ADELAIDE IN-PERSON | Personal Insolvency Forum – Workshop 2023

Sulette commenced her career in academia in 1997 and over the last twenty plus years had the opportunity to teach into an array of commercial law subjects, primarily corporate law and insolvency law, at an undergraduate and post-graduate level, both in Australia and South Africa. The effectiveness of Sulette’’s student-centred approach to teaching was recognised by a national teaching award (Australian Award for University Teaching: Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning) in 2018.
Sulette authored and co-authored a number of high-quality research outputs with significant impact in areas of insolvency law; corporate governance; and corporate whistleblowing, including the text on Australian Insolvency Law. Sulette is invited regularly by professional bodies to present on topical corporate and insolvency matters; has been invited on multiple occasions to make submissions to the Australian Parliament in relation to law reform related to her areas of research; and has been invited numerous times to appear as an expert witness for various Senate Inquiries. Her contributions in this capacity have been sighted extensively in law reform reports.
Sulette actively engages with the legal community by way of membership of professional bodies, and participation in law reform processes. She is a member of the Australian Law Council (Business Law Section) Corporations Committee, as well as the Insolvency & Restructuring Committee; of INSOL International; of the Society of Corporate Law Academics; as well as the UniSA Centre for Markets, Values and Inclusion.

Jason teaches and researches in the areas of Corporate Law, Insolvency Law, Commercial Law and Contracts. Jason’s research is focused on the public and private regulation of financially distressed companies, including debt restructuring, voluntary administration, corporate governance and directors’ duties during financial distress and the regulation of corporate groups.
Jason’s research is frequently cited in Supreme Court and Federal Court decisions and has been cited in the High Court of Australia as well as in Commonwealth parliamentary committees and by academic works in Australia and internationally. Jason is an active participant in law reform initiatives through his policy work with the Governance Institute of Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Corporations and Insolvency Committees of the Law Council of Australia. Jason has served on a number of editorial boards including for the Australian Journal of Corporate Law, the Australian Law Journal and the Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice. Jason is a former president of the Corporate Law Teachers’ Association and has previously held academic positions at UNSW, the ANU and UTS and has had visiting academic roles with Universities in England, Canada and the United States.

Dr Lézelle Jacobs is an Associate Professor at the University of Technology (UTS) Sydney. She is also the current Legal Director of ARITA. She has 13 years’ experience in the higher education industry and has taught Insolvency and Company Law at undergraduate as well as postgraduate level in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Lézelle is the Course Convenor for the ARITA Advanced Certification Programme at UTS Law. She obtained an LLD from the University of the Free State in 2015, the focus of which was Fiduciary Duties of Business Rescue Practitioners in South Africa. The study resulted in a proposed Code of Conduct for Business Rescue Practitioners in South Africa that has been utilised in the drafting of an ethical code for the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) of South Africa. She consulted on the drafting of the Ethical Principles for Insolvency Professionals as part of INSOL International WG10.
Lézelle is the author of several articles and chapters in books and is currently writing her own manuscript on Insolvency Practitioner Ethics to be Published by Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lézelle has been involved in various funded research projects and most recently undertook a UK Government funded research project with Professor Peter Walton into the new Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (UK). The project was aimed at establishing how well the new corporate rescue measures introduced by the Act are working in practice. Their final report was published on the UK Government’s website in December 2022.
She is a contributor to Sweet and Maxwell’s European Cross-border Insolvency and Practical British Company Law.
Dr Jacobs is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (non-practising).

Chris is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Adelaide and the previous Dean at the Adelaide Law School. He is arguably Australia’s leading insolvency academic and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Chris has been a full time academic since 1993 (prior to his retirement in 2023) and his academic career has traversed both Business and Law Schools, teaching in a variety of corporate law, insolvency law and other commercial law courses. He was a previous director of Australia’s first University research unit in insolvency known now as ROCIT (Regulation of Corporate, Insolvency and Taxation).

Chris is the author of eleven books and over 100 articles for both an academic and practitioner readership. Chris’ book Australian Insolvency Law, an Australian insolvency University text, which published its 5th in 2022. A companion text, Australian Insolvency Law Cases and Materials (2nd ed) by Christopher and two other authors is also due to publish in early 2023.

Chris has presented to academic and practitioner audiences across the world including in London, The Hague, San Francisco, Manilla, Vancouver, Dublin, Singapore, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpar and he has led the Australian delegation to Thailand for the Forum for Asian Insolvency Reform (FAIR) and the LawAsia delegation at United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group V on Insolvency in Vienna.

Andrew trained as a lawyer in Australia and became a partner in an Australian law firm, specialising in corporate and commercial law, and appearing in superior courts in company, insolvency and probate actions. Subsequently he acted as a Deputy Registrar of the Australian Federal Court and Deputy Registrar in Bankruptcy where he taxed costs, ruled on bankruptcy petitions, presided at the examination of insolvents and their associates, heard various applications in bankruptcy, and advised practitioners on practice matters.

Andrew taught at several Australian universities where he specialised in commercial law and primarily teaching into company and insolvency law modules, before moving to work in the UK. He has been at University of Leeds since 2002 where he has acted at various times as the Director of the Centre for Business Law and Practice.

Andrew holds a doctorate in law from the University of Queensland; the thesis focused on transactional avoidance in corporate insolvency in Australia. Besides being admitted to practice in Australia he is a barrister for England and Wales (Lincoln’s Inn) and has practised in the Chancery field. Andrew has provided opinions on company and insolvency law issues, given reports to overseas courts on what is the position of English law in relation to areas of company and insolvency law, and acted as an expert witness on English law.

Andrew has published a large number of books for Sweet and Maxwell, LexisNexis, Routledge, Edward Elgar, Jordans, Law Book Company and Pearsons.

Andrew’s work has been cited by many superior courts including the UK Supreme Court, the Privy Council, the High Court of Australia, the New Zealand Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales, the Scottish Court of Session (Inner House), the Singapore Court of Appeal, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Mike practices in commercial litigation and dispute resolution and has done so for more than 25 years. He has extensive experience in corporate and commercial litigation across various jurisdictions in both Federal and State Courts, as both solicitor and counsel. He acts for a wide range of clients including corporations, firms and individuals. Mike’s experience in commercial litigation provides him with a sound background and understanding of commercial risk. He works closely with clients to achieve commercial and cost effective outcomes.

Mike is a leading insolvency, recoveries and restructuring practitioner. He acts for liquidators, receivers and trustees nationally (and previously abroad) in all aspects of personal and corporate insolvency and restructuring. Mike also acts for directors in defending insolvent trading claims and creditors in respect of voidable transaction claims. Mike’s experience in acting for stakeholders on both sides of voidable transaction claims provides him with a firm platform to negotiate with stakeholders and achieve commercial outcomes. He is a Fellow of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association.

Mike has a keen interest in governance and advises directors on potential liability issues and assists directors in navigating companies in financial difficulties.

Mike has a B.Juris, LLB, M(Com) Law and a Graduate Certificate in Insolvency and Restructuring.