InBrief

The Supreme Court Annual Corporate Law Conference, "Restructuring Companies in Trouble: Director and Creditor Perspectives", will be held from 1.15pm - 6.00pm on Tuesday, 24 August 2010 in the Banco Court, Queens Square. The conference will be opened by the Hon JJ Spigelman AC, chief justice of NSW; Mary Macken, president of the Law Society of NSW; and Professor Jennifer Hill, director of the Ross Parsons Centre.

Speakers include Professor John Armour, Hogan Lovells Professor of Law and Finance, Oxford University, speaking on the restructuring experience in the UK and proposals for reform; Corinne Ball of Jones Day, New York, who will give a perspective from the United States after the Chrysler experience; Stephen Parbery of Prentice Parbery Barilla, Sydney, who will assess voluntary administration in Australia and look at the suitability for workouts, turnarounds and pre-packs; David Cowling of Clayton Utz, Sydney, who will discuss insolvent trading, shadow directorship, and other perils of informal workouts in Australia and Professor Robert B. Thompson, Georgetown University Law School, who will give some reflections on reform of bankruptcies or bailouts given financial reform in the US.� The program will also feature a hypothetical to be moderated by Alan Cameron AM.� � Cost is $250.00 which includes afternoon tea and drinks in the evening. For further information contact Robyn Davies at the Law Society of NSW, 170 Phillip Street, Sydney 2000. DX 362 Sydney, phone 9926 0276 fax 9223 1496 or email robyn.davies@lawsociety.com.au� To Register contact Richard Plane fax 9223 1496 or email richard.plane@lawsociety.com.au. � Here is text supplied from Dr Robert Austin that went into the Journal.�� The GFC has created many uncertainties in financial analysis, including uncertainty about the value of impaired assets and the availability of refinancing through the global credit markets when debts fall due for repayment.� For some companies, these difficulties have led to doubts about solvency.� It has been contended that when the solvency of a company is doubtful, its directors are much too prone to call in the administrators, so as to avoid the risk of personal liability for insolvent trading.� It is claimed that directors sometimes fail to give adequate consideration to the prospects for a workout, that would preserve the company's business and enhance the prospects for creditors and employees.� This perceived problem led the Australian Treasury to release a discussion paper in January 2010, raising for consideration a modified business judgment rule, designed to� protect directors from insolvent trading liability while they are investigating a bone fide workout proposal, or in the alternative, a moratorium while a workout is under consideration.

The same perceived problem is being addressed in different ways in the United Kingdom and the United States.� A proper understanding of the approaches taken in those countries will provide fresh perspectives for the analysis of the Australian proposals.� In this year's Supreme Court Conference, leading experts from those two jurisdictions will join local experts to explore the problem under Australian present law, and the alternative solutions that have been developed in those other countries.� The issues to be addressed are of vital importance for advisers to companies and their directors, and for the development of effective laws that will strengthen the Australian economy during the recovery period.

4 August 2010