5th February 2023, New Delhi 

The first meeting of the Insolvency Scholars Forum was held on 5th February, 2023, with an opening comments by the President, Sumant Batra, Dr. Neeti Shikha, and Dr. Paul J Omar. The session included a keynote address by Dr. Bibek Debroy, Chairman, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Government of India. The first session was themed Courts and Restructuring under the chairmanship of Justice A.K. Sikri, Hon’ble Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, along with Prof. Anthony Casey (virtually), and Prof. Wan Wai Yee served as presenters with Ritin Rai who served as a discussant in the session. The session was followed by the discussion titled ‘Looking Into The Future: Pre Insolvency Framework’ under the chairmanship of Rajnish Kumar alongside Prof. Dr. Reinhard Bork, Dr. Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez (virtually), and Dr. Neeti Shikha serving as panellists. Suharsh Sinha served the role of a discussant in the session. Sumant Batra chaired the next session themed Cross Border Insolvency and panellists were, Justice Paul Heath, Hon’ble Former Judge, High Court of New Zealand; QC, Bankside Chambers, Dr. Paul J Omar, and Ashish Chhawchharia made their valuable contributions while Dhananjay Kumar acted as the discussant. Further, in the next session, Dr. Akshaya Kamalnath and Anjali Sharma addressed the new developments in the sphere of technology and its influence on insolvency. The subsequent session was chaired by Dr. M.S. Sahoo who alongside panellists Sudhakar Shukla, Urmika Tripathi, Sumant Batra, and the discussant of the session Dr. Surbhi Kapur gave insights regarding the ‘Future of Insolvency.’ The session was succeeded by the discussion about mediation by the session’s chairman Justice Paul Heath, Hon’ble Former Judge, High Court of New Zealand; QC, Bankside Chambers, and panellists, Antonia Menezes (virtually), Akvile Gropper (virtually), Dr. Annika Wolf (virtually). Shardul Shroff contributed to the session as a discussant. Pitch for future papers was discussed by Dr. M.S. Sahoo, Dr. Neeti Shikha, Prof. Wan Wai Yee, and Sumant Batra. The conference was concluded with closing comments from Prof. Wan Wai Yee.