On 19 October Professor André Boraine of the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law and Professor Juanita Calitz of the University of Johannesburg Faculty of Law joined forces to present the first Symposium on Business Rescue and Insolvency Law Education, as a collaborative initiative between the two law faculties.

The event was held at the Future Africa campus of the University of Pretoria. Forty-two people attended: academics from 16 law faculties across Southern Africa, including the Universities of Zimbabwe and Namibia, Judge Elmarie van der Schyff, a former law professor at NWU, Ms Rene Bekker, the COO of SARIPA, and a few practitioners who are involved in practical training in insolvency and business rescue law.   

The aim was to establish SAILAS (Southern Africa Insolvency Law Academics Society) to serve as a platform for Southern African academics involved in the research and teaching of insolvency and business rescue law. In practical terms, SAILAS aims to promote mentoring of junior academic staff working in these areas of specialisation, foster collaboration between academics, host discipline-specific conferences and provide input to the government when and where possible with a view of furthering the reform of insolvency and business rescue law.

Professor Phumudzo Munyai, Head of the Department of Mercantile Law, officially opened the event and welcomed the participants with an inspiring and pointed speech.  This was followed by an exposition by Professor Calitz  of the vision of SAILAS and a presentation on current important global topics in insolvency and rescue law by Professor  Boraine.  The symposium further focused on teaching insolvency law within an ever-changing local and global context. Dr Tronel Joubert from the University of Tilburg provided some input on approaches followed in The Netherlands in this regard. During the second part of this session, Judge van der Schyff and the practitioners provided input regarding the synergy between academic and practical training. In the last session, academics, especially the next generation emerging scholars, shared some of their research initiatives. The symposium concluded with a broad sketch of the way forward for SAILAS, refreshments and networking.