Giselle McGowan

Practice Areas

Giselle McGowan has a commercial chancery practice with a particular emphasis on insolvency, property and indirect tax litigation. Giselle is regularly instructed by office-holders, directors, creditors and/or debtors in personal and corporate insolvency matters. This includes acting as sole counsel for liquidators in misfeasance and fraudulent trading claims, obtaining freezing orders in connection with payroll frauds, obtaining winding-up orders on public interest grounds in connection with wine and property investment frauds, for the Official Receiver in litigation concerning Debenhams and acting as Junior Counsel (led by Joseph Curl KC) in a successful challenge to the IVA of Pramod Mittal.

As Junior Counsel to the Crown, B Panel, Giselle frequently acts for the Insolvency Service and HMRC, including acting as sole counsel against silks and/or silks accompanied by a junior or juniors. Prior to joining the independent bar, Giselle was an employed barrister at HMRC Solicitor’s Office, working in the Enforcement and Insolvency and VAT teams.

Recent decisions include Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Anderson [2024] All ER (D) 44 (May), Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Goring [2024] All ER (D) 50 (May), Moorgate Industries UK Ltd v Mittal [2022] EWHC 3009 (Ch), Wagstaff v HMRC [2022] UKUT 00327 (TCC), JT Development Solutions Ltd v Secretary of State for Education [2022] 2 BCLC 135, and Re A C Norton Ltd (in liquidation) [2021] All ER (D) 104.

Giselle is also a regular contributor to Tolley’s Insolvency Law and Doyle, Keay and Curl: Annotated Insolvency Legislation.