Scott Butler

Scott Butler is a Partner at Hall & Wilcox, a leading Australian law firm, and has been named Insolvency Law Expert of the Year in Australia at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026. With more than 25 years of experience, he is recognised as one of Queensland's leading and most experienced restructuring and insolvency lawyers.

A leading restructuring and insolvency practitioner

Scott Butler practises as a commercial dispute resolution lawyer with a deep specialisation in restructuring and insolvency. His work encompasses distressed turnarounds, corporate restructures and director advisory services, and he advises clients, company directors and professional advisers across a wide range of sectors. According to Hall & Wilcox, his experience includes acquiring assets from distressed entities, guiding boards on insolvent trading protections, acting on receiver and administrator appointments, and pursuing litigation recovery work.

His matter experience spans the administration and liquidation of companies in industries as varied as mining, solar energy and financial technology, as well as listed entities. He has acted in substantial Federal Court unfair preference proceedings and advised on cross-border insolvency issues, reflecting the technical breadth expected of a senior practitioner in this field.

• Corporate restructuring and distressed turnarounds
• Advice to directors on insolvent trading and safe-harbour protections
• Receiver, administrator and liquidator appointments
• Insolvency litigation, including unfair preference recovery
• Cross-border insolvency matters

Smarter Law and a national platform

Hall & Wilcox is a leading independent Australian law firm that acts for corporate, public sector and private clients, both Australian and international, across a broad range of sectors and services. The firm is known for its Smarter Law philosophy, an emphasis on delivering legal services in more efficient and innovative ways. Operating on a national platform, it provides the resources and reach that complex restructuring and insolvency matters frequently require.

Australia's insolvency and restructuring regime, governed principally by the Corporations Act, places significant responsibilities on directors, including duties to avoid insolvent trading, while also offering mechanisms such as safe harbour and voluntary administration designed to support the rescue of viable businesses. Practitioners in this area must move fluently between advisory work, formal appointments and contested litigation, always balancing the interests of creditors, directors, employees and other stakeholders. Scott Butler's practice covers this full spectrum, from early turnaround advice through to formal procedures and recovery proceedings.

Recognition and standing

Scott Butler's standing in the profession is reflected in a series of leadership roles and recognitions. He is a former chair of the Insolvency and Restructuring Committee of the Law Council of Australia and a Fellow of INSOL International, and he participates in professional bodies including ARITA, the Queensland Law Society Insolvency Committee and the International Insolvency Institute. He is listed in leading directories such as Chambers Asia-Pacific, Best Lawyers, Legal 500 Asia Pacific and Doyle's Guide, which point to his deep technical knowledge and commerciality.

The Corporate INTL Global Awards are decided through the publication's research into leading advisers within each jurisdiction and practice area. Being named Insolvency Law Expert of the Year in Australia recognises Scott Butler's long experience, technical depth and leadership in restructuring and insolvency. For companies in financial distress, directors seeking to understand their duties and options, and creditors and advisers involved in insolvency matters, the award marks him out as one of Australia's most experienced practitioners, supported by the national platform of Hall & Wilcox.

A trusted adviser in complex restructurings

Restructuring and insolvency work often unfolds under intense time pressure and with a great deal at stake for creditors, employees, directors and shareholders alike. Directors in particular face difficult judgements about when a company can continue to trade and when they must act to protect creditors, decisions that carry personal consequences under Australian law. In that environment, the value of a seasoned adviser lies in clear, commercially grounded guidance delivered quickly, and in the confidence that comes from having handled comparable situations many times before. Scott Butler's decades of experience across turnarounds, formal appointments and insolvency litigation, together with his leadership roles in the profession, make him the kind of practitioner clients turn to when the situation is most demanding.