In conversation on the Supreme Court decision of BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA

UCL Centre for Ethics and Law panel discussion which took place on Tuesday 29 November 2022. About the Webinar In early October 2022, the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgement on the long-running dispute over BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA which concerned the liquidator’s challenge on behalf of creditors, against the controlling shareholder and directors of a now-dissolved company, over a dividend payment made when the company was solvent but was aware of a real financial risk entailing from the materialisation of environmental liabilities. The Supreme Court has now affirmed the duty on directors’ part towards creditors, but how is this really scoped and does this change creditors’ expectations of practical remedies? How does this work with the insolvency claw-back or ‘top-up’ regimes in existence? Commentators on the Panel Professor Brenda Hannigan, University of Southampton Professor Brenda Hannigan is a Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Southampton, UK. Her interests lie particularly in corporate governance, especially directors’ liabilities, conflicts of interests, risk management, and sustainability reporting, as well as shareholder disputes. She is the author of Company Law (6th edn, 2021, Oxford University Press), the General Editor of Butterworths Corporate Law Service and Consultant Editor of Butterworths Company Law Handbook (36th edn, 2022). Ms Vanessa Knapp OBE, Visiting Professor, Queen Mary University of London, Visiting Lecturer, UCL and Honorary Professor Brunel University London Vanessa was a corporate partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP for many years. She is a member and former chair of the City of London Law Society Company Law Committee and is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy of European Law in Trier, Germany. She was awarded an OBE for services to corporate law. Dr Jonathan Mukwiri, University of Durham Jonathan is an Associate Professor in Corporate Law at Durham Law School, Durham University. He joined Durham in October 2010. He teaches company law. His research interest lies in company law, especially European company law. His work in company law has focused on takeover regulation, corporate governance, the role of shareholders and protection of minority shareholders. He read law and graduated with an LLB at the University of Wolverhampton, an LLM from University College London, and a PhD from the University of Leicester. Chair: Professor Iris H-Y Chiu, UCL, Director of the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law