litigator.

Karen was appointed Chair of the Clayton Utz Board in February 2020. 

Praised by clients for being "wonderful to work with", has "an easy but authoritative manner" and "a knack for getting what she and her clients want" (Legal 500 AsiaPacific 2018), Karen is held in high regard for her superior legal skills and putting "complicated matters in a clear and straightforward way" (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2019).

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Expertise

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Restructuring and Insolvency

  • BBY Ltd collapse: Advising Securities Exchanges Guarantee Corporation Limited (SEGC), the trustee of the National Guarantee Fund, which is available to pay the losses suffered by certain former clients of the collapsed BBY Ltd stockbroking business.
  • Department of Education Skills and Employment: Karen is advising the Department in relation to a range of difficult and novel strategic issues arising out of the insolvencies of a number of vocational education providers.
  • Network Ten Group: Karen was part of the core team assisting the Security Trustee in respect of a debt restructuring of the Network Ten Group which involved a voluntary administration of the group entities, a competitive sale process, and a debt refinancing.
  • APRA appointed acting trustee: Karen advised the acting trustee of five superannuation funds, with $300 million under management, appointed by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
  • Lehman Brothers: Karen advised the liquidators of the Australian Lehman Brothers companies which, prior to their collapse, formed part of the fourth largest financial institution in the world.
  • HIH Insurance Group: Over seven years, Karen advised the liquidators of the HIH Insurance group in relation to complex and high-profile recovery actions against auditors, actuaries, directors and others. The HIH Insurance group collapsed in 2001 with a deficiency estimated between $5 billion and $7 billion.

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Litigation and Dispute Resolution

  • Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry: Karen was one of the core group of Clayton Utz partners acting for Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
  • Bell Group Litigation: Advised a significant creditor in relation to the highly contested distribution of $1.7 billion held by the liquidator of the Bell Group companies following his settlement with the Banks after more than 20 years of litigation.
  • Major trading bank: Karen is acting for one of Australia's major trading banks in a number of regulatory enforcement and litigious matters.

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Knowledge

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