4th Insolvency Research Conference hosted jointly by the Insolvency Service and the ICAEW on Tuesday 10th November 2009

I have just returned from the 4th Insolvency Service (IS) research day, which was co-hosted by the IS and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW - symbol pictured). The day was very interesting and certainly showed, again, that the Insolvency Service are at the vanguard of thought leadership. It is particularly encouraging to insolvency academics that the IS are engaging with a wide range of academics who have a wide range of interests, including historical! I delivered a paper which was entitled, "Discharge in bankruptcy: An examination of personal insolvency relief." Here is the abstract:

"At its heart this paper critically examines the concept of discharge in English and Welsh personal insolvency law. This critique takes the shape of both an historical examination (Part One) and a comparative analysis (Part Two) of the concept of discharge and its deployment and use throughout the commonwealth jurisdictions that administer a personal insolvency regime, namely: England and Wales, Scotland, America, Canada, and Australia. In relation to formal discharge from bankruptcy there are, it could be argued, two schools of thought as to the length of the bankruptcy period before discharge occurs. The first school of thought states that less onerous discharge provisions (‘liberal regimes thesis’) will and have encouraged irresponsible borrowing activities by debtors, thus causing a rise in the number of people seeking redress to the bankruptcy system. Whether or not this is a desirable outcome for rehabilitation goals is also addressed. The second school of thought advocates the idea that the legislative changes have not caused additional redress to the bankruptcy procedure themselves, but that the changes in the legislation were accompanied by an increase in consumer credit availability generally and that this lead to a natural increase in debt related failure (‘credit generosity thesis’) and therefore redress to the bankruptcy laws. This paper examines these competing contentions through an examination of both historical and comparative sources. It is argued that countries with more ‘liberal regimes’, in terms of bankruptcy discharge provisions, have a lower incidence of bankruptcy usage caused by more cautious creditor behaviour."

Here are the details of the other papers:

"09:45	Welcome addresses Vernon Soare, Executive Director, Professional Standards, ICAEW Stephen Speed, Inspector General/Agency Chief Executive, Insolvency Service
10:00	The good, the bad, and the ugly: A survival guide to M&A in distressed times Maria Carapeto, Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre, Cass Business School, City University, London
10:30	Pre-packs and Statement of Insolvency Practice 16 Mike Chapman, Insolvency Practitioner Policy Section, Insolvency Service Dr Sandra Frisby, Baker & McKenzie Associate Professor in Company and Commercial Law, University of Nottingham
11:00	Coffee
11:30	Making creditor protection effective Alan Katz and Michael Mumford, International Centre for Research in Accounting, Lancaster University
12:00	An independent review of the fee-charging debt management industry Sharon Collard, Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol
12:30	Lunch
13:45	Debt Relief Orders Nick Howard, Insolvency Service
14:15	Individual insolvency, centres of main interest and bankruptcy tourism Chief Registrar Stephen Baister
14:45	Afternoon tea break
15:15	Discharge in bankruptcy: An examination of personal insolvency relief John Tribe, KPMG Lecturer in Restructuring, Kingston University
15:45 – 16:30	Personal over-indebtedness régime design :- A basis for a predictive model and empirical evidence from a small geography Michael Green, Research Fellow, University of Wales

Programme for the 4^th Insolvency Research Conference hosted jointly by the Insolvency Service and the ICAEW on Tuesday 10^th November 2009 at The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Chartered Accountants’ Hall, Moorgate Place, London EC2P 2BJ."

Picture Credit: http://www.seeklogo.com/images/I/Institute_of_Chartered_Accountants__England_and_Wales__2007-logo-FB30DD0F30-seeklogo.com.gif