Banging the drum for a profession that can save jobs

His 16-year devotion to the discipline was reflected in his appointment last year as Scottish chair of R3, the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, and he says: "The R3 representatives in different parts of the country are volunteers, it is because we believe in the value of what we are doing."

R3 says its 1700 members help to inject £1billion into the economy every year rescuing or advising businesses which employ 500,000 people, including £160m returned to creditors through proactive litigation. Mr Cooper is never happier than when, as with Glasgow's Behar Carpets or the giant bed firm Silentnight, he sees real jobs saved.

At 95-year-old Behar he acted for the company specialising in distressed debt which underpinned the rescue by an English firm, and says: "Without that kind of solution probably Behar would not have survived."

When Calanike, which bought North-East drinks manufacturer and distributor Sangs in 2007, went into receivership in 2012, insolvency practitioners and advisers including Mr Cooper kept Sangs trading until US giant Cott Corporation was lined up for an award-winning rescue deal. He says: "There were all sorts of issues around brands and IP, and ultimately it resulted in all of the employees' jobs being saved, and Cott then negotiated an improvement in employee terms."

Mr Cooper says that whether lawyers are acting for creditors, notably banks, or for a business or its advisers, the objective is the same. "You try to preserve as much value in the business as possible...and you do raise a glass of champagne when you see it coming out the other side."

His previous firm Hammonds was adviser to Silentnight, which was floundering in 2011. A creditors' voluntary arrangement (CVA) for continued trading and debt repayment, supported by HMRC and suppliers, was sunk by pensions liabilities. A pre-pack sale out of administration to private equity buyer HIG Capital then emerged, which preserved the firm's 1250 jobs.

Mr Cooper, now in the 15-strong Edinburgh team headed by former DLA Piper star Yvonne Brady, commented: "A lot of hard work particularly on the corporate side is done before the insolvency even happens, that is the unsung part of what we do. A lot of time is spent looking at the various options and solutions and negotiating - particularly if there is a big exposure to a pension scheme."

The lawyer's English CV shows the restructurings of high street names such as Dolcis, Whittard of Chelsea and Adams childrenswear, and even includes the rescues of Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Leeds United from their creditors. He says football is the only business where "creditors will vote 90per cent for a CVA which gives no return to them".

Mr Cooper says normally creditors including banks, suppliers, and perhaps the pension fund, will all dispute the cake. "The skill of the professional is in managing these different viewpoints in the context of a business that can't afford to pay everybody."

Advisers who already act for a business may still be appointed as their administrator. "There is not always a clear conflict," Mr Cooper says."Anyone who has concerns about conflicts has the opportunity to see the nature of the relationships."

Conflict issues were tackled in the recent Graham report on "phoenix pre-packs" where management wipe out debts and start again. Mr Cooper says: "R3 has played a big role in developing an SIP (statement of insolvency practice) to try to address some of the public concerns on transparency of process. I am confident that practitioners will be able to demonstrate they are achieving best value for creditors where a connected party pre-pack is the outcome."

Meanwhile the Jackson reforms which attempted to kill off practitioners' ability to pursue debts on a 'no win no fee' basis in England was successfully resisted in a campaign led by R3. "Most Scottish businesses are involved in UK trade," Mr Cooper explains. "It is in Scottish interests for practitioners in England to have all of the tools available to maximise recovery. There may have been rogue directors who attempted to transfer assets out, IPs have legal powers to try to recover them, but the business doesn't necessarily have funds to do that."

Scottish corporate insolvencies are currently at a seven-year low, but Mr Cooper

says a rise in interest rates will force the issue on an estimated 154,000 "zombie

companies" UK-wide which are only repaying interest on their bank debt. "I

don' t think any of our members would expect a wave of insolvencies if interest

rates rise, but it would probably trigger action to stop the can being kicked

down the road, and the kind of restructuring that many businesses need."

R3 is also active in lobbying for toughening the law to allow practitioners to protect individual consumers, after publishing research showing

one in ten adults have been victims of fraud and one in six of 25-34-year-olds

Mr Cooper says: "The re-introduction of criminal bankruptcy, or making

fraudsters bankrupt in the public interest, for example, would mean fraudsters

would find it much harder to avoid repaying victims by hiding behind

companies or squirrelling assets away overseas or with friends and relatives."

He adds: "It is very often the most financially weak who are most vulnerable to

fraud."

R3's recent research also found that Scotland has the lowest proportion of adults worried about their current level of debt (38per cent) of any part of Britain - but a third still struggle towards each payday. Mr Cooper says: "It's all too easy for financially vulnerable people to get caught in a debt trap where debt is needed to finance other debts, leading to a vicious cycle. It's very difficult to break out of this without help."

More Scots were feeling positive about their financial situation than in the previous survey, and Mr Cooper notes the possible connection to last year's changes in Scottish bankruptcy law which strengthened debt repayment options.

"We are seeing an overall decline in personal insolvencies. A system which provides a range of options allows individuals to be able to deal with their debt."