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08 July 2010 / Anthony Connerty
Issue: 7425 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Lehman lessons

Anthony Connerty reports on how ADR has helped deal with the fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street institution that could trace its origins back over 150 years, declared itself insolvent by filing for Ch 11 protection against its creditors in the early hours of Monday, 15 September, 2008.

It was to be the biggest bankruptcy in US history. President Bush would later sign an emergency order providing government insurance to the $3.5trn that was tied up in money market funds. The Lehman collapse affected not only the US: it triggered a global financial crisis.

What led to the collapse of institutions like Lehman Brothers?

Breach of a classic rule of banking

The traditional UK building society takes in deposits from investors and uses those deposits to lend out money to house purchasers, taking a mortgage on the property to secure the money loaned. Care is taken in valuing the property to be purchased and in checking out the borrower: are the borrower’s circumstances—job/wages/commitments, and so on—such as to indicate

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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