It’s been a great year for the International Committee. First, as co-chairs, we would like to thank all the members of the ABI International Committee for their support and continued participation on the committee for 2017. The committee’s success reflects the hard work of its members each year and this year was no different. Second, we would also like to acknowledge the long standing and excellent service to the ABI International Committee of Christopher Mirick, our previous and outgoing committee chair, who went in-house at Harvest Power in 2016. Chris has been missed and he was kind enough to serve on our advisory committee for the Cross
Border Insolvency Program held in November of 2017 even though he had transitioned to another chapter in his career. Thank you, Chris. Finally, we would like to thank the support of the ABI staff and the ABI Board of Directors, both of whom helped to facilitate and guide our work throughout the year.
The committee is always looking for contributors to its newsletter, suggestions for presentation topics, or help producing new webinar content. If you are interested in contributing to the committee, please reach out to any of the committee leaders. Their contact information can be found on the International Committee’s webpage. This year, we have enlisted the help of our Special Projects Leader, Oksana Rosaluk, to coordinate and facilitate contributors to our program materials to support our various panels and presentations for the Cross Border Insolvency Program, Annual Spring Meeting, and Winter Leadership Conference. Please contact her if you wish to help out or
if you have another colleague you would like to recommend, especially a younger lawyer aspiring to do more for the committee.
In 2017, several committee members helped by contributing four original articles for our quarterly newsletter, and several others are currently in the planning stages. Please let us know if you have ideas for a webinar, as we would like to have one in the Spring. Please also plan to help us continue to help the committee better serve its members in 2018. All of its newsletters and past webinars may be accessed by ABI members at the International Committee’s webpage.
Here are few highlights of the committee’s activities over the past year:
Committee Panel at the 2017 Annual Spring Meeting
The International Committee paired with the Mediation Committee at the 2017 Annual Spring Meeting to present “The Potential For, and the Challenges of Mediation in Cross-Border Insolvencies.” The panelists included Justice Glenn A. Hainey (Superior Court of Justice; Toronto Region), Peter L. Borowitz (Mangrove Mediation, Bonita Springs, FL.), Jacob A. Esher (MWI-CBI; Beverly, Mass.) and William A. Brandt (Development Specialists, Inc.; New York) as the Moderator. The panel was well prepared, thoughtful and entertaining, and we thank all that helped put the program together.
Committee Panel at the 2017 Winter Leadership Conference
The International Committee paired with the Legislation Committee for the 2017 Winter Leadership Conference to present “International Insolvency Regimes at a Crossroads: Choosing a Direction for Insolvency Law Reform” on Dec. 1, 2017, from 10:30 -11:30 a.m. The panelists included Sumant Batra (Kesar Dass B & Associates; New Delhi, India), Rebecca Hume (Kobre & Kim LLP; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), Victor A. Vilaplana (Foley & Lardner LLP; San Diego, CA) and E. Patrick Shea (CS Gowling WLG, Canada LLP; Toronto). They discussed what motivated the decisions to amend the insolvency laws — and how the process unfolded in practice.
13th Annual International Insolvency and Restructuring Symposium
The ABI partnered with INSOL International, INSOL Europe, the International Insolvency Institute, and Turnaround Management Association to provide two days of enrichment through education and fellowship with insolvency professionals from around Europe and the world in Dublin, Ireland. Panels covered topics which included the EC Directive on Preventive Restructuring, the effect of Brexit on restructuring practice, distressed investing in Europe, offshore jurisdiction updates, and US/Ireland cross border restructuring. We hope that more ABI members will attend and place this excellent program on their calendars for next year. Please stay tuned for the location of next year’s symposium.
Cross Border Insolvency Program
The International Committee is very grateful for the efforts of its members, officers, the advisory committee for the program, and the ABI staff for putting together another great program under the leadership of program chairs Gilberto Corrêa and Patrick Shea. The panels covered inter-court communications; particularly the Judicial Insolvency Network’s guidelines; cross border avoidance actions; admiralty and shipping insolvency; and a cross border legal update. The program materials in several panels involved a wide variety of younger members of the committee as part of our push to involve more of our newer lawyers and financial professionals. We are very pleased with our initial efforts to assist in the professional development of future leaders and contributors on our committee and extend an open invitation to members of the committee to take advantage of opportunities
for next year’s conference and welcome ideas for the program.
Planning for 2018
2018 is already shaping up to be a great year for the committee. The committee will be pairing with the Financial Advisors and Investment Banking Committee for the 2018 Annual Spring Meeting. While still in the early planning stages, the panel will be an examination of multidisciplinary practices, particularly as these will affect the restructuring field in the United States. Also to be examined are how multidisciplinary practices handle issues related to ethical restrictions, changing views by clients on the delivery of legal services, market forces effecting the provision of legal services, especially how these issues are handled in jurisdictions, like Europe, where they are more prevalent. Please plan to attend and support the International Committee.
Finally, the International Committee is considering several special projects for 2018, including expanding its social media presence and more integration with other key partnerships with organizations that will bring more foreign professionals to the committee to enhance and enrich our professional development as ABI International Committee members. We are working closely with our Vice President of International Affairs, Annerose Tashiro, to coordinate these efforts.
Help Any Way You Can in 2018
We are always looking for new ideas and opportunities from committee members, so if there is a topic you think should be covered at one of the annual meetings, in a newsletter or as part of a webinar, or if there is any way you think the International Committee can provide more value to you, please reach out to us and share your ideas and time. To facilitate the discussions, we will be publishing a list of dates for quarterly meetings in the near future, meetings in which you can participate, and we encourage submission of ideas for agenda items, which we will work into our meeting schedule. |
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