You might also be interested in ...
Riding the new wave of insolvency: Podcast 1
Jennifer Ball and David Cowling, Partners, Litigation
Jennifer Ball
Hi I'm Jennifer Ball. I am an insolvency and litigation partner at Clayton Utz in Sydney. I am here with my partner David Cowling, also a senior insolvency and litigation partner at Clayton Utz in Sydney. David is also technical co-chair of INSOL Shanghai, INSOL's International Regional Conference which will run from 14 to 17 September in Shanghai and you will also meet me there as well. This is the first of four podcasts designed to give you an insight into what INSOL Shanghai will offer. In this podcast we will give an overview of the conference. Subsequent podcasts will look at the conference in more detail. So David I suppose the first question therefore is what is INSOL Shanghai?
David Cowling
Thank you Jenny. Firstly INSOL is the international association of restructuring insolvency and bankruptcy professionals. It's the world's leading association for insolvency professionals. Every year INSOL hosts a regional conference focusing on contemporary insolvency issues. This year it is going to be held in Shanghai in the People's Republic of China. As you've already mentioned it's going to be on between 14 and 17 September later this year. We're expecting in excess of 300 delegates from all over the world.
Jennifer Ball
David how is the conference going to be organised – for example is there a single theme?
David Cowling
No in fact quite the contrary. We have deliberately avoided trying to shoehorn everything into a single theme. It just won't work for a conference like INSOL. The focus of our conference is going to be on the needs of practitioners. The practitioners who will be attending come from a wide range of backgrounds. There's not only lawyers and accountants but also bankers from a very large number of jurisdictions. Another important factor in our planning was that the insolvency profession is very much moving into unchartered waters at the moment. For example, the credit crisis in America and Europe is presenting everyone – lawyers and accountants – with interesting new challenges, yet at the same time and on the other side of the world the booming economies in the Middle East and Asia, particularly China and India, are focusing world attention on the business dynamics of those regions, in terms of both how they operate domestically and how they affect business in other countries.
Jennifer Ball
And David how are those dynamics reflected in the conference programme?
David Cowling
Jenny to give just a few examples INSOL is always focused on the needs of the insolvency practitioners at every level. Thus we've made sure that we have an extensive programme catering specifically for the needs and interests of smaller practitioners. Yet at the other end of the scale we will be examining the big picture issues such as private equity, the emerging importance of cross-border insolvency and the role of rating agencies. Every level of insolvency practice will be catered for.
Jennifer Ball
Well of course the conference is being held in Shanghai which is a reflection of the growing importance of China, and indeed Asia as a whole, in the world economy. David can you tell us a bit about how the conference programme reflects this?
David Cowling
Jenny we get off to a great start. Our keynote speaker on day 1 is Dr David Chen. Dr Chen is the Vice-President of General Motors China Group. During his 10 years working for General Motors in China Dr Chen has played a key role in every aspect of General Motors' operations in the People's Republic. We are very privileged to have such a high-calibre speaker from our host country. As well as Dr Chen's contribution, the conference will examine a number of topics which reflect the importance of the new economies particularly in relation to insolvency law and practice – for example the handling of non-performing loans in Asia, the new bankruptcy law in China and what I think will be a fascinating topic, Islamic banking law and practice.
Jennifer Ball
Well David it sounds like a very diverse and exciting programme in a very diverse and exciting city. In the next podcast we will look at some of the programme highlights in more detail. I am particularly interested in finding out what we will learn at INSOL Shanghai and how it will be of benefit to us.
