ICAM's X National Congress on Insolvency Law to gather the specialty on 12 and 13 November

The Madrid Bar Association (ICAM) will hold its X National Congress on Insolvency Law on 12 and 13 November, the benchmark annual meeting for a specialty that has not stopped changing since the 2022 reform. Judges of the commercial courts, insolvency practitioners, academics and practitioners will review the first years of application of the restructured Insolvency Law and the problems its practice has revealed.

A specialty in permanent reform

The current Insolvency Law, the result of the transposition of the European restructuring directive, replaced the classic arrangement with creditors with restructuring plans and reinforced the second chance mechanism for individuals. Four years on, the congress arrives at a moment of balance: which parts of the reform work, which have generated litigation, and what adjustments the doctrine and case law are demanding.

The programme devotes sessions to the valuation issues in plans - the absolute priority rule and its exceptions, one of the most litigated points - to the treatment of public creditors and to the exoneration of unsatisfied liabilities for individual debtors, whose practical operation continues to raise divergences between courts.

The second chance under scrutiny

Second chance proceedings have multiplied since the reform, and with them the problems: requirements interpreted unevenly, plans that fail at execution, and an economy of scale that pressures the fees of the professionals involved. The congress will dedicate a specific block to the practice of the exoneration procedure, with the participation of judges who resolve these cases daily.

For firms with insolvency practices, the meeting is also the natural place to take the pulse of the market: restructuring activity after the rate cycle, the state of special situations credit and the volume of proceedings expected for 2027.

Restructuring plans, the star product

The block with the most expectation is the one devoted to restructuring plans, the instrument that inherited the leading role from the old creditors' arrangement. Practitioners will debate the points that generate the most work: the formation of classes of creditors, cross-class cram-down, the valuation of the company as the axis of every dispute and the role of the restructuring expert, a figure that case law is shaping judgment by judgment.

The congress will also address the pre-insolvency phase, where an increasing share of the practice is concentrated: early warnings, negotiations with creditors before the filing and the growing role of special situations funds as holders of the debt.

The practitioners' market

Beyond the doctrine, the meeting is a thermometer of the insolvency market. After several years of intense activity driven by the rate cycle and the end of the moratoriums, practitioners will compare notes on the volume and type of proceedings reaching the commercial courts and on the fees the market bears, under pressure from the growing standardisation of second chance work.

Registration and format

The congress will be held at ICAM's headquarters in Madrid, with an in-person format and streaming for registered participants. The programme, already published on the bar's website, combines plenary addresses with parallel workshops by sub-specialty. Registration is open, with reduced fees for members and for young lawyers.

The congress completes an intense autumn of legal events - including the gatherings covered in our events section - and confirms ICAM as one of the reference training forums for the commercial jurisdiction.

More on professional gatherings in events, continuing education in training and the year's firm strategy coverage in law firms.