This course is a multi-school offering taught by weekly live lectures which are simultaneously telecast to participating institutions (including Michigan). The lectures are given by leading insolvency academics, judges and practitioners, and satellite classrooms will be equipped with live question-and-answer capability. Professors Belisa Pang and John Pottow will host the Michigan classroom and will be responsible for Michigan student evaluation.
This course offers an introduction to some of the unique problems that arise when international corporations become insolvent. International corporations typically have assets and subsidiaries in multiple jurisdictions. When distress occurs, a troubled corporation and its subsidiaries may therefore file for bankruptcy in several different jurisdictions with significantly different bankruptcy procedures. It is therefore essential that modern bankruptcy lawyers have at least a basic understanding of the distinctive features of foreign bankruptcy regimes. Additionally, even if a corporation and its subsidiaries file for bankruptcy in a single jurisdiction, that jurisdiction’s court will often need the assistance of courts in foreign jurisdictions in order to help protect the corporation’s assets and consummate a successful reorganization (or liquidation). It is therefore important for modern bankruptcy lawyers to understand the opportunities for court-to-court cooperation.
The course is divided into the following modules:
* The first class and half of the second focus on the bankruptcy laws of the United States and, in particular, Chapter 11. This is done to provide students who have not had a United States bankruptcy course with a basic understanding of features of the United States bankruptcy laws that are relevant to the rest of the course.
* The next module lasts for three and a half classes and focuses on Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. That is the chapter that is utilized by representatives of businesses that have filed insolvency proceedings in foreign countries to obtain assistance in the courts of the United States.
* The next module is one class on the use by foreign companies of chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
* The next module lasts for two classes and focuses on the European Union Regulation. The EU regulation is a regulation governing the impact of insolvency proceedings filed in one EU country in other EU countries.
* The last module lasts for five classes and focuses on the insolvency laws of various foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, China, Canada, The Netherlands, France and Belgium.
At the end of the course, students will have: 1. Acquired a basic understanding of the contours of some of the world’s most important bankruptcy regimes. 2. Developed skill in comparative law analysis of legal institutions and the law. 3. Further developed skill in statutory and case law analysis.
Students may take this class without having completed or being concurrently enrolled in bankruptcy (or corporate distress or corporate reorganzation), and many do. The first classes devote substantial time to bankruptcy law basics. If you have questions about your background’s sufficiency, email Professor Pottow ([email protected]).
Because of the need to synchronize with other participating law schools, and the inability to finalize the precise dates and times at present, please note the schedule may be slightly different from other winter term courses. The course will generally meet on Tuesday evenings and have 13 sessions, as all other Michigan 2-credit classes. If the first lecture is before the official start of the Michigan semester, students will be expected to watch a video of the material before the second meeting of the class, which would be on the first Tuesday of Michigan’s term. By contrast, if the course starts within Michigan’s term-time but the last lecture runs after the conclusion of Michigan’s semester, the students will be required to watch a video during “Reading Period.” No evaluative coursework will be required of Michigan students during either of these sessions. This is also true of Michigan’s winter break week conflicts with a course meeting.