He will be based at the firm’s north London offices.
Cork was head of corporate recovery at the Watford office of Moore Stephens Booth White.
Peter Yeldon of Corporate Services at Smith & Williamson said: ‘We are delighted that Stephen has joined The Smith & Williamson Group. He is a pre-eminent practitioner and has previously run a successful business. People like Stephen, with his experience, are just what we are looking for.’
Cork continues a family tradition following in the corporate footsteps of his great grandfather who was the founding partner of Cork Gully, an insolvency practice.
Cork Gully, bought by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1980, was phased out a year ago as part of the restructuring of PwC’s business recovery services unit.
Smith & Williamson has also appointed Simon Gray as director of compliance. He was formerly deputy compliance officer at Barings Asset Management.