New York Reunion

On a perfect spring evening in April, Hogan Lovells hosted the sixth biannual Oxford Law Alumni drinks in New York. Over 50 Oxford alumni and guests attended the reception which coincided with the “Meeting Minds” North American Reunion taking place that weekend. Baroness Helena Kennedy, Head of Mansfield College and Baroness Ruth Deech, former Head of St. Anne’s College, joined the gathering. Hogan Lovells Partner, Michael Matthews, introduced the talks given by the Dean, Professor Timothy Endicott and by Professor Louise Gullifer.

Professor Gullifer spoke on her work with Columbia Law School.

“As well as attending seminars and classes, I worked on a paper on the new rules about the provision of collateral for centrally cleared derivatives. Central clearing is made compulsory in Europe for certain derivative transactions by the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). EMIR also requires all centrally cleared derivatives to be fully collateralised. While this may protect against counterparty default risk, it increases the risk of loss from insolvency of the collateral taker.   EMIR includes various provisions dealing with this risk, including mandating two alternative collateral holding models. I have been looking at these requirements and the market response to them, and assessing the extent of legal protection compared to the costs to market participants.”