Contact
Expertise Summary
Irit Mevorach is a Professor of International Commercial Law and the founder and co-director of University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre (http://nottingham.ac.uk/clc). She teaches and researches issues in corporate law, enterprise groups, insolvency, cross-border insolvency and bank resolution.
Irit holds degrees in law from Tel-Aviv University (LLB Magna Cum Laude, 1997, LLM in Commercial Law, 2001) and UCL, London (PhD, 2006). Between 1998-2003, Irit practised law at Lipa Meir & Co (Tel-Aviv, Israel) where she led financing and secured transactions, commercial litigation, and advice in corporate restructuring, liquidations and administrations. Since 2006 Irit has been acting as an expert adviser to the UK government's delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and in 2013-2016 she represented the World Bank at the Commission, in deliberations in the areas of insolvency and cross-border insolvency.
In 2013, Irit was appointed Senior Counsel to the World Bank and headed the Bank's Global Initiative on Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes (2013-2015). In that capacity, she advised governments of some ten countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean on reform of business and personal insolvency and creditor/debtor systems. She also headed the Bank's Global Task Force on Insolvency and Creditor Rights. Irit has retained a consultancy with the World Bank and continues to provide training and advice in projects involving emerging markets.
Irit's book 'Insolvency within Multinational Enterprise Groups' (Oxford University Press, 2009) has won the Edwin-Coe/INSOL Europe Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2010). She has also been awarded British Academy grants for her empirical and comparative research in the area of cross-border insolvency, and her academic and policy work has influenced law reform in Europe and globally. See example of impact here.
Irit was elected to the International Insolvency Institute (III) membership in 2012 and is currently the co-Chair of the III academic wing. She has also been elected to the American College of Bankruptcy (2019). Irit is also a member of INSOL International, INSOL Europe, the ILA, CERIL, and the IEEI. Irit is on the Editorial Board of the Global Restructuring Review (GRR), the Spanish Journal of Insolvency and Restructuring, and the International Advisory Council of the Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative (SGRI). She is the UK Correspondent, Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT). In 2020 Irit was appointed to UK Office for Science Covid-19 Recovery Trade and Aid Working Group which synthesized evidence against research questions that departments should consider in the medium to long term recovery from the COVID-19 emergency (final reports available here: https://www.upen.ac.uk/go_science/). She was also named, in 2020, to the inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers, and was also appointed to the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Private International Law, Ministry of Justice.
Research interests: the inter-relationship between private and public international law; harmonisation of commercial laws; the role of international organisations in international commercial law-making and implementation; decision processes in commercial international law-making and implementation; intersection of corporate and insolvency law; directors' duties; intersection of commercial entities' and financial institutions' insolvency; MSMEs insolvency; enterprise groups and multinational enterprises.
Policy work/ Reports/ Training courses include:
UNIDROIT Working Group on Bank Insolvency, co-Chair of subgroup III (2020- present)
INSOL EUROPE, High Level Courses on Insolvency Law - Consultant (Cyprus, 6-7 September 2018, Romania, 2016/2017)
UNCITRAL Working Group V (Insolvency Law): advisor to UK delegation (2006-present); World Bank representative (2013-2015); Expert Group member (2013- present)
World Bank: Senior Counsel, Head of Insolvency and Creditor-Debtor regime initiative and Head of World Bank insolvency global task force (2013-2015); Consultant (2015- present). Author and co-author of World Bank Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (2013-2015)
FSB (Financial Stability Board) Resolution Legal Expert Group, World Bank expert advisor (2014-2015)
Insolvency Service, stakeholders group on the revision of the EU Insolvency Regulation (2009-2013)
International Insolvency Institute, Committee on International Jurisdiction and Cooperation, expert advisor (2008-2013)
EBRD, Consultant (2004)
Membership by invitation
American College of Bankruptcy (ACB)
International Insolvency Institute (III)
International Exchange and Experience on Insolvency Law (IEEI)
Conferee, The Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL)
Bowen Island Group
On-going, transnational, collaborative funded project (International Insolvency Institute research grant)
'A Framework for Cross-Border Resolution of Financial Institutions' (with Riz Mokal, Ronald Davis, Monica Marcucci, Madam Justice Barbara Romaine, Janis Sarra, Ignacio Tirado, and Stephan Madaus)
Publications
Books
Financial Institutions in Distress: Recovery, Resolution, Recognition (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2023) (with Riz Mokal, Ronald Davis, Monica Marcucci, Barbara Romaine, Janis Sarra, Ignacio Tirado, Stephan Madaus) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/financial-institutions-in-distress-9780192882516?lang=en&cc=us
The Future of Cross-Border Insolvency: Overcoming Biases and Closing Gaps (Oxford University Press, 2018) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-future-of-cross-border-insolvency-9780198782896?q=9780198782896&lang=en&cc=gb; see also https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2018/04/future-cross-border-insolvency-overcoming-biases-and-closing-gaps
[reviewed in Int. Insolv. Rev. (2018): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10991107; Global Restructuring Review: https://globalrestructuringreview.com/article/1170708/book-review-the-future-of-cross-border-insolvency-overcoming-biases-and-closing-gaps; https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-future-of-cross-border-insolvency/irit-mevorach/9780198782896; http://www.bobwessels.nl/blog/2019-01-doc1-the-future-of-cross-border-insolvency/; International Insolvency Review (2018), 27(3), pp. 447-450 (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122815/); Banking and Finance Law Review 34 BFLR 327 (2019)]
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Insolvency, a Modular Approach (Oxford University Press, 2018) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/micro-small-and-medium-enterprise-insolvency-9780198799931?cc=gb&lang=en& [with Riz Mokal, Ronald Davis, Alberto Mazzoni, Madam Justice Barbara Romaine, Janis Sarra, Ignacio Tirado, and Stephan Madaus]; see also https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2017/01/modular-approach-micro-small-and-medium-enterprise-insolvency
Insolvency within Multinational Enterprise Groups (Oxford University Press, 2009)
[reviewed in INSOL W.2009 ,4, 9; Spanish Yearbook of Private International Law, IX, 2009, pp. 1399-1401; ICCLR (2010) 21(11), 392-393; Legal Studies, Vol. 30 No. 4, December 2010, pp. 674-693; BFLR (2011) 26(2), 377-380]
Book chapters/ contributions
'Insolvency standards and cooperation in cross-border insolvency: the role of UNCITRAL' in Companion to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Elgar (forthcoming 2023) https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/the-elgar-companion-to-uncitral-9781803924533.html
'Modified Universalism as Customary International Law' in Bankruptcy's Universal Pragmatist: Festschrift in Honor of Jay Westbrook (JAE Pottow and CG Paulus, eds. 2021) 435-479 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bankruptcys-Universal-Pragmatist-Festschrift-Westbrook/dp/160785547X
'Insolvency of Corporate Groups Under the New Insolvency Regulation: Progress or Reason for Concern?' in Hess/Oberhammer/Bariatti/Koller/Laukemann/Requejo Isidro/Villata (eds.), The Implementation of the New Insolvency Regulation - Improving Cooperation and Mutual Trust, Nomos/Hart, Baden-Baden/Oxford 2017
Is the future bright for enterprise groups in insolvency? -analysis of the new recommendations of UNCITRAL on the domestic aspects' in P. J. Omar, (ed.) International Insolvency Law: Reforms and Challenges (Ashgate, 2013)
Journal papers
'ZK / BMA (CJEU Case C-498/20) - Fine Borderlines Between the Private International Law of Companies, Tort, and Insolvency - Case Note' TBH 2023/1, pp 113-115
'Global Competition in Cross-Border Restructuring and Recognition of Centralized Group Solutions' 56(2) Texas Journal of International Law (2022) 109-154 (with Ilya Kokorin and Stephan Madaus) https://tilj.org/; https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2022/02/global-competition-cross-border-restructuring-and-recognition; https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4016335
'Overlapping international instruments for enforcement of insolvency judgments: undermining or strengthening universalism?' European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) (2021), 22(2), 283-315 Url: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40804-021-00204-4.pdf.
