The Zaretsky Roundtable Program is held in honor of the late Professor Barry L. Zaretsky, a distinguished member of Brooklyn Law School's faculty, whose work inside and outside the classroom bridged the worlds of theory and practice in commercial and bankruptcy law.
The roundtable series brings together a panel of distinguished practitioners, judges and academics to discuss cutting edge bankruptcy and commercial law topics. Students also join the conversation, spurring further exploration of difficult questions of bankruptcy and commercial law.
Zaretsky Roundtable: March 9, 2010
Too Big to Fail: Bankruptcy and Bailouts
This Roundtable Dinner and Discussion addressed the U.S. government’s recent bailout of the financial and automotive sectors in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. Entitle, “Too Big to Fail: Bankruptcy and Bailouts,” the dinner brought together a distinguished group of judges, practitioners, professors, and students to discuss the Bush and Obama administrations’ response to the financial crisis. The discussion focused on the treatment of firms that are deemed too big to fail, and considered resolution, reorganization, and sale, both inside and outside bankruptcy as possible responses.
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Zaretsky Roundtable: October 27, 2007
Hedge Funds, Claims Trading, Credit Derivatives and the Changing Dynamics of Chapter 11
The seventh annual Barry L. Zaretsky Roundtable brought together prominent judges, practitioners, professors, and students for a lively discussion of how claims trading, private equity, hedge funds, credit default swaps, and other recent changes in the structure of capital markets are likely to change the dynamics of the next wave of business bankruptcies. Addressing "Hedge Funds, Claims Trading, Credit Derivatives, and the Changing Dynamics of Chapter 11," more than 130 participants discussed how coordination problems between second lien financing, credit derivatives, and claims trading create a challenging environment for Chapter 11 debtors.
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Zaretsky Roundtable: October 19, 2006 Bankruptcy in the Global Village:The Second Decade The sixth annual Barry L. Zaretsky Roundtable was held in conjunction with another Brooklyn Law School yearly event, the International Business Law Symposium. The roundtable broke from tradition this year by featuring a keynote speaker, Christoph G. Paulus, professor of law at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, who addressed the topic of "Global Insolvency Law and the Role of Multinational Institutions." An expert in international insolvency law, Professor Paulus served as an advisor to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and is a member of the International Insolvency Institute and The American College of Insolvency.
The change was made in honor of the tenth anniversary of a 1996 symposium, "Bankruptcy in the Global Village," which was hosted by the
Brooklyn Journal of International Law and organized by Professor Zaretsky. At the time, efforts to regularize and harmonize international bankruptcy law and practice were in their relative infancy, and the articles published in that volume proved influential as international lawmaking efforts got under way. Since then, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvencies has gone into force in the United States (as Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code) and elsewhere. The EU Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings has also gone into force. UNCITRAL has promulgated a Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law, and numerous efforts are under way to harmonize the law of secured credit.
Papers from the symposium were published in the
Brooklyn Journal of International Law.
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Zaretsky Roundtable: March 2004
Bankruptcy Without Borders: Developments in Transnational Insolvency
Distinguished lawyers, judges, and academics gathered at Brooklyn Law School for the fifth annual Barry L. Zaretsky Roundtable Program, "Bankruptcy Without Borders: Developments in Transnational Insolvency." The program was inspired by the more frequent multinational bankruptcies that have emerged as a result of increasing globalization. Participants discussed how laws have not been able to keep pace with this rapidly evolving area, which has caused courts and practitioners to develop ad hoc protocols for dealing with international bankruptcies. A model presented by Professor Edward Janger was the hypothetical "Multinational Shoe" company, incorporated in Colombia, headquartered in England, with warehouses in Italy, factories in Malaysia, and a distributor and bank in the United States. Several points were established throughout the evening, including the importance of avoiding forum shopping and the likelihood that the United States is the best and easiest nation for bankruptcy proceedings.
Zaretsky Roundtable: April 29, 2003
Ethics, Governance, and Bankruptcy After Enron
Brooklyn Law School's fourth annual Barry L. Zaretsky Roundtable Program, "Ethics, Governance, and Bankruptcy After Enron," brought together lawyers, accountants, officers, directors, and other industry professionals to discuss professional ethics, corporate governance, and the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley from the particular view and concerns of bankruptcy lawyers in a post-Enron landscape. The roundtable was moderated by Professor Edward Janger and provided a dynamic exchange of ideas regarding how Sarbanes-Oxley might have a positive effect on the quality and transparency of financial reporting, independent audits, and accounting services for public companies. One point of agreement emerged from the heated debate: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does not clearly specify what to do when credible evidence of fraud is discovered, but it does propel the parties involved in the transaction to investigate when there is concern about fraud.