Five of Halliwells' creditors, including its largest secured and unsecured creditor, have joined together to form a committee in the latest stage of the administration process of the now-defunct law firm.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which as a secured creditor with a debenture over the firm is first in line to receive a payout, has teamed up with unsecured creditors HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC); the managing agent of its Spinningfields premises Muller Professional Services; ING Lease UK; and the landlord of Halliwells' Liverpool office, Bruntwood 2000 Beta Portfolio, to form the committee.

The group were invited to form a committee by BDO partners and joint administrators Dermot Power and Shay Bannon at a meeting last month, with the committee set to represent all creditors and provide a sounding board for BDO.

According to figures contained within the first joint administrators' report released in September, a total of £14.1m is owed to the firm's unsecured creditors. HMRC has the largest amount outstanding of all the unsecured creditors at £4.3m, while Muller is owed £2.4m and Bruntwood is owed £94,663. It is unclear how much ING is owed.

RBS has so far recovered just over £7m from the break-up and sale of Halliwells, with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and HBJ Gateley Wareing – which took the largest teams – paying £2.5m and £2.55m respectively, while Hill Dickinson paid £1.88m and Kennedys paid £125,000 for the Sheffield office.

However, the bank had hoped to receive £12m as a result of the sales and RBS could end up writing off as much as £15m. In February, when Halliwells renegotiated its debt with RBS, the firm's corporate debt stood at around £22m.