The Faculty of Law is pleased to announce that the University of Cambridge recently hosted the Cambridge Debt Roundtable on The Global Law of Debt. The event was organised by Dr Narine Lalafaryan (Assistant Professor of Corporate Law; Fellow of Pembroke College; Fellow of the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance) around a new research project of the same name, led jointly by Dr Lalafaryan and Professor Jared A. Ellias (Scott C. Collins Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University).
The research project, 'The Global Law of Debt', examines the historical evolution and contemporary influence of global debt finance and restructuring laws. It highlights the deeply entangled nature of legal systems across jurisdictions and considers the consequences of this entanglement for investors, clients, courts, regulators, and governments. The global law of debt has emerged from the close interconnection between London's and New York's debt ecosystems, creating unprecedented opportunities for companies, investors, and professionals to raise capital and restructure debt across borders. At the same time, this system poses significant challenges for regulators, courts, and policymakers, and facilitates the spread of practices that remain controversial.
The Cambridge Global Law of Debt Roundtable was an interdisciplinary event at the intersection of law and finance. It brought together a diverse group of distinguished senior scholars, leading legal practitioners, and promising early-career researchers. The roundtable advanced understanding of corporate debt finance and restructuring while showcasing the research of Dr Lalafaryan and Professor Ellias. It also sought to bridge the gap between academic scholarship and practice, provide participants with insight into major developments in the field, and strengthen the Cambridge-Harvard academic collaboration.
Commenting on the roundtable, Dr Lalafaryan said: “My sincere thanks go to my college, Pembroke, for so generously sponsoring the roundtable, and to the Cambridge Law Faculty's Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL) for supporting the 3CL dinner. I am also very grateful to the Faculty of Law for its exceptional financial support for my travels to Harvard—on several occasions over the summer—through the HSF Kramer Global Visitors’ Exchange Fund, as well as for providing the space to focus fully on this research project.”
The contributors to the roundtable, listed in alphabetical order by surname, were:
- Mr Simon Baskerville - Partner, Co-Chair of European Restructuring Group, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
- Sir William (Bill) Blair - Professor of Financial Law and Ethics, Queen Mary University of London; Arbitrator, 3VB Chambers; former Judge of the London Commercial Court
- Professor Simon F. Deakin FBA - Professor of Law; University of Cambridge; Director, Cambridge Centre for Business Research, Cambridge Judge Business School
- Mr Christian Díaz-Ordóñez - PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law; Research Assistant for “The Global Law of Debt” paper
- Dr Trevor Clark - Senior Lecturer in International Financial Law, King’s College London
- Professor Jared A. Ellias - The Scott C. Collins Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
- Professor Eilís Ferran FBA - Professor of Company & Securities Law, University of Cambridge; Provost, Gates-Cambridge Trust
- Dr Philip Gavin - Lecturer in Corporate and Financial Law, University College London (UCL)
- Professor Carsten Gerner-Beuerle - Professor of Law, London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE); Global Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame
- Mr Simon Gleeson - Visiting Professor, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law
- Professor Louise Gullifer KC (Hon) FBA - Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, University of Cambridge; Chair of the Cambridge Faculty of Law
- Professor Richard Hooley - Associate Professor of International Financial Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
- Mr Christopher J. Howard - Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
- Dr Narine Lalafaryan - Assistant Professor of Corporate and Financial Law, University of Cambridge; Fellow, Pembroke College; Fellow, Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance; Co-Director, Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL), University of Cambridge
- Professor Bart Lambrecht - Professor of Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School; Director, Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance; Director, Cambridge Centre for Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School
- Professor Graham Penn - Professor of International Financial Law, University College London (UCL)
- Dr Clara Martins Pereira - Associate Professor of Financial Law, University of Durham
- Ms Valeria Manfredonia - PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law
- Ms Diana Nicholls Mutter - PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law
- Professor Jennifer Payne - Warden, Merton College, Oxford; Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford; Professor of Corporate Finance Law, University of Oxford
- Mr Morgan Richards - PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law
- Professor Pippa Rogerson - Professor of Private International Law, University of Cambridge
- Dr Pedro Schilling de Carvalho - Lecturer in Financial and Environmental Law, University College London (UCL)
- Professor Felix Steffek - Professor of Law, University of Cambridge; Co-Director, Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL); Deputy Chair of Faculty; University JM Keynes Fellow in Financial Economics; Global Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame
- Dr Fleur C. Stolker - Herschel Smith Teaching and Research Fellow, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
- Dr Jenifer Varzaly - Assistant Professor of Commercial and Corporate law, University of Durham