Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Travers Smith have taken lead roles on the high-profile administration of high street retailer Clinton Cards.

The greeting card retailer went into administration yesterday (9 May), placing 8,000 jobs at risk, after defaulting on a loan payment to its largest supplier, American Greetings.

Freshfields is advising the administrator, Zolfo Cooper, on business sale and trading issues, led by City restructuring partner Ryan Beckwith, while Travers is acting for the administrator on property issues.

Travers is also acting for Clinton's management, with a team led by banking head Jeremy Walsh and corporate finance partner Andrew Gillen.

Clinton's collapse comes after American Greetings bought £35m worth of additional debt from its lenders, RBS and Barclays. Clinton said that it had hoped the US company would invest to keep Clinton running but that it had instead enforced the loan, pushing it into administration.

Jones Day is acting for American Greetings with a team including partners Michael Rutstein and Andrew Rotenberg.

Travers is a longstanding adviser to Clinton, and has acted on deals including the £49m acquisition of nationwide greetings cards retailer The Birthdays Group in 2004.

The news comes after a raft of recent high street failures, including the January collapse of fellow gift retailer Past Times, which saw Squire Sanders take the lead legal role for administrator KPMG.