The Global Legal Post today launches the first edition of its Law Over Borders Comparative Guide to Restructuring & Insolvency, offering a detailed overview of restructuring and insolvency regimes across key jurisdictions.
Edited by Karen McMaster, a restructuring and insolvency partner at A&O Shearman, and Luke Harrison, co-founder of London boutique disputes firm Keidan Harrison, the guide features contributions from leading practitioners from an array of top law firms.
Designed as a practical resource for general counsel, restructuring professionals, lawyers and financial advisers, the guide allows for easy comparison of legal frameworks, creditor rights, restructuring tools and cross-border recognition mechanisms.
Each chapter contains a consistent set of questions covering topics including the availability of debtor-in-possession regimes and clawback actions, the treatment of secured creditors, the role of courts and office holders, and the recognition of foreign proceedings.
McMaster and Harrison note in their introduction: "One of the key themes that emerges from this guide is the increasing emphasis on early intervention and business rescue. Many jurisdictions now offer pre-insolvency restructuring tools, cross-class cramdown mechanisms, and debtor-in-possession models. These developments reflect a broader shift in policy: away from liquidation as the default response to financial distress, and towards restructuring as a means of preserving enterprise value, employment, and economic stability."
Watch Karen McMaster and Luke Harrison introduce the guide
The foreword is written by Daniel Bayfield KC of leading commercial Chancery set South Square Chambers, who argues that insolvency and restructuring procedures have become "quasi-commodities" with forum shopping now commonplace.
"The pace of change is rapid," he writes. "Ten years ago, the UK Scheme of Arrangement did battle with the US Chapter 11 for supremacy in restructuring. Whilst they remain key restructuring tools, the list of alternatives... grows and complex, high-value schemes of arrangement have been sanctioned by courts in Hong Kong, Ireland, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and elsewhere."
Contributing Firms and Jurisdictions
• Charles Russell Speechlys (Bahrain and United Arab Emirates)
• Stanbrook Prudhoe (Belize)
• Appleby (Cayman Islands)
• Kačerová advokáti (Czech Republic)
• A&O Shearman (England and Wales)
• Keidan Harrison (England and Wales)
• UGGC Avocats (France)
• KebekusPartner Attorneys (Germany)
• Stanbrook Prudhoe (Guyana)
• JSA Advocates & Solicitors (India)
• NARA Law (Indonesia)
• LEXIA (Italy)
• Brucher Thieltgen & Partners (Luxembourg)
• Sainz Abogados (Mexico)
• Van Iersel Luchtman (Netherlands)
• Drew & Napier (Singapore)
• Weil Gotshal & Manges (United States)
The PDF version is available to download here, with the print edition available to order here. The book will be officially launched at Luxury Law Summit New York on 12 November 2025 at the Metropolitan Club in New York.
There are 15 guides in the Law Over Borders series, which also covers topics including arbitration, artificial intelligence, cryptoassets, data protection, ESG, fashion and luxury law.
For further information about the guides, email associate publisher [email protected].
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