The Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College was launched on 5 November by a lecture given by Professor Charles Mooney, Charles A Heimbold, Jr Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School entitled ‘The (Il)Legitimacy of Bankruptcies for the Benefit of Secured Creditors’.
Professor Mooney discussed the cases for and against allowing a secured creditor with security interests over all the assets of an insolvent company to use the bankruptcy procedure under US law to effect a sale of the business and pay itself out of the proceeds. While Professor Mooney made clear his preference for the ‘For’ case, he also pointed out that some restrictions were necessary to avoid abusive behaviour and to protect other creditors. There was some very lively discussion after the lecture, including many comparisons with the position under English law. A podcast from the event is available here.The lecture is the first in a termly series to be run by the Commercial Law Centre, which exists to promote research in commercial law in Oxford, and particularly to encourage international, transnational and comparative projects. The Centre will have a focus on emerging markets, and also on interaction with legal practitioners and policymakers. It welcomes visiting fellows from anywhere in the world, as well as junior academic visitors. For more information about the Centre, please see the Commercial Law Centre website.