'The Characterization of Pre-Insolvency Proceeding in Private International Law' European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) (2020) (with Adrian Walters) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40804-020-00176-x pp. 855-894
'A Fresh View on the Hard/Soft Law Divide - Implications for International Insolvency of Enterprise Groups' 40(3) Michigan Journal of International Law (2019), pp. 504-530
'Prospects for an International Bankruptcy Court: My Conversations with Ian Fletcher' (2019) 32 Insolvency Intelligence, Issue 1, pp. 16-20
'Modified Universalism as Customary International Law' Texas Law Review (2018) Vol. 96:1403 (https://texaslawreview.org/modified-universalism-as-customary-international-law/), pp. 1403-1436
'Beyond the search for certainty- addressing the cross-border resolution gap' Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law (2015), pp. 183-223 [reproduced in Annual Review of International Law (2015), pp. 761-816]
'Cross-border insolvency of groups: the choice of law challenge', Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law 9(1) (2014), pp. 226-249
'Enterprise Groups in Insolvency: Recent International Developments', Annual Review of Insolvency Law (ARIL) (2014), pp. 495- 514
'Forum Shopping in Times of Crisis: A Directors' Duties Perspective' 4 European Corporate and Financial Law Review (ECFR) (2013), pp. 523-553
'The role of enterprise principles in shaping management duties at times of crisis' 14 European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) (2013) pp. 471-496
'INSOL Europe's Proposals on Groups of Companies in Cross-Border Insolvency: a Critical Appraisal' 21 (3) International Insolvency Review (IIR) (2012), pp. 1-23
'On the road to Universalism: a Comparative and Empirical Study of UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency' 12 European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) (2011), pp. 517-557
'European Insolvency Law in a Global Context' 7 Journal of Business Law (JBL) (2011) pp. 666-681
'Transaction Avoidance in Bankruptcy of Corporate Groups' 2 European Company and Financial Law Review (ECFR) (2011), pp. 235-258
'Jurisdiction in insolvency - a study of European courts' decisions' 6(2) Journal of Private International Law (JPIL) (2010), pp. 327-357 [article cited by the EU Commission Impact Assessment, Revision of Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 on Insolvency Proceedings, 12.12.2012]
'Towards a Consensus on the Treatment of Multinational Enterprise Groups in Insolvency' 18 Cardozo J. Int'l & Comp. L. 359 (2010), pp. 359-424
'The Home Country of a Multinational Corporate Group Facing Insolvency' 57 International Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ) (2008), pp. 427-448
'Appropriate treatment of corporate groups in insolvency- a universal view' 8(2) European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) (2007), pp. 179-194 [article cited in: Report to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, 23 September 2019; https://ibbi.gov.in/uploads/whatsnew/2019-10-12-004043-ep0vq-d2b41342411e65d9558a8c0d8bb6c666.pdf]
'The road to a suitable and comprehensive global approach to insolvencies within multinational corporate groups' 15(5) Norton J. Bank. L. & Prac. (2006) 455, pp. 455-564 [paper awarded gold medal prize by the International Insolvency Institute]
'Centralizing insolvencies of pan-European corporate groups: a creditor's dream or nightmare?' Journal of Business Law (JBL) (2006), pp. 468-486
'Caveat Emptor: What Consumers of Insolvency Law Regimes Need to Know' 14 International Insolvency Review (IIR) (2005) pp. 187-199 (with Uttamchandani M., Harmer, R., Cooper N) [paper cited in the G20 SME Financial Inclusion Report that was delivered to the G20 in G20 Seoul Summit 2010].
Other Publications and Blog Posts
'Overlapping International Instruments for Enforcement of Insolvency Judgments: Undermining or Strengthening Universalism?' Oxford Business Law Blog 2020 https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2020/12/overlapping-international-instruments-enforcement-insolvency
'The Characterization of Pre-Insolvency Proceedings in Private International Law' (with A Walters) Oxford Business Law Blog 2019 https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2019/09/characterization-pre-insolvency-proceedings-private-international-law
'UNCITRAL Model Law on Enterprise Groups Insolvency' INSOL World Q4 2019
'The Modular Approach to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Insolvency' with JP Sarra, RB Davis, I Tirado, R Mokal, S Madaus, B Romain and A Mazzoni (<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2904858>)
'Developments in Cross-Border Insolvency: Europe and Beyond', Law, Justice and Development Week, World Bank Group, 20-24 October 2014, available at http://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2014/10/20/law-justice-and-development-week-2014#1
'The New Proposed Regime for Corporate Groups in Insolvency: a critical note', Corporate Rescue and Insolvency (CRI) (2013), pp. 89-90
'The Prospect of Standardization of Insolvency Laws in Europe INSOL Europe' Substantive Harmonization and Convergence of Laws in Europe, INSOL Europe Academic Forum Annual Conference Booklet, (2012), pp. 17-26
'Multinational Enterprise Groups in Insolvency: A comment on UNCITRAL work and future prospects within the EU', 2011 "Legal research papers" - "Quaderni di ricerca giuridica" (a publication of the Bank of Italy)
Review of Israël, European Cross-Border Insolvency Regulation (Mortsel: Intersentia Publishers, 2007) Common Market Law Review 1200-1202
Legal Indicator Survey 2004, Transition report: Infrastructure (EBRD, 2004), 17-23 (with Uttamchandani M., Harmer, R., Cooper N)
Teaching Summary
Teaching
LLM international aspects of corporate law and insolvency (convenor)
LLB Issues in Company Law (convenor)
LLB Principles of corporate insolvency law
Prospective PhD students
Enquiries from prospective students are welcome.
Information about the School of Law PhD programme and how to apply can be found here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/law/study/postgraduate-research/index.aspx.
Information about scholarships can be found here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/law/study/postgraduate-research/funding.aspx.
Information about the University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre can be found here: http://nottingham.ac.uk/clc.
Current PhD students:
Mohammed Khan, Asad, "The application of free market principles to address the UK's 'pari passu' problem" (research student member of University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre, see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/commercial-law-centre/members/index.aspx)
Simgh Aslan, "Blockchain: How will it shape the future of insolvency law" (resrach student member of University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre, see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/commercial-law-centre/members/index.aspx)
Previous PhD students:
Christos Andrikopoulos, "SMEs clustering: Towards a reform of the EU legal framework for achieving growth" (research student member of University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre, see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/commercial-law-centre/members/index.aspx)
Susan Morgan, "CVA: purpose and outcomes"
Alessandra De Angelis, "Why EDEM? A Technologically Guided Explanation of Regulatory Change in Defence Equipment Markets" [Winner of DJ Harris Prize for the best doctoral thesis in the School of Law in the academic year 2019-2020 (joint award)]
Research Summary
Corporate and Insolvency law; European and International Insolvency; Cross-border resolution; Corporate groups; International commercial law
Recent Publications
2023. In: Insolvency Standards, Model Laws, and Cooperation in Cross-Border Insolvency: The Role and Impact of UNCITRAL’s Instruments in Rishi Gulati, Thomas John & Ben Koehler (eds), Elgar Companion on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023). (In Press.)
ILYA KOKORIN, STEPHAN MADAUS and IRIT MEVORACH, 2021. Global Competition in Cross-Border Restructuring and Recognition of Centralized Group Solutions Texas International Law. 109-154
IRIT MEVORACH and ADRIAN WALTERS, 2020. The Characterization of Pre-insolvency Proceedings in Private International Law EBOR. 855-894