When I think about the countries that we tried to have as early members of the Institute I can ' t help but think about the representatives of each of those countries. At the risk of leaving someone out, and surely I will, I can ' t help but think about Gabriel Moss, Nick Segal, Mark Mayrand, Dick Gitlin, Eberhard Braun, John Barrett, Evelyn Biery, Robert van Galen, Pekka Jaatinen, Christoph Staubli, Steve Kargman, Bob Wessels, Joel Ohlgren, Tom Felsberg, Robin Phelan, Jonathan Rushworth, Dario Oscos, Carlos Sanchez-Mejorada, Paul Heath, Justice Zulman, Gabriel Nadal, Roser Rafos, Odd Swarting, Dan Glosband, Gerald Smith, Ian Congdon, Lewis Kruger, Rich Levin, David Ward, Hans Luer, Bob Rosenberg, Judge Sid Brooks, Judge Garrity as well as those who you will see on the videotape in just a few moments as well as those who will appear on the screen after the tape.
For many years the regular, and may I say“ fabulous” annual meetings of III, were in New York City, first at Fordham Law School and later at Columbia University Law School. We were fortunate to have Lord Hoffman attend one of those. However, the pressure was on to meet in other places. Bruce was always concerned about the cost and whether or not people from one area would travel to another area because of the expense. However, we began to have annual conferences outside of North America every other year and they proved to be quite successful. For one thing, it allowed members who lived in the area to travel at less cost and to take part in the conference. The conferences turned out to be well attended and of course each time a conference was held so was there a Legendary Dinner, a term coined by Bruce. I have to say from personal experience each and every one of them was in fact quite legendary and last night was no exception.
The organization took on various projects but Bruce was careful in the selection of those projects to be sure that III would be recognized in each of them and that we had interested manpower to take part in each of the projects.
Evelyn Biery and I chaired the first projects committee. Some of you in the room were beneficiaries of grants. The prime example was the participation of III in the UNCITRAL group 5 on insolvency. III always had a strong delegation and Gerald Herrmann, the Secretary General of UNCITRAL at the time, recognized the participation of the III representatives and the strength of the delegation. That is not to say that there were not other strong delegations from NGO ' s because there were.
I provide you with this background because the people you are going to see on the videotape, which I will present in a few moments, represent different parts of III by their own participation. Judge Chuck Case and I tried to draw from a crosssection of the III membership, lawyers who represented III in various projects as well as their consistent participation in the organization. Each one of them in their own way made a substantial contribution to the organization which helped bring us to this 25th anniversary. Of course, we are missing the obvious ones: Dr. Takagi to name one of the obvious international leaders in insolvency and who never missed a meeting, as well as Bruce himself. I would be remiss if I didn’ t acknowledge the leadership that followed Bruce: Jim Peck, Don Bernstein, Debra Grassgreen, John Martin and Justice Ramesh.
Before we start, one idea. There was no way in the time and cost allotted, where we could cover everyone and everything. So we ask that each of you interested in presenting your recollection and views of III do so by submitting a paper of 2,500 words or less by September 30 to CC directly. Depending on the number we receive we will either-or both- post on our III website and assemble and distribute the papers if we find a sponsor to cover the cost.
Enough of that from me, let us now roll the tape and hear from some 9 or 10 of the leaders of this organization.
Watch the Video!
17