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Modernization of the Institution of Appointment of Insolvency Officers: Foreign Experience and Russian Approach

05 March 2021
Round table

Event Description

 

On March 5, 2021, the International and Comparative Law Research Center together with the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum presented the research “Modernization of the Institution of Appointment of Insolvency Officers: Foreign Experience and Russian Approach” and held a discussion on the matter at hand.

Victoria Manko acted as the moderator of the event.

Victoria Manko thanked the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum for the ability to host the event on the LF Talks online platform and presented the ICLRC research “Appointment of Insolvency Officers in Russia and Foreign Jurisdictions”.

Victoria briefly outlined the procedures of insolvency officers appointment in six jurisdictions: in France, Austria, Germany, the USA, China, and the Russian Federation. “By looking into the foreign approach we are able to learn more about different procedures of appointing insolvency officers, but the main question remains: how can this foreign approach be applied in Russia,” Victoria remarked.

Mikhail Rukavishnikov described the main principles of the Russian model for appointing insolvency officers. “Russia is just about the only country to be the sanctuary of majoritary creditors, where the insolvency officer acts in the interests of the majoritarian,” he pointed out. Mikhail then spoke about the draft Bankruptcy Law and expressed his view on how the idea behind it corresponds to the researched models.

Sergey Kabanov’s presentation was entitled “Evaluation of the Insolvency Officer’s Interest by Court Provided the Officer and Creditors Have Mutual Representatives”. Sergey described practical difficulties in evaluating insolvency officers’ impartiality: “I believe that as soon as we adhere to the position of denying the existence of the first creditor’s interest to appointing an insolvency officer, any of the suggested models will be relevant.”

Oleg Zaitsev concluded the discussion with the report “Foreign Approach to Insolvency Officers Appointment: Useful Practice or Inapplicable Theory?” in which he expressed his opinion on using foreign expertise in implementing the bankruptcy reform. “In the end, it turns out that direct borrowing of the foreign practice is too difficult for us. It seems to me that the most beneficial way for us is to use the model proposed in the draft law” Oleg concluded.

Q&A session, in which the questions from the online audience were discussed, concluded the event.

Presentations were made by

Victoria Manko (moderator)
General Director of the International and Comparative Law Research Center since 2018. Before that, she took the position of an Expert on Public International Law and Assistant General Director, being a regular member of the Russian delegation to UNCITRAL. Before joining the Center, she worked in Moscow-based international law firms advising clients on international law matters for several years
Oleg Zaitsev
Specialist in bankruptcy and corporate law, as well as legal regulation of debt collection. Founder and Chairman of the National Association of Specialists in Bankruptcy and Distressed Assets Management “Bankruptcy Club”. Associate Professor of the Russian School of Private Law in the Private Law Research Centre under the President of the Russian Federation named after S.S. Alekseev. Master of Private Law, Ph.D. in Law. In 2006–2014, Oleg Zaitsev worked at the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation Analysis Department (first at the Department of Court Practice Analysis and Generalization, then at the Department of Private Law). He contributed to the drafting of numerous clarifications issued by the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation and federal laws on bankruptcy and corporate law, as well as the law on collectors. Member of the Scientific-Consultative Council under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and its working groups which prepare a number of clarifications on bankruptcy.
Sergey Kabanov
Sergey Kabanov specializes in bankruptcy proceedings, as well as complex investment and commercial disputes. Best Lawyers: Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2020, 2021) and Litigation (2020, 2021). Lawyer, Member of the St. Petersburg Bar Association. For more than 14 years, Sergey has been representing the interests of clients in state and arbitration courts. The area of his expertise includes arbitration and civil proceedings, disputes out from contractual relations, bankruptcy proceedings, competition law, and interaction with state bodies.
Mikhail Rukavishnikov
External expert of the International and Comparative Law Research Center. Head of Law Department at Rosa Khutor resort. Mikhail has more than 10 years of experience in dispute resolution in arbitration courts, courts of general jurisdiction, and Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation on matters of construction, contractual relations, leasing, challenging transactions, violations of competition, and advertising laws. Mikhail specializes in civil litigation, bankruptcy law, competition law.

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