GRIP 21

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was established by the General Assembly in 1966 ( Resolution 2205(XXI) of 17 December 1966). In establishing the Commission, the General Assembly recognized that disparities in national laws governing international trade created obstacles to the flow of trade, and it regarded the Commission as the vehicle by which the United Nations could play a more active role in reducing or removing these obstacles.

The General Assembly gave the Commission the general mandate to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade. The Commission has since come to be the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law.

The Commission is composed of sixty member States elected by the General Assembly. Membership is structured so as to be representative of the world's various geographic regions and its principal economic and legal systems. Members of the Commission are elected for terms of six years, the terms of half the members expiring every three years.

The Commission has established six working groups to perform the substantive preparatory work on topics within the Commission's programme of work. Each of the working groups is composed of all member States of the Commission.

The International Insolvency Institute is a non-profit association of leading insolvency practitioners, Judges, academics and credit professionals that is represented in 60 countries around the world. The III’s goals are to enhance and promote fair and effective international insolvency systems and procedures and to encourage and facilitate coordination and communication among Courts and administrators throughout the world.

Contacts:

Canada Bruce LEONARD bleonard@casselsbrock.com Tél: +416 869 57 57

A global restructuring, consulting and financial advisory firm where senior people and a « results, not reports » approach make the difference.

BGN is the premier global network of independent professionals working with struggling or declining businesses, operating in over 70 jurisdictions worldwide. It is multi-disciplined, including a broad range of the professionals necessary to provide an overall answer to business problems. BGN members are leading players in their markets and have an international outlook, reflecting the increasingly global nature of business. They provide cost-effective, value-adding global solutions which are firmly rooted in local markets.

Cabinet Isabelle DIDIER is a reputed bankruptcy and restructuring specialist in France, proposing alternative solutions to valorise all of the resources of a company facing difficulties. Isabelle DIDIER and her consultants have accumulated over 20 years of practice in resolving difficulties and have acquired the practice of handing all aspects (financial, economic, commercial, legal, social and psychological) of bankruptcy proceedings, including in and out of court restructurings, mediation and the French Mandat Ad Hoc procedure.

Deloitte’s reorganisation Services team provides investigation, advisory, restructuring, CRO and insolvency services to underperforming businesses, their stakeholders and advisers. Advising on and supporting the implementation of strategic, financial and operational restructuring plans, this team, when necessary, can call upon the support of Deloitte specialists in corporate finance, insurance, forensic accounting, taxation and all industry sectors. Cross-border, multi-jurisdictional work is carried out in conjunction with a large network of colleagues and offices worldwide.

Eversheds is one of the largest full service law firms in the world. It has 32 offices in major cities across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Eversheds works in six main practice areas: commercial, corporate, human resources, legal systems, litigation and dispute management, real estate. It also advises sectors as central government, education, energy, financial institutions,

Created in 1972, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Paris is one of the most importants law firms of Paris, with 200 lawyers, 31 of which are partners. These are, for the most part, members of the Bar of Paris, and many have followed a complementary training (famous business schools or foreign universities).Some of them are also members of foreign Bars.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advises customers on national and international operations in the eyes of french and foreign law.

Its customers are industrial as well as commercial companies, most of which are large french and foreign groups. Freshfields also advises several Financial institutions and public or party state-controlled organizations.

Hoche Société d’Avocats has brought its skills to bear in all areas affecting the legal dimension of company operations in France and abroad and has developed recognized expertise in various fields. More than 40 attorneys advise the firm's clients facing the variety of developments affecting French and international companies in business law, tax law, mergers-acquisitions, labor and commercial (including insolvency) law, both in advising and litigation before all courts, in mediation and arbitration proceedings.

JAUSAS is one of the major Spanish law Firms, with offices in Barcelona and Madrid, with expertise in several areas of practice such as Tax, Corporate, Labour and Litigation law, to more specific topics and sectors such as health and pharmaceutical, aviation, tourism, M&A, distribution and franchise, industrial and intellectual property.

JAUSAS has a long carried out experience in Insolvency and Restructuring, being one of the Spanish leading firms on that domain. Our team has a long carried out expedience in cross border Insolvency Matters and Agustin Bou is the former past Co-Chair of the Section of Insolvency, Restructuring and Creditors’ Right (SIRC) of the International Bar Association (IBA). At present, Mr. Bou is member of several International Insolvency Institutions.

The law firm PLUTA Rechtsanwalts GmbH is one of the “TOP 10” of the German insolvency administration firms and was the first to expand systematically into other European countries such as Italy and Spain. The company with more than 200 employees predominantly trained in law and commerce specialises in handling insolvencies of all sizes on the regional, national, and international scale. It concentrates on insolvency administration and the restructuring of business in the event of insolvency, and operates both as an insolvency administration firm and as a legal consultancy firm, providing services in the fields of insolvency law, commercial law and tax advice. Insolvency administrators Dr. Martin Prager (Munich), Dr. Stephan Thiemann (Münster), Michael Schoor (Leipzig), Fritz Zanker (Stuttgart), and lawyer Dr. Joachim Geßler are co-founders and directors of the law firm that was founded by Michael Pluta in 1982.

“3-4 South Square is a set of barristers chambers in London specialising in business and commercial law and with a pre-eminent reputation in insolvency and reconstruction”.

Themis bank is a new bank specialized in the financing of companies’ insolvency proceedings. Its method is based on listening to its customers (which it considers as partners), thinking and implementing appropriated solutions. Decisions are taken within very short time limits, so as to contribute efficiently to the quick recovery of companies.

UGGC & Associés is a "Société Civile Professionnelle" (French professionnal partnership). This type of structure reflects the team spirit of teamwork that abounds in the firm, in which the knowledge and know-how of each individual are shared in the intersts of clients.

UGGC & Associés is commercial law firm which services the whole range of legal and tax needs of private enterprises, public entities and natural persons. Each lawyer is specialised in one area of law.

UGGC & Associés is today one of the top ranking French law firms and has a large international practice. The firm has had an office in Brussels since its creation and has now also an office in Casablanca.

Autriche Ulla REISCH reisch@ulsr.at Tél:+43 121 25 500

Commercial law firm with 40 years of experience in litigation, bankruptcy and all commercial matters.

Contacts:

France: Isabelle DIDIER ididier@violet-avocats.com Tél: +33 (0) 1 45 08 52 71

White & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with nearly 2,000 lawyers in 35 offices in 23 countries. The best external objective indication of the quality of the service we are able to provide is on the basis of what the industry says about us. In particular, White & Case was nominated as the Restructuring Team of the Year 2005 (IFLR Americas Awards)

White & Case has an established reputation in France in all key areas of business law. The White & Case Paris office currently has approximately 100 lawyers, including 27 partners. The Paris office is a full service one, and covers the following practice areas:

Finance, including project finance; asset finance; real estate finance; acquisition finance; structured finance; and debt restructuring
Corporate/M&A, including joint ventures and strategic partnerships; private equity; leveraged buy-outs and capital markets; restructuring; securities; and intellectual property
Tax
Dispute resolution, including litigation and international arbitration
Restructuring and Insolvency
Employment law
Antitrust and competition law
Real estate, construction, and public law

White & Case Paris regularly acts for domestic and international clients who are major players in the economic and financial sectors: commercial and industrial firms, banks and financial institutions, and state bodies and governments.