Description

An enforcement regime that results in delays or excessive costs is likely to affect the availability and the cost of credit. A secured creditor must have a choice to exercise post-default rights either judicially or extra-judicially. Extra-judicial enforcement mechanisms provide speedy recovery of assets and satisfaction of secured creditor’s claims. The use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (e.g. mediation and arbitration) in jurisdictions where the rule of law is weak and enforcement processes before the courts tend to be long and burdensome is recommended by the international financial institutions and provided in international secured transactions texts (e.g. UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions, OAS Inter-American Model Law on Secured Transactions). On the other hand, in jurisdictions with well-functioning enforcement systems alternative dispute resolution mechanisms may provide a more cost-effective route than litigation. Mediation and arbitration are recognised methods for resolving commercial disputes and used increasingly over the last decades at both national and international level. However, their use in the enforcement of security interest and insolvency is disputed. This creates a number of conceptual problems including the rights of third parties and the use of arbitration in insolvency disputes. This seminar considers the use of mediation and arbitration in the enforcement of security interests and insolvency, and provides a number of recommendations.

About the Speaker

Dr Orkun Akseli is an Associate Professor of Commercial Law at Durham University Law School. He has published extensively on the modernisation and harmonisation of secured transactions law. His research has focused on the laws relating to secured credit, and the social and economic impact of these laws with reference to the financing of SMEs. An especially distinctive aspect of his research has been its exploration of the international context to these phenomena, especially in respect of the work of the World Bank and the UN. Some of his publications include “Secured Transactions in Global Law-making” (under contract with Hart, co-authored with S.V. Bazinas); “The Future of Commercial Law: Ways forward for Change and Reform” (Hart 2019 forthcoming, with J. Linarelli); “International and Comparative Secured Transactions Law” (Hart 2017, with S.V. Bazinas); “Secured Transactions LawReform: Principles, Policies and Practice”(Hart 2016, with L. Gullifer). He studied law inTurkey, USA and the UK. He is an AssociateMember of the International Academy ofComparative Law, a member andPresident-Elect of the InternationalAcademy of Commercial and ConsumerLaw, and a member of the CharteredInstitute of Arbitrators.