Riding the new wave of insolvency: Podcast 2

Audio transcript:
Riding the new wave of insolvency: Podcast 2
Jennifer Ball and David Cowling, Partners, Litigation

Jennifer Ball	Welcome back to our second podcast about INSOL Shanghai, INSOL's international regional conference - and some might say the Olympics for insolvency practitioners - which will run from 14 to 17 September in Shanghai. I'm Jennifer Ball, an insolvency and litigation partner with Clayton Utz in Sydney. I'm joined by my partner, David Cowling. As well as being a senior insolvency and litigation partner at Clayton Utz, David is technical co-chair of INSOL Shanghai. In our first podcast we gave you an overview of the conference and the conference program. Today we'll take a more in-depth look at the program and I suppose David the first question really is what will a conference program offer us as like most of our listeners I'm wondering what's in it for me if I'm going to go to Shanghai.
David Cowling	Well Jenny, INSOL might be the Olympics for insolvency practitioners but it's no five-ring circus. There's a couple of answers to your question. The first is that INSOL offers practical information that practitioners can put to work for the benefit of their practices and the benefits of their clients. I can definitely guarantee that it will not be an academic talkfest. INSOL Shanghai has been put together by insolvency practitioners for insolvency practitioners. Throughout the planning process my co-chair Johnson Kong and myself have constantly kept the focus on the needs of practitioners. It's taken three years of planning and believe me it's going to show. The second benefit of attendance at the conference is the opportunity to make contacts with fellow practitioners from not only their own geographical region but from around the world. This provides the opportunity to exchange information about legal and technical matters but also about very basic housekeeping issues such as practice management and business development, the kind of things that are common concerns to practitioners no matter what country they're from.
Jennifer Ball	So the structure of the program reflects that emphasis on practicality?
David Cowling	Absolutely. There are plenty sessions involving all the delegates but the bulk of the conference is given out to breakout sessions. Those sessions allow delegates to concentrate on their own areas of interest.
Jennifer Ball	And David how many breakout sessions are there and what choices will they offer?
David Cowling	There's going to be five breakout sessions over the two main days of the conference - three of those sessions on the first day and two on the second. Each breakout session will offer three different topic sessions. So breakouts alone will cover a massive 15 different topics.
Jennifer Ball	Well can you give me some examples?
David Cowling	The first breakout on day two is a good illustration of how there's going to be something for everyone. For small practitioners there's a session devoted to marketing. This will address the dilemma that many such practices face: how to market the practice when you only have limited resources and they're already devoted to serving the needs of existing clients. At the same time there will be a session on the increasingly important role of Islamic banking and insolvency, as well as a session on how credit derivatives are affecting restructuring. That pattern and range of topics are typical of how the breakout sessions have been organised.
Jennifer Ball	So David there's clearly going to be something of a practical benefit to everyone but is there a danger that the technical focus of the conference might be a bit overwhelming for us?
David Cowling	We've been very careful to pace the sessions so that the technical sessions are interspersed with downtime and the chance of networking as well.
Jennifer Ball	So I presume then we won't be stuck in the conference centre the whole time?
David Cowling	Definitely not. Remember Shanghai is much more than just a key player in the Chinese economic renaissance. It is a city with a long history and a very interesting culture and delegates will have ample opportunity to experience both.
Jennifer Ball	Well that sounds fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing Shanghai as well. In our next podcast we'll focus in on one of the breakout sessions that is sure to attract a lot of interest: workouts in the retail sector.