On 24 July 2013, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the Lehman and Nortel pensions appeals [2013] UKSC 52, reversing the decisions of Briggs J and the Court of Appeal and, in the process, sweeping aside numerous other well-known and long-established decisions

Federal subpoena practice will change in several important respects on December 1, when extensive amendments to Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are scheduled to take effect.

In any transaction facing a meaningful delay between signing and closing, dealmakers on both sides of the table spend a considerable amount of time thinking about allocating the various risks resulting from that delay (e.g., regulatory, business and financing).

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE: Recent Developments in Cross-Border Insolvencies in Canada (citation: Frank Spizzirri and Shaheen Karolia, Recent Developments in Cross-Border Insolvencies in Canada, XXXII ABI Journal 9, 36-37, 80-81, October 2013) - Frank Spizzirri and Shaheen Karolia

Before the financial crisis life was simple for central bankers. They had a clear mission: temper booms and busts to maintain low and stable inflation. And they had a seemingly effective means to achieve that: nudge a key short-term interest rate up to discourage borrowing (and thus check inflation), or down to foster looser credit (and thus spur growth and employment). Deft use of this technique had kept the world humming along so smoothly in the decades before the crash that economists had declared a “Great Moderation” in the economic cycle.

Five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered the largest global financial crisis since the Great Depression, outsize banking sectors have left economies shattered in Ireland, Iceland, and Cyprus. Banks in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere are not lending enough. China’s credit binge is turning into a bust. In short, the world’s financial system remains dangerous and dysfunctional, Economia reported in a commentary. Worse, despite years of debate, no consensus about the nature of the financial system’s problems – much less how to fix them – has emerged.

Chapter 11 is known as a forum for reorganising or selling a financially distressed business. Chapter 11 allows companies to reject burden some contractual obligations, to shed non-core assets, and to “cleanup” the balance sheet by writing off unsecured debt.

It’s a Small World, After All: Cross-Border Bankruptcies (ABI/GULC Views from the Bench, 2013) - Hon. Martin Glenn, Hon. James M. Peck, Hon. Francis J.C. Newbould, Hon. Christopher S. Sontchi, Gregg M. Galardi, Gary T. Holtzer

The Ontario Superior Court recently convicted Nazir Karigar, an agent for Cryptometrics Canada, an Ottawa-based technology company, for agreeing to bribe a foreign public official under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.

The most critical hurdle for a debtor in the path toward emerging from bankruptcy is the debtor’s ability to file, and have the bankruptcy court approve, its plan of reorganization. If the court denies confirmation of the debtor’s plan, what are the debtor’s options? Can it appeal that decision as of right?