Professor Michael Veder (Chair, Academic Forum; Radboud Nijmegen) opened proceedings by noting the anniversary, not just of the Academic Forum, but also of the Younger Academics’ Network in Insolvency (“YANIL”), who celebrated their 10th anniversary with the holding of a successful colloquium prior to this conference.

Proceedings across the two days of the conference included a suite of presentations on the Preventive Restructuring Directive (“PRD”), director’s liability and the role of the debtor-in-possession, measures affecting and protecting creditors, the role of mediation within the international insolvency law framework and the place of other actors in insolvency. In addition, there were presentations from members of the YANIL group, also on preventive restructuring, and a discussion on the scope of the stay in the PRD and its effect on debtors and their contracting partners within the Edwin Coe Practitioners’ Forum, held as part of the event. Also an integral part of the proceedings was the annual lecture sponsored by Edwin Coe, renamed this year the Gabriel Moss Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Ignacio Tirado (General Secretary of UNIDROIT), who talked of the protection of creditors’ rights within the framework of the PRD.
 

Photos from the very successful Annual Congress in Copenhagen can now be view on our gallery!

Moody weather in the land of Scandi-noir dramas greeted conferencers from the Younger Academics’ Network in Insolvency Law (YANIL) meeting at the premises of DLA Piper in Copenhagen.

After a welcome to those present by Henrik Sjørslev (Insolvency and Restructuring Partner, DLA Piper), Jen Gant (YANIL Chair; Post-Doctoral Researcher, JCOERE Project, UC Cork School of Law) also welcomed the group of 20 or so attending to the first PhD conference organised by YANIL. Participants were drawn widely from across Europe, representing universities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The panels held throughout the day focused on the topic of the moment: the adoption this year of the Preventive Restructuring Directive (“PRD”), private international matters connected to insolvency as well as regional perspectives on insolvency issues, including the fate of unsecured creditors, arguments in favour of employee protection in pre-packs and the role of CVAs in restructuring UK businesses. The final session of the day put the spotlight on the issue of research methodology and the appropriateness of a methodological approach to insolvency research, which featured presentations by three post-doctoral academics on the utility of variants of research methodology to their projects.

Jen Gant, YANIL Chair (2015-2019) and Paul Omar, Technical Research Coordinator, INSOL Europe will be wrtiing a full report for the next edition of Eurofenix. 

​INSOL Europe and IWIRC (International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation) held their first joint event on Monday 9 September. The event was a breakfast briefing, in which a panel of experts considered whether the UK is still the centre of European restructuring. The panelists were Liz Osborne (Akin Gump LLP, London), Willem van Nielen (Recoup Lawyers, Amsterdam) and Stephane Bonifassi (Bonifassi Avocats, Paris), with Felicity Toube Q C (South Square, London) chairing.

It was a lively and engaging session. Liz put forward some strong points on the UK schemes of arrangement, on English law and the Courts system and some considerations around Brexit. Willem provided some context on the new Dutch scheme, a worthy competitor, and Stephane gave his thoughts on the strengths and limitations of the French system.

At the conclusion of the debate, the panelists (mostly) agreed that the UK retains its crown for now, the Dutch scheme is an exciting development, and France has some room for development!

Many thanks to RSM for hosting the event, and also to Carmel King (Grant Thornton UK LLP) and Vanessa Rudder (Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP) for organizing on behalf of INSOL Europe and IWIRC London respectively. We look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.

The R3 & INSOL Europe International Restructuring Conference held in London on 11 July was a magnet for European cross-border restructuring professionals. Over 70 delegates participated enthusiastically, contributing views from a range of jurisdictions including the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Portugal.

The theme was “Cross-border restructuring: at a crossroads in the wake of Brexit?”. Case law developments allowed something of a look back, while case studies on Agrokor and Steinhoff provided the reality of the here and now. The view forward covered Directive (EU) 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks, which came into force on 16 July 2019 and requires member states to implement its provisions within two years. Also forward looking was a comparison of English and Dutch schemes of arrangement, the latter being the subject of a bill just presented to the Dutch parliament and which is expected to pass into law during 2020. Finally, four judges explained the development and planned growth of International Commercial Courts in Ireland, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

It was clear from delegates’ passionate engagement during the breaks and when networking after the conference that the direction of travel through the crossroads was similar for all jurisdictions. Furthermore, Brexit is an unwelcome diversion that will hamper cross-border restructuring involving the UK. Even though professionals will be busier on UK cross-border restructurings, non-UK mechanisms will become increasingly important tools, challenging the dominance of UK professionals in this arena.

A full report will follow shortly in Eurofenix.