Call for Papers 2009 CLTA Conference

The Corporate Law Teachers' Association and the UTS Faculty of Law invite the submission of papers for presentation at the 2009 CLTA Annual Conference to be held in the Haymarket Campus of UTS. The theme for the conference will be "Raising Confidence in the Capital Markets through Gatekeeper Accountability: Lessons from the credit crunch." 

Since mid 2007, global capital markets have seen dramatic volatility. In particular, the corporate debt market has significantly tightened which has driven up the price of global credit and put significant pressure on corporate balance sheets. Some large financially engineered companies have collapsed or teeter on the brink of collapse. Allegations of inadequate disclosure, misled investors and pending securities class actions have become regular features in the business media.

The downward pressure on capital markets has highlighted potential gaps and vulnerabilities in our system of corporate and capital market regulation. The regulatory paradigm of disclosure has been subject to intense scrutiny, raising a host of issues, including:

• The duties of directors, auditors and professional investment advisors

• The role of independent directors

• Related party transactions and corporate governance

• The role of credit rating agencies

• The design of executive compensation schemes

• The regulation of hedge funds

• The increasing role of sovereign wealth funds

• The role of securities exchanges

• The regulatory overlap between the ASX and ASIC

• The effectiveness of continuous disclosure laws

• Disclosure obligations of publicly listed entities in times of uncertainty, fear and market rumours

• The marketing of complex financial products such as CDOs and CFDs to unsophisticated investors

• The regulation of margin lending and short selling

• The use of securities class actions against companies in financial distress

• The reorganisation of highly leveraged financial companies

• The growing importance of equity and credit derivatives

The conference conveners welcome papers on all aspects of corporate law and corporate insolvency law. However, in selecting papers for the conference program those within the specific theme of the conference will be given preference.

The conference will be held  from 1st to 3rd February 2009.

Please email abstracts by Friday 31 October to Jason.Harris@uts.edu.au

Please note: The acceptance of a paper for the Conference does not imply that the costs for attending the Conference or the Conference Registration Fee will be covered by the CLTA or the conference host. The CLTA only provides the forum for discussing issues relevant to corporate and insolvency law and attempts to keep its fees to a minimum to encourage greater participation. Therefore, all participants are expected to cover their own costs.

Further information:

Professional Development Unit
p: Marianne Taylor +61 2 9514 3793
e: pdu.law@uts.edu.au