A Comparative Study of US and Japanese Bankruptcy Laws for Enabling Early-Stage Business Revitalization using Out-of-Court Workouts

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03224
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Civil law
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Ken 早稲田大学, 法学学術院(法務研究科・法務教育研究センター), 教授 (90289661)
• Research Collaborator: McDermott Megan Wisconsin University, Law School, Prof. ; Wang Zhizhou University of Washington, Research Fellow ; Kono Dayne Masuda-Funai Law Firm, Attorney at Law ; Hammersmith Timothy Masuda-Funai Law Firm, Attorney at Law
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 倒産法 / 事業再生 / 事業再生ADR / 裁判外ワークアウト / 私的整理 / 連邦倒産法 / 倒産手続 / 早期事業再生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focuses on the comparison of US and Japanese bankruptcy laws in the areas of corporate reorganization from the standpoint of facilitation of corporate restructuring. To pursue this research, I stayed at the University of Wisconsin, Law School, as a visiting scholar from September 2015 to February 2017 and conducted a comparative examination of various systems for early-stage business reconstruction.
After coming back to Japan, I tried to clarify the essence of the methods of early-stage business reconstruction within the U.S. Bankruptcy Laws and I found that the key factors are (a) Pre-packed and Pre-arranged Ch 11, (b) early-stage business transfer via Bankruptcy §363 Sales and (c) methods of selecting sponsors before commencing legal proceedings. Then, I tried to apply the results of my analysis in debates on corporate reorganization in Japan and examined a desirable legal system for enabling early-stage business revitalization through the use of out-of-court workouts.

Free Research Field

倒産法