Today’s bankruptcy practice seldom centers around one debtor filing one case in a United States bankruptcy court. Most corporations of any size have operations and assets in more than one country. In addition, many troubled corporations are part of a “corporate group” that includes affiliated entities operating in numerous countries, many of which will file their own insolvency proceedings in their countries of incorporation. The most obvious example of this trend is the Lehman Brothers group of companies: approximately 80 Lehman affiliates commenced insolvency proceedings in 16 countries. International Bankruptcy is a course designed to deal with this world of multi-jurisdictional insolvency.
The course consists of two modules, Comparative Insolvency Law and Managing Cross-Border Cases. The first module covers six class sessions. After an introductory session explaining the role of insolvency law in national economies and setting out the framework for comparative insolvency law, we will survey the insolvency laws of Canada, Brazil and Mexico, Japan and China, England and Western Europe. Common topics include prerequisites that must be satisfied before an insolvency case can be filed, whether an automatic stay of collection and other proceedings exists, how the case is administered (judicial, administrative or other), and whether the system is focused on liquidation or permits reorganization. We will then turn to “Managing Cross-Border Cases.” We will devote two sessions to the European Union’s insolvency regulation that co-ordinates insolvency proceedings pending in EU nations. Four sessions will analyze chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 15 facilitates cooperation among courts in countries in which related insolvency proceedings are pending. Our final session will focus on the use of chapter 11 by foreign entities.