| The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016: A Practitioner’s Guide

Overview:

The course is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”), from a practitioner’s perspective. Rather than teaching insolvency in an academic silo, the course will provide students with real life case studies and examples of how contested issues of law play out in practice before the courts and in advice to clients. At the end of the course, students should be able to think through strategic advice on issues surrounding insolvency initiation and adjudication, read and understand a resolution plan, be familiar with the practical and commercial aspects of the insolvency process, and address questions of equity and policy surrounding the IBC.

Industry need for IBC knowledge:

In the five odd years since the IBC was introduced, over 4,700 companies have faced insolvency proceedings. As of June 2022, over 1,999 cases remain pending before various branches of the National Company Law Tribunal. Law firms and practising advocates are both seeing large volumes of their practice requiring a foundational understanding of the IBC. This course aims to address that need. The learnings, based on the faculty’s experience at one of India’s largest law firms advising on the largest insolvencies so far, will be valuable to students who intend to litigate independently, and those who are looking at law firms (whatever the practice area).

Pedagogy:

The teaching method will be Socratic, and the reading material will be statute, caselaw, and bankruptcy law reform committee reports. Given the course’s focus on building practical skills, there has been a conscious effort to avoid prescribing journal and law review articles as required reading. Students will be expected to be familiar with the reading material, as the class will largely be dialogical and discussion-based. The evaluation will score class participation in regular discussions as well as cold calls. There will be an exam that is designed not to test retention or memory but application of the course learnings.

Course objectives 

The course is a practitioner’s look at the IBC: by design, focused on commercial and real-world perspectives on the law. By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the broad principles underlying the IBC regime, and how litigation on the various aspects of the ever-changing IBC regime play out in practice. Students will be able to review and understand the commercials of what a resolution plan is, and key litigation and regulatory steps involved in moving the insolvency from admission to resolution/ liquidation.