2:00-5:00 p.m.
Section on Creditors' and Debtors' Rights
Kenneth DeCourcy Ferguson, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Chair

Reports:

• Samuel J. Gerdano, Executive Director, American Bankruptcy Institute , Alexandria, Virginia
• The Honorable Keith M. Lundin, National Conference on Bankruptcy Judges, Lexington, South Carolina

2:15-3:30 p.m.
Principles of International Insolvency: Legal Response to Global Concerns with Law Reform Governing General Default of Multinational Enterprises

Moderator:
Melissa B. Jacoby, Temple University

Speakers:

• The Honorable Samuel L. Bufford, Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, California
• Gordon Johnson, Senior Counsel, Private Sector Development, Finance, and Infrastructure Group, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
• Jay L. Westbrook, The University of Texas

The steady expansion of international trade has lead to the growth of multinational enterprises and a corresponding increase in the incidence of financial failure of multinational corporations.

As part of the broader international effort to strengthen the global financial system, a number of leading international financial institutions have been working to develop a core set of internationally recognized financial standards that should be adopted by countries. Among these, the World Bank led a coalition to creating Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor Rights Systems to promote awareness of best international practices and to provide guidance to countries in upgrading domestic insolvency mechanisms to promote financial stability, nationally and internationally. Gordon Johnson will consider these broader financial and financing issues and discuss the role that the World Bank and other international organizations are playing to promote a sound global financial network.

Legal organizations have also proposed, and several countries have adopted one of several, model approaches to international insolvency. Judge Bufford and Professor Westbrook will consider several of these legislative approaches: (1) the European Union Insolvency Regulation; (2) the American Law Institute's Principles of Cooperation in Transnational Insolvency Cases Among the Members of the NAFTA; (3) the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency; and (4) Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

3:30-3:40 p.m.
Observations on Legal Scholarship in the Bankruptcy Field

Speaker:
The Honorable Marilyn Shea-Stonum, Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Ohio, Akron, Ohio

3:40-5:00 p.m.
Issues of Race, Gender & Ethnicity in International Insolvency

Moderator:
Mark S. Scarberry, Pepperdine University

Speakers:

• Ronald Charles Griffin, Washburn University
• Frederick Tung, University of San Francisco

This panel will consider the question whether the transformation of international legal systems in general, or international insolvency law in particular, are informed by issues of race, gender and ethnicity, and whether and how these issues are considered as international organizations develop and promote global investment and financial networks.

Professor Tung will consider these issues in the context of gender or race. Professor Griffin will consider U.S. economic sanctions, due process, and transnational cases in insolvency and how ethnicity or race informs the U.S. Treasury Department's exercise of its power to close an American business because of violations of economic sanction, and national and international insolvency consequences of such a decision.