In Memoriam: Ian Fletcher
Ian Fletcher of University College London, Faculty of Laws passed away on July 25, at the age of 74.
A member of The American Law Institute since 1997, Professor Fletcher served as Co-Reporter with Bob Wessels, emeritus professor of international insolvency law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, for Transnational Insolvency: Global Principles for Cooperation in International Insolvency Cases, a joint project of ALI and the International Insolvency Institute. The project culminated in a Report to ALI (2012) whose recommendations have been influential in Europe. The project’s purpose was to adapt the principles that ALI had developed in its earlier 2003 insolvency project, which dealt with insolvency issues among the NