Committee to Hold Joint Meeting with Financial Advisors Committee at 2004 Winter Leadership Conference
“The Outlook for Global Insolvencies and Distressed M & A in 2005 and Beyond”
The International and Financial Advisors Committees will present a joint program at the 2004 Winter Leadership Conference in Scottsdale on Friday, December 3. The program will attempt to provide the audience with a quick global tour of what we have to look forward to in the coming year. The panelists for the program include Peter Spratt, Managing Director of PWC’s Global Restructuring Services Group, Daniel O’Brien of Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Reorganization Services Group and Robert Dangremond, Co-Managing Principal of AlixPartners. Rebecca A. Roof, AlixPartners LLC, and George M. Kelakos, Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP, will serve as co-moderators of the program.
Getting Things Done in (Some) Foreign Courts: Judicial Perspective vs. Practitioners Perspective
The ABI and the NCBJ co-sponsored an international program that was presented on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at the NCBJ’s 78th Annual Meeting. Entitled, “Getting Things Done in (Some) Foreign Courts: Judicial Perspective vs. Practitioners Perspective,” the program, which was organized by Judge Eileen W. Hollowell (Chair of the NCBJ’s International Relations Committee) and George M. Kelakos (Co-Chair, ABI International Committee and Director), brought together jurists and practitioners from two civil law jurisdictions (Italy and Thailand) and one common law jurisdiction (the United Kingdom) to highlight areas of concern and to provide practical tips for U.S. practitioners. Sir Justice Gavin Lightman (Royal Court of Justice, London) and Stephen Gale (Herbert Smith, London) presented the U.K. perspective; Lucio Gia (Studio Legal Gia, Roma) and Judges Luciano Panzani and Fausto Severini (of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, Torino and Roma) presented the Italian Perspective; and Mr. Justice Wisit Wisitsora-At (Director-General, Office of Justice Affairs, Nonthaburi, Thailand) and George M. Kelakos (Heller Ehrman, New York) presented the Thai perspective. Judge Fern M. Smith (U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal and chair of the International Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference) moderated the program. Under Judge Fern Smith’s guidance, the panelists discussed the key issues that U.S. practitioners should be concerned with in dealing with these countries’ insolvency regimes, and a lively discussion ensued as the jurists and practitioners presented their own perspectives on the issues. Mr. Kelakos also assisted the Italian delegation by serving as a translator for the Italian judges.
- A Special Relationship?: U.S./U.K. Cross-border Insolvency by Mr. Justice Gavin Lightman and Stephen Gale, Herbert Smith, London
- Commencement of an Insolvency Proceeding in Italy by Hon. Luciano Panzani, Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, Rome
- Bankruptcy Law and Practice in the Kingdom of Thailand, presented by George M. Kelakos, Heller Ehrman, New York
- Specialized Bankruptcy Court: Thai Perspective, prepared by Judge Wisit Wisitsora-at, Executive Director, Business Reorganisation Office, Bangkok, Thailand (from the Forum for Asian Insolvency Reform)
Insurance Insolvency: Lawyer Opportunities in London
Richard J. Astor; Barrister, London
U.S. insurance and U.S. insolvency lawyers are increasingly alive to business opportunities in international insurance insolvency. What opportunities in particular?
This article is in conjunction with the author’s presentation at this committee’s Winter Leadership Conference meeting, December 3, 2004, 3:45 p.m. All law references are to English law unless otherwise expressly stated.