Grant supports conference on bankruptcy and insolvency law
February 03, 2020
A new grant awarded to two Western Law professors will support a conference to mark the 100th anniversary of the Bankruptcy Act 1919 – the forerunner of Canada’s modern bankruptcy and insolvency regime – and to formulate reform proposals for the future.
The conference, titled “100 Years of Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law, 1920-2020: Reflections on the Past and Challenges for the Future,” will take place at Western University on May 22-23, 2020.
Thomas Telfer and Alfonso Nocilla received the grant earlier this year from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
“Thanks to a generous SSHRC Connection Grant, several emerging insolvency scholars from across Canada will receive full funding to attend and present their scholarly papers at the conference alongside more senior scholars, lawyers, trustees, policymakers and members of the judiciary from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Australia,” said Telfer and Nocilla.
Keynote speakers at the conference will include Madam Justice Sarah Pepall of the Ontario Court of Appeal, who will open the conference proceedings, as well as Canada’s Superintendent of Bankruptcy, Elisabeth Lang, who will deliver closing remarks.
Professor Charles Tabb, a leading U.S. bankruptcy scholar, will deliver a dinner address at the end of the first day of the conference comparing the evolution of bankruptcy laws in the U.S. and Canada. Professor Iain Ramsay, an international expert on consumer insolvency, will open the second day of conference proceedings with remarks on the future of personal insolvency law.
The significance of this conference was echoed by Western Law Dean Erika Chamberlain: “The Faculty of Law is delighted to be hosting this conference. Insolvency is a particularly important area for the economy and society. Professors Telfer and Nocilla have assembled an esteemed and experienced group of experts who can be expected to make significant positive contributions to the scholarship as well as to insolvency law reform efforts both in Canada and internationally.”
A selection of refereed papers from the conference will be published in three special issues of the Canadian Business Law Journal, the leading scholarly business law journal in Canada.
The full conference agenda is available here.
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
