With Chris Laughton as Congress Facilitator kicking off proceedings, Alastair Beveridge (Outgoing President) began by welcoming delegates to a rainy, but beautiful, Copenhagen.

A packed day and a half of technical sessions, all the various groups and constituencies having met on the eve of conference, saw proceedings start with a challenge by the keynote speaker Professor Vincent Hendricks of the University of Copenhagen who drew the attention of delegates to the profusion of information available every day. 

Though it added to knowledge, he said, it did not mean an increase in wisdom. In light of that benchmark for the event, the technical agenda strove hard not just to deliver information, but to do so in a way that added to experience and expertise.

The first day did not spare the delegates. Packed sessions on the Preventive Restructuring Directive (“PRD”) and Brexit brought conference up to date on signal events in the year, one firmly past, the other yet to happen (if indeed at all). For devotees of the PRD, the subtle detail of the application of the viability test and the extent and necessity for court supervision featured. For those weary of Brexit, the panel brought some interest back to current development by charting the competition between jurisdictions for business. Four key sectors were at the forefront in the break-out sessions: healthcare, airlines, retail and MSMEs, all adding to the impression of much ferment still happening in the industry. Post-lunch, the key themes of the PRD and Brexit appeared again with debates on cram-down and recognition of insolvency-related judgments. In between, the fate of non-performing loans and a study of the OW Bunker collapse from the Danish perspective added spice to the overall mix.

On day two, a second keynote speaker from Aalborg University, Professor Henning Jørgensen, spurred the Congress on to consider the future environment within which business would be developing with traditional concerns for employees still uppermost in policy-makers minds. Sessions on litigation funding, the value and disposal of social media accounts, directors’ duties in the context of early warning systems and the prepacking of employees as part of business transfers then provided a great deal of focus for attendees on issues of note in practice. Following the close and handover to Piya Mukherjee (Incoming President), delegates enjoyed an afternoon of leisure in the city before the gala dinner. Located in the tent-like structure of Wallman’s Circus Building, the event raised the roof with applause for the technical expertise and skill of the performers, incidentally setting a new standard for gala dinner entertainment. With echoes of the music and performance lingering in the night, delegates departed with thoughts of Sorrento next year.

A full report by Myriam Mailly, Joint Technical Officer, and Paul Omar, Technical Research Coordinator, will appear in the next edition of Eurofenix.

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.