Friday 16 April 2010
Insolvency Panel Discussion
Dealing with financial institution failure - the legacy of Lehman
Speaker: Professor Roy Goode, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Oxford
Venue: New York City, USA
In April 2010, Oxford Law held a seminar for Oxford alumni at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to discuss the causes of the Lehman failure, the effect of the consequent bankruptcy proceedings in both the US and the UK, and possible reforms of the substantive and procedural law as a result of the lessons learnt.
The seminar was chaired by Professor Roy Goode, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Oxford and has a stellar line-up of participants. The session opened with a talk by Gary Lynch, Chief Legal Officer and Vice-Chairman of Morgan Stanley about his experiences in the run-up to the Lehman failure. This was followed by two presentations. One was by Harvey Miller, Lehman's lead US bankruptcy lawyer, covering in particular the suitability of the US bankruptcy procedure for insolvencies of institutions such as Lehman, and his views on the need for international cooperation. The second was by Nick Segal, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who used not only the Lehman insolvency, but also the financial problems of Northern Rock and the Icelandic banks to illustrate the difficulties of investment bank insolvency, and to discuss the possible reform solutions.
The seminar ended with a panel session chaired by Professor Goode, involving (in addition to those who gave presentations) Judge Peck, the US bankruptcy judge in charge of the Lehman liquidation, John Ettinger, Managing Partner, Davis Polk, Richard Salter QC of 3 Verulam Buildings and Louise Gullifer, fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. Those present also took part in a wide-ranging discussion focusing on the 'Too Big to Fail' question, and on the possible ways forward for both national law and international cooperation in relation to financial institutions failure.
Interested in this subject? View our Corporate Insolvency Law page.
Organised by Oxford Law Alumni Office
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