K&L Gates' London senior partner Michael Johns is among nine former Farepak directors facing disqualification proceedings over the 2006 collapse of the UK Christmas savings company.

The UK Insolvency Service – part of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) – has made an application in the High Court for disqualification orders to be made against nine former directors of Farepak and its parent company European Home Retail (EHR). The orders would bar those named from serving as a company director in the future.

The Insolvency Service, which applied for the orders last month, stated that the directors' conduct while at the helm of Farepak made them "unfit to be concerned in the management of a company".

In addition to Johns, who was a non-executive director at the time, those facing proceedings are: well-known British businessman and former Farepak chairman Sir Clive Thompson; chief executive of Farepak parent company EHR William Rollason; Joanne Ponting; Nicholas Gilodi-Johnson; Stevan Fowler; Neil Gillis; Stephen Hicks; and Paul Munn.

The former directors deny the allegations and are expected to contest the Insolvency Service's action, which the body will have to prove in court

K&L Gates is understood to be advising Johns, Thompson, Munn and Gillis on the proceedings, which could take up to two years to come to court.

Other firms to have been instructed by individual directors include Nabarro, which is advising Gilodi-Johnson.

Farepak operated a Christmas savings club that saw savers place orders, primarily for shopping vouchers and Christmas hampers, which they paid for in weekly instalments. The company went into administration in October 2006.

Johns was unavailable for comment.