Alfonso Nocilla

Alfonso Nocilla

Academic Degrees:

B.A. (Philosophy and History), Toronto, 2007; J.D., Queen’s, 2010; LL.M., Western, 2011; Ph.D. (Law), UCL, 2019; Called to the Bar of Ontario, 2012.

Email: anocilla@uwo.ca
Phone: 519-661-2111, ext. 84002
Office: LB 116

Alfonso has broad interests in commercial law, with emphasis on insolvency and restructuring.  His research in these areas is methodologically diverse, incorporating comparative and empirical approaches, and has been cited favourably by courts across Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

Alfonso is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Canadian Business Law Journal, a Co-Editor of the Journal of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, an Academic Member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, and an Affiliated Researcher of the Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.  He has consulted on commercial and/or insolvency law matters for the Canadian government, professional associations, and private parties.  He has been interviewed by The Globe and Mail, CTV News and CBC Radio One, among other media, regarding significant insolvency cases.

Alfonso joined Western Law as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 2018.  Previously, he was a Visiting Professor and Catalyst Capital Fellow in Insolvency Law at Western, as well as a Research Fellow at the University of Florence for the E.U.-funded project “Contractualised Distress Resolution in the Shadow of the Law”, which informed the new European Restructuring Directive.  He completed his Ph.D. in corporate insolvency law at UCL, supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship.

Seeking graduate students in the following areas: Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law, Commercial Law

Research Highlights

Books/Edited Collections

with Thomas Telfer and Anthony Duggan, eds., 64 Canadian Business Law Journal (2020-2021) [Special Volume: “100 Years of Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law”].

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Pre-packaged Administration and the Destruction of Value: The View from the U.K.” (2021) 64:3 Canadian Business Law Journal 342-378.

with Vern DaRe, “Bestriding the Narrow World: The Evolution of the CCAA Monitor”, in Jill Corraini and Hon. Blair Nixon, eds., Annual Review of Insolvency Law 2020 (Thomson Reuters, 2021 and 2020 CanLIIDocs 3595) 224-253.

“Reorganizations, Sales, and the Changing Face of Restructuring in Canada: Quantitative Outcomes of 2012 and 2013 CCAA Proceedings” (2019) 42:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 371-396 [Special Issue: Emerging Business Law Scholars].

with Vern DaRe, “The Trouble with Pre-Packs”, in Janis P. Sarra et al., eds., Annual Review of Insolvency Law 2018 (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2019) 621-640.

“Asset Sales and Secured Creditor Control in Restructuring: A Comparison of the UK, US and Canadian Models” (2017) 26:1 International Insolvency Review 60-81 [2015 Ian Strang Founders’ Award from INSOL International for best paper by an early career researcher].

“The History of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Future of Restructuring Law in Canada” (2014) 56:1 Canadian Business Law Journal 73-103.

“Is ‘Corporate Rescue’ Working in Canada?” (2013) 53:3 Canadian Business Law Journal 382-406.

“Asset Sales Under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Failure of Section 36” (2012) 52:2 Canadian Business Law Journal 226-247.

Book Chapters

“Canada”, forthcoming in Jason Chuah and Eugenio Vaccari, eds., Treatment of Executory Contracts in Insolvency Law: A Global Guide (2nd Edition, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2022).

“Bankruptcy: Commencement and Consequences” in Stephanie Ben-Ishai & Thomas G.W. Telfer, eds., Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law in Canada: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2019).

“Property” in Stephanie Ben-Ishai & Thomas G.W. Telfer, eds., Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law in Canada: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2019).

“Priorities and Distribution” in Stephanie Ben-Ishai & Thomas G.W. Telfer, eds., Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law in Canada: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2019).

“Canada” in Jason Chuah and Eugenio Vaccari, eds., Treatment of Executory Contracts in Insolvency Law: A Global Guide (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019).

Commissioned Reports

with Rizwaan Mokal and Nigel Balmer, Contractualised Distress Resolution in the Shadow of the Law: United Kingdom National Findings (European Commission, 2018).

Case Comments

Shaver-Kudell Manufacturing Inc. v. Knight Manufacturing Inc., 2021 ONCA 925”, forthcoming in inaugural volume of Desautels Review of Private Enterprise & Law.

Freedom of Contract, Fairness, and the Anti-Deprivation Rule” (2022) 65:3 Canadian Business Law Journal 374-386.

with Vern DaRe, “The Inconvenient Act: Letters of Credit and Landlord Rights in Bankruptcy” (2021) 36:2 Banking and Finance Law Review 303-322.

Ipso Facto Clauses and the Limits of Freedom of Contract in Insolvency: Capital Steel v Chandos Construction” (2019) 62:3 Canadian Business Law Journal 337-350.

Book Reviews

Louise Gullifer and Orkun Akseli, eds., Secured Transactions Law Reform: Principles, Policies and Practice (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2016), (2018) 33:3 Banking and Finance Law Review 421-424.