Former Halliwells partner Michael Burns has today (24 April) won a High Court case against the defunct firm's liquidators BDO.

The ruling by Mr Justice Warren means the liquidator, which has been attempting to claw back money from ex-partners, will not be able to chase Burns after the judge found he was protected by the terms of his retirement deed.

It follows a hearing on Wednesday (18 April) in which Lexa Hilliard QC of 11 Stone Buildings represented BDO partners Shay Bannon and Dermot Power, on the instruction of Addleshaw Goddard.

Burns, who left Halliwells in 2009 to join DLA Piper, was represented by James Potts of Erskine Chambers, instructed by Irwin Mitchell partner John Lord. His lawyers argued that Burns' retirement deed protected him from the liquidators' attempts to retrieve money from partners who were present at the time of, or shortly before the firm's collapse in 2010.

In December, Burns' counsel brought an application to strike out the clawback claim issued by Halliwells' administrators.

An Irwin Mitchell spokesperson said: "These were always unmeritorious claims against our client. We welcome today's judgment and will continue to defend all of our clients against any further claims advanced by the liquidators."

The administrators have the right to appeal today's judgment, but insiders have suggested this is unlikely.

News of Burns' win comes as former full equity partners are today participating in the second day of a two-day mediation with liquidators BDO, hosted at Addleshaws' London office.

Mediator Michel Kallipetis QC, the former head of Littleton Chambers, is presiding over the meeting, which sees BDO trying to claw back around £21m gained by equity partners through Halliwells' controversial 'reverse premium' property payout on its Spinningfields office in Manchester.

BDO launched the claim in July 2011 against 32 ex-partners – including former chairman Ian Austin – in a bid to reclaim the money, with the partners agreeing to enter mediation in a bid to settle out of court.

Commenting on the mediation, one former fixed-share member said: "It's in no-one's interest for the mediation to fall apart, but this could well happen as the equity partners struggle to apportion blame between them."