General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3023 |
| Course name: | Insolvency Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Commercial, corporate and financial law |
| Co-requisite: | Business Associations |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 30 [the course does NOT OFFER to exchange students] |
1.2 Course description
The course is designed to provide students with a clear and basic understanding of the issues confronting financially distressed companies. To that end, the options available to insolvent companies, the intricacies of corporate restructuring and insolvency, and the various elemental aspects of the reorganisation and insolvency procedures will be explored and examined. Relevant and highly practical issues such as forensic accounting, cross‐border and transnational insolvencies will also be introduced to students who are interested in choosing a professional career as private insolvency practitioners.
To keep students abreast with the latest legal and regulatory developments in the areas of insolvency and cross-border insolvency, the course will have two special focuses this year. The first focus concerns Hong Kong-China cross-border insolvencies, which are theoretically characterised as matters of regional conflicts of law. Hong Kong and China differ in both their legal systems and insolvency laws. On 14 May 2021, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) introduced “The Supreme People’s Court’s Opinion on Taking Forward a Pilot Measure in Relation to the Recognition and Assistance to Insolvency Proceedings in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” (hereinafter the “SPC Opinion”), in which three pilot areas—
Shanghai, Xiamen and Shenzhen—were designated for the pilot measure. One of the key purposes of the SPC Opinion is to thoroughly implement Article 95 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the legal basis for cross-border cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese courts.
The second focus is COVID-related insolvency issues. From a health emergency to an economic disaster, the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy is being closely monitored, given that the pandemic is likely to cause another financial crisis. The pandemic has also greatly impacted local small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), with many of them having become insolvent. Since the government’s lending support is by no means nor by design a long-term resolution for SMEs bearing the brunt of dwindling cash flow amid the COVID-19 crisis, new opportunity is emerging to learn about Hong Kong’s insolvency law and practice. In this regard, the course will examine the proposed corporate rescue regime in Hong Kong. Taking a comparative law approach, the course will further delve into COVID-related insolvency issues in comparable jurisdictions such as the US, the UK and Singapore. Doing so will adequately equip students with the knowledge and skills required for careers in these specialised areas (i.e. insolvency and cross-border insolvency), as there are few talents and ample opportunity in the job market. Feedback from students in previous years suggests that successful completion of this course has put them in a strong position to acquire trainee contracts, as this course is deemed highly relevant by their employers and has proven invaluable.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Emily Lee | eleelawhku.hk | CCT 613 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
Students who successfully complete Cross-border Insolvency Law should have achieved the following learning outcomes:
CLO 1 Be familiar with and be able to apply the basic knowledge and common law principles for
(a) moratorium;
(b) set-offs;
(c) priority claims
(d) pari passu
CLO 2 Be able to apply domestic and international law/rules for identifying and settling issues regarding
(e) transnational and cross-border insolvencies
CLO 3 Be able to understand
(f) the differences between the US and UK models for bankruptcy reorganisation;
the former being debtor in possession (DIP) and the latter, administration replacement
CLO 4 Be able to appreciate the significant use of
(g) forensic accounting in finding out whether the company’s insolvency was caused by fraud
CLO 5 Be able to understand and comment on the key issues set out in the legislative proposal for corporate rescue in Hong Kong
CLO 6 Be able to identify the key issues in China’s Enterprise Bankruptcy Law as well as its (lack of) full implementation
CLO 7 Be familiar with the Official Receiver’s Contracting-out Schemes
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 6 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 7 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 20% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | |
| Research paper | TBC | 80% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/