Section
National Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring Law Section
Date
September 12, 2015
Location
Fairmont Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB
Submitted by
BC Branch Representative: J. Reilly Pollard
Report
The meeting included all members of the National Section's Executive and Representatives from each of the provincial Sections.
The discussion began with a Conference Post-Mortem. It was agreed that the Conference had been a great success despite lower numbers than in the previous years. David Jackson and David Gerecke were thanked for their excellent job in organizing the speakers and the venues. Various suggestions for improvements to the program next year were discussed, as well as ways to ensure that the meeting was broadcast to the largest possible audience and scheduled at a time that was unlikely to conflict with other insolvency related events such as the TMA conference.
The Chair suggested a change of name for the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring Section and the Pan-Canadian Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring Law Conference.
The Section name was viewed as too long and the National Insolvency Section was to be preferred.
It was resolved that the name of the conference be changed to THE CBA NATIONAL INSOLVENCY CONFERENCE.
It was then resolved that the name of the section be changed to: THE CBA INSOLVENCY and that a resolution will now go to council at the mid year meeting to be voted on.
It was then confirmed that the 2016 CBA National Insolvency Conference will be held in Chicago. A draft agenda was tabled and discussed with ideas on how to engage US lawyers and provide good cross-border networking opportunities, while also ensuring the Conference remains relevant to Canadian mid-market lawyers.
The meeting then discussed possible participation as an intervener in the disciplinary proceedings involving Joseph Groia that have been appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. After a spirited discussion, it was agreed that civility and communication are important principles supported by the Insolvency Section but that the Section was unable to achieve consensus on intervention. The matter is to be revisited if and when the Groia proceedings are appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.