Lessons for Insolvency Law from the Pandemic: Practice and Reform

During the pandemic, many jurisdictions amended their insolvency laws to lessen the impact of the pandemic. In some cases, these amendments operated on a temporary basis until the impact of the pandemic abated. In other cases, more permanent reforms were introduced to improve insolvency legislation generally. In Australia, as noted in the recent report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee Corporations and Financial Services on corporate insolvency law, many stakeholders continue to call for a broad review of both corporate insolvency law and personal bankruptcy law to consider how complexity should be reduced and also the potential benefits of combining all of Australia’s insolvency legislation under a general ‘Insolvency Act’ or similar piece of legislation.

This webinar, hosted by the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Research Program of the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law, provided an opportunity to explore lessons for insolvency law from the pandemic.

View the seminar recording

Papers

Dr John Tribe, The Way We Live Now: Bounce Back Loans and the ‘Calamitous’ Abuse of Limited Liability

About the speakers

Dr Andrew Godwin is Team Leader and Special Counsel at the Australian Law Reform Commission, assisting its inquiry into the simplification of corporations and financial services regulation. He previously spent 15 years as an Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School (2006 – 2021) and 15 years in practice (1992 – 2006). Andrew’s research interests include financial services law, finance and insolvency law, financial regulation, property law and the regulation of the legal profession. Recent books that he has published as an author or editor include The Cambridge Handbook of Twin Peaks Financial Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Technology and Corporate Law: How Innovation Shapes Corporate Activity (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021) and Sackville & Neave Australian Property Law (11th edition, LexisNexis, 2021). Andrew has acted as a consultant to a broad range of organisations, including the World Bank and regulators and governments in Australia and abroad.

Stewart Maiden KC practices at the Victorian Bar. He is the current president of the Commercial Bar Association of Victoria.

Stewart specialises in complex commercial litigation, and has a broad appeal, trial and advice practice which includes cross-border and domestic insolvency, fiduciary and fraud-related actions, banking and finance disputes, corporate control disputes, corporate governance matters, class actions and general commercial litigation. His expertise is recognised by the major guides to the legal profession, with Chambers & Partners commenting that he is “one of the silks most likely to be encountered on significant insolvency matters, but also one who is particularly noted for his expertise on international insolvency issues.”

Stewart edited and co-authored the book Insolvent Investments (LexisNexis, 2015). He writes the chapter on private international law for McPherson’s Law of Company Liquidation, and serves on the editorial boards of the Insolvency Law Journal and the International Insolvency Review. Several of his many law journal articles have been cited in superior court judgments. And he is Australia’s national correspondent on cross-border insolvency for CLOUT (UNCITRAL’s official case law database).

His professional affiliations include fellowships of INSOL International and the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency and Turnaround Association, and membership of the International Insolvency Institute and the Turnaround Management Association.

Dr. John Tribe is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool’s School of Law and Social Justice and an Academic Associate at Exchange Chambers.

John’s research interests are in private law, including insolvency, bankruptcy history, company, charity and equity and trusts. In addition to his academic research papers John has written for a number of authoritative works. He is joint author, with John Briggs of 3/4 South Square, of Muir Hunter on Personal Insolvency, “the leading textbook on personal bankruptcy” (per Lord Millett, 2015).

John is frequently involved in policy and legislation reform work, including two current projects ((1) Directors’ Education, and, (2) Disclaimer and Escheat) with the Insolvency Service (An Executive Agency of the Department for Business and Trade, UK Government). John’s policy work has impacted on policy, legislation, and judicial decisions. Over the last two decades John has been involved in policy discussions touching on numerous areas of insolvency and company law. These have included personal insolvency issues such as bankruptcy discharge, debtor education, insolvency procedure fees, and, officeholder bonds. Corporate insolvency points have included, dissolution and restoration of companies, directors’ disqualification, director education, and, recent collaborative work on public interest insolvency including escheat liabilities following disclaimer of onerous property.

John has undertaken funded commissioned research for, inter alia, the Insolvency Service (UK Government), Grant Thornton, Baker Tilly, KPMG and ICAEW. John sits on a number of editorial boards including the BPIR law reports, Corporate Rescue & Insolvency, and Mithani: Directors’ Disqualification. An experienced media commentator, John has appeared on Sky television, BBC television and radio and given a number of quotes to the national and international press on insolvency matters. John is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Webinar chair

Professor Rosemary Langford is Director of the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Program of the MCCL. Rosemary teaches a range of subjects including Corporations Law and Corporate Governance and Directors’ Duties. She is currently leading an Australian Research Council project on Restoring Public Trust in Charities – Reforming Governance and Enforcement. Publications include Directors’ Duties: Principles and Application (Federation Press, 2014), Company Directors’ Duties and Conflicts of Interest (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Technology and Corporate Law: How Innovation Shapes Corporate Activity (edited with P Lee and A Godwin, Edward Elgar, 2021). Rosemary is editor of the directors' duties section of the Company and Securities Law Journal, member of the Law Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and member of the Corporations Committee and Not For Profit Law Committee of the Law Institute of Australia.