A Bermuda lawyer has won an X-Factor-style competition in the Caymans for lawyers working in business turnarounds and insolvency.

Alex Potts, of Hamilton’s Sedgwick Chudleigh, won the “rising star” award against tough competition from the UK, the Caymans, the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

Mr Potts was one of only a few Bermuda participants to be invited to speak at the conference, organised by INSOL International, a global group of lawyers and accountants specialising in business turnarounds, restructuring and insolvency.

He impressed the 250-strong audience of voters — made up of top judges, QCs, accountants, lawyers and insolvency professionals from around the world — with a talk and written paper on the recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings, from a Bermuda and world perspective.

Mr Potts said: “I am flattered and pleased to have had the chance to present to them.”

Sedgwick Chudleigh partner Mark Chudleigh said: “We are very proud of Alex’s success at the INSOL X-Factor and for representing Bermuda so well alongside speakers from other offshore jurisdictions.”

Foreign insolvency proceedings is a hot topic as it has recently been considered in the highest courts in the USA, UK and Bermuda.

Sedgwick Chudleigh’s legal team are regarded as specialists in the area and have appeared in a number of the leading decisions on the subject in Bermuda courts.