The 10th Annual Cape Town Convention Academic Project Conference took place at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, and on Zoom on 29-30 September 2021. The Conference was organised by the Cape Town Convention Academic Project, which a partnership between UNIDROIT and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, under the auspices of the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL). The Aviation Working Group is the founding sponsor of the project.
The Conference had 173 registered participants, 60 of which attended in person, with the rest participating via Zoom. The first day of the Conference featured commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the ‘Cape Town Convention’ or ‘CTC’) and its Protocol related to Aircraft Equipment (the ‘Aircraft Protocol’ or ‘AP’). This included a welcome address by the President of UNIDROIT, Professor Maria Chiara Malaguti, and a Keynote Address by Professor Sir Roy Goode.
This was followed by an examination of ‘The Impact of the CTC in a post-pandemic world’ by the Secretary-General of UNIDROIT, Professor Ignacio Tirado. Thereafter, Professor Louise Gullifer and Dr Anton Didenko welcomed input from the attendees on areas of possible future research relating to the CTC which could be conducted under the auspices of the Academic Project.
Day 1 also featured a discussion on the CTC and Environmental, Social and Governance issues, which looked at green financing under the Cape Town Convention. This included an address from Dr Ben Caldecott (University of Oxford) and comments from Professor Jeffrey Wool (AWG, University of Oxford). The day was concluded by a Panel Discussion chaired by Professor Oren Sussman (University of Oxford) examining ‘The Impact of the CTC: an assessment after 20 years’. This included examination of the economic perspective by Daniel C. da Silva (Boeing Capital), Professor Vadim Linetsky (Northwestern University), Professor Julian Franks (London Business School), and Professor Jeffrey Wool (AWG; University of Oxford; and an examination of the legal perspective by Professor Anna Veneziano (Deputy Secretary-General of UNIDROIT).
Day 2 of the Conference was started with a Panel Discussion on ‘Schemes of arrangements and ‘insolvency proceedings’ in Art 1(l) CTC’ Chaired by Professor Louise Gullifer (University of Cambridge). This featured remarks from Professor Riz Mokal (South Square Chambers, UCL), Dr Felix Steffek (University of Cambridge), Kenneth Gray (Norton Rose Fulbright), and Philip Hertz (Clifford Chance).
This was followed by a discussion on ‘The significance in cross-border insolvency of AP Art XXX(4) (and equivalent article in the other Protocols)’ Chaired by Professor Ignacio Tirado (UNIDROIT) with a presentation by Professor Irit Mevorach (University of Nottingham), and comments from Professor Jeffrey Wool (AWG; University of Oxford) and Dr Kristin Van Zwieten (University of Oxford).
The final session featured a discussion on ‘The meaning of ‘give possession’ in Art XI Alt A (2) (AP and equivalent provisions in other protocols)’ led by Professor David Brown (University of Adelaide), with comments from John Canning (KWM); and a discussion on ‘The scope and application in insolvency proceedings of Art XI Alt A (10) (AP and equivalent provisions in other protocols) with a presentation by William Piels (Holland & Knight) and comments from William Glaister (Clifford Chance).
Registered participants can access all the Conference material at: https://ctcap.org/conference-participants-panel/.