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Riz Mokal

Honorary Professor

Biography

Professor Riz Mokal is a barrister practising at the Bar of England and Wales from South Square at Gray’s Inn in London and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen School of Law. He held the Chair of Law and Legal Theory at UCL until 2016, was a Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Florence from 2015 to 2018, and was a Research Associate at Cambridge University’s Centre for Business Research from 2003 to 2007.

Over the past 25 years, Riz has researched, taught, and practised insolvency, property, and commercial law and legal theory, and has advised governments on law reform. He served as Senior Counsel to the World Bank and headed the Bank's Global Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Initiative from 2009 to 2013, has been a member of the Bank's and subsequently the United Kingdom delegations to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, and belongs to several invitation-only international professional organisations. His work has influenced law reform in several jurisdictions and has been cited with approval by courts around the world.

Publications 

Books
  • Financial Institutions in Distress: Recovery, Resolution, and Recognition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) co-authors: Ronald B Davis, Stephan Madaus, Monica Marcucci, Irit Mevorach, Riz Mokal, Barbara Romaine, Janis Sarra, and Ignacio Tirado
  • The Insolvency of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises – A Modular Approach (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018) co-authors: Ronald B Davis, Stephan Madaus, Alberto Mazzoni, Irit Mevorach, Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, Barbara Romaine, Janis Sarra, and Ignacio Tirado
  • Best Practices in European Restructuring — Contractualised Distress Resolution in the Shadow of the Law (Florence: Wolters Kluwer, 2018) co-authors: Lorenzo Stanghellini, Christoph Paulus, and Ignacio Tirado
  • Corporate Insolvency Law – Theory and Application (Oxford: OUP, 2005)
Book chapters
  • Rizwaan Jameel Mokal and Daniel Lightman, ‘Duties and Liabilities of Administrators’, in Sir Gavin Lightman, Gabriel Moss, Ian Fletcher and Richard Snowden QC (eds.), The Law of Receivers and Administrators of Companies (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2007)
  • Daniel Lightman and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Duties and Liabilities of Administrative Receivers, in Sir Gavin Lightman, Gabriel Moss, Ian Fletcher and Richard Snowden QC (eds.), The Law of Receivers and Administrators of Companies (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2007)
  • Robin Dicker QC, Adam Goodison, and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Voluntary Arrangements (Companies)’, in Peter Totty and Gabriel Moss (eds.), Insolvency (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2005)
  • ‘The Floating Charge – An Elegy’, in Sarah Worthington (ed), Commercial Law and Commercial Practice (Oxford: Hart, 2003), 479-509
Articles

The abstracts and ‘working paper’ versions of several of the following can be found on the Social Science Research Network.

  • Riz Mokal and Alfonso Nocilla, ‘Rehabilitating the UK Pre-Pack: A Critical Analysis and Proposals for Reform’ (2024) 40(2) Banking and Finance Law Review (forthcoming) ‘What is an Insolvency Proceeding?’ (2023) 38(4) Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 234-235.
  • ‘What is an Insolvency Proceeding? Gategroup lands in a Gated Community’ (2022) 31(3) International Insolvency Review 418-473
  • ‘Does the Liquidator have a Duty to deal with Trust Property?’ (2022) (5) Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 313-318.
  • ‘The Court’s Discretion in relation to the Part 26A Cram Down’ (2021) 1 Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 12-16
  • ‘The Two Conditions for the Part 26A Cram Down’ (2020) 11 Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 730-733
  • ‘The Difficulties with “Financial Difficulties”’ (2020) 10 Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 662-664
  • Riz Mokal and Ignacio Tirado, ‘Has Newton had his Day? Relativity and Realism in European Restructuring’ Eurofenix Autumn 2018 (English); a somewhat extended version published at the editor’s request in (2019) 4 Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 233-235
  • ‘Shopping and Scheming, and the Rule in Gibbs’ (2017), South Square Digest 58-63
  • ‘Liquidity, Systemic Risk, and the Bankruptcy Treatment of Financial Contracts’ (2015) 10(1) Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law 15
  • ‘What Liquidation Does for Secured Creditors, and What it Does for You’ (2008) 71(5) Modern Law Review699
  • ‘At the Intersection of Property and Insolvency’ (2008) 20 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 495
  • ‘Encumbered Assets and the Statutory Trust’ (2008) 21(9) Insolvency Intelligence 129
  • Look Chan Ho and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Barber v CI: Preference Equals Undervalue?” (2006) 22(5) Insolvency Law & Practice 183-186; arguments discussed in the Court of Appeal, and approved obiter by Lady Justice Smith, in Re Sonatacus Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 31
  • Michael Crystal QC and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘The Valuation of Distressed Companies: A Conceptual Framework – Part II’ (2006) 3(3) International Corporate Rescue 123-131
  • Michael Crystal QC and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘The Valuation of Distressed Companies: A Conceptual Framework – Part I’ (2006) 3(2) International Corporate Rescue 63-68
  • Stephen Atherton QC and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Charges over Chattels – Issues in the Fixed/Floating Jurisprudence’ [2005] Company Lawyer 10-18; cited by Lord Walker in Re Spectrum Plus Ltd; National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Ltd and others [2005] UKHL 41
  • Rizwaan Jameel Mokal and Look Chan Ho, ‘The Pari Passu Principle in English Ancillary Proceedings: Re Home Insurance Company’ (2005) 21(6) Insolvency Law & Practice 207-210
  • ‘Administrative Receivership and Administration – An Analysis” [2004] Current Legal Problems 355-392
  • John Armour and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Reforming the Governance of Corporate Rescue: The Enterprise Act 2002’ [2005] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly28-64
  • ‘Liquidation Expenses and Floating Charges — The Separate Funds Fallacy’ [2004] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 387-404; reprinted at (2005) 21(2) Insolvency Law & Practice 46-55; cited with approval by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand in In re Strategic Finance Ltd [2013] NZCA 357
  • ‘The Harm Done by Administrative Receivership’ (2004) 1(5) International Corporate Rescue 248-256
  • Rizwaan Jameel Mokal and John Armour, ‘The New UK Corporate Rescue Procedure — The Administrator’s Duty to Act Rationally’ (2004) 1(3) International Corporate Rescue136-142
  • ‘Interplay of Administration, Liquidation, and CVA – Part II’ (2004) 25(2) Company Lawyer 35-40
  • Look Chan Ho and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Interplay of Administration, Liquidation, and CVA – Part I’ (2004) 25(1) Company Lawyer 3-8
  • ‘On Fairness and Efficiency’ [2003] Modern Law Review 452-467
  • ‘The Search for Someone to Save: A Defensive Case for the Priority of Secured Credit’ [2002] Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 687-728
  • ‘Priority as Pathology: The Pari Passu Myth’ [2001] Cambridge Law Journal 581-621; a central argument approved and adopted by Kirby J (dissenting, though not on this point) in the High Court of Australia in International Air Transport Association v Ansett Australia Holdings Limited [2008] HCA 3. Several of the arguments in this paper were also approved and adopted by the majority of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Ansett Australia Holdings v International Air Transport Association [2006] VSCA 242. Also cited with approval by the Court of Appeal of Ontario in Re Nortel Corporation(2015) ONCA 681
  • Rizwaan Jameel Mokal and Look Chan Ho, ‘Characterisation, Consideration, Evaluation: Transactions at an Undervalue After Phillips v Brewin Dolphin’ [2001] Journal of Corporate Law Studies 359-379
  • ‘The Authentic Consent Model: Contractarianism, Creditors’ Bargain, and Corporate Liquidation’ [2001] Legal Studies 400-443
  • Look Chan Ho and Rizwaan Jameel Mokal, ‘Blowing Hot and Cold: Phillips v Brewin Dolphin’ (2001) 6 Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 263-266
  • ‘An Agency Cost Analysis of the Wrongful Trading Provisions: Redistribution, Perverse Incentives, and the Creditors’ Bargain’ [2000] Cambridge Law Journal 335-369; excerpts in Grantham and Rickett, Company and Securities Law: Commentary and Materials(Wellington: Brookers, 2002), 584-7
  • ‘Resolving the MS Fashions ‘Paradox’’ [1999] Company Financial and Insolvency Law Review 106-113
Policy documents

As part of his work at the World Bank, Riz co-authored several IMF/World Bank Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (‘ROSCs’) on Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes. These diagnostic reports, usually confidential to the Government requesting them, provide analysis and recommendations for legislative and regulatory reform. ROSCs are based on analysis of legal and regulatory texts complemented by information derived from surveys and a comprehensive range of meetings with key public and private sector stakeholders, including those from the Ministries of Justice, Finance, and Economy; the Central Bank; senior judiciary; credit history and security interest registries; financial institutions; chambers of commerce and industry; and legal, in-solvency, audit, and financial consultancy professionals. ROSCs are peer-reviewed by World Bank specialists and international and/or national experts. The ROSCs co-authored by Riz include:

  • Vietnam (2013)
  • Romania (2013)
  • Kenya (2013)
  • Bangladesh (2013)
  • Kosovo (2012)
  • Russia (2012)
  • Kuwait (2012)
  • Mongolia (2012)
  • Saudi Arabia (2010)

Other Co-authored World Bank Policy Documents:

  • Vietnam – Restructuring of banking and state-owned enterprise sectors (2013)
  • Ukraine – Assessment of and input into several draft statutes on debtor/creditor issues (2013)
  • Kenya – Assessment of and input into Insolvency and Company Bills (2012)
  • Croatia – Assessment of draft statute on credit claim enforcement (2012)
  • Belarus – Restructuring of state-owned enterprise sector (2012) (Winner, World Bank Team Award)
  • Latvia – Assessment of debt resolution legal and regulatory framework (2012)
  • Pakistan – Assessment of draft Corporate Rehabilitation Bill (2010-2011)
  • Turkey – Assessment of enterprise insolvency framework (2010)
  • Egypt – Assessment of debt resolution legal and regulatory framework (2009)

 

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