The International Committee has more than 100 members, including all International Fellows. The Committee is a working committee; it meets twice a year, at the College’s annual meeting and induction
ceremony in March and during the NCBJ Annual Meeting in the Fall. All Fellows are welcome to join the Committee, regardless of the focus of one’s practice. Membership in the Committee is a superb opportunity to get to know some of the College’s International Fellows, who are leading judges, practitioners, and academics from many countries.
A principal activity of the International Committee is oversight and management of the International Insolvency Course, which is offered each spring semester by the College, and is taught principally by Fellows of the College. This year it will be taught at 10 law schools, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Chicago-Kent, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, St. Johns, University of Utah, University of Tennessee, University of Delaware, and ITAM (Mexico City). Robert Lapowsky (adjunct professor at University of Pennsylvania and a College Fellow) is the course leader. The sessions are taught live (at least once at each school) and through live, real-time video (over the internet) at the other schools. We actively welcome additional schools to participate, and assistance from Fellows in our recruitment efforts is much appreciated.
Two recent and ongoing Committee projects deserve note:
A. In September 2018, with approval of Executive Committee, we formed an ad hoc subcommittee to prepare a report for the College Board regarding whether, and the extent to which, the College should support an August 20,
2018 proposal to Congress, by the National Bankruptcy Conference, to enact amendments to Chapter 15.
Judge Chris Klein and Chris Redmond co-chair this subcommittee. They are assembling a group of Fellows who are expert in the UNCITRAL Model Law as its U.S. implementation as Chapter 15. Corrine Ball, Steve Kargman, Ray Warner, and Adrian Walters serve on this subcommittee. Any Fellow who would like a copy of the National Bankruptcy Conference proposal, or who like to comment on it, should contact Judge Klein or Chris Redmond.
B. We presented, with the NCBJ, a joint international program at the NCBJ Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas on October 29, 2018. The program was titled “Bankruptcy Sin Fronteras (Bankruptcy Without Borders): Voices and Videos From Around The World.” It was an hour and a half program in the following format -- 6 video segments, in which leading practitioners and academics -- from all around the world -- addressed a broad range of significant matters and issues, combined with a live panel that provided additional commentary.
This was an extraordinary project, involving much work and great involvement of our Fellows and International Fellows. Jay Westbrook and Judge Louise DeCarl Adler were the moderators, and Rick Wynne and I were the executive producers. The participants were: (a) SIFI governance and regulation (Steven Schwarcz and Bill Perlstein); (b) Mexico (Luis Mejan); (c) Brexit (Dan Glosband and Patricia Godfrey); (d) Model Law (Jennifer Clift and Chris Redmond); (e) European Commission Directive (Chris Paulus, Robert Van Galen and Stathis Potomatis); and (f) Venue Choice and Venue Shopping and Transfer Avoidance in Cross Border Cases (John Pottow and Jay Westbrook). Papers on all these subjects, by the participants, were included in the NCBJ program material.
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From the International Committee
Robert B. Millner, Dentons LLP
Chair, International Committee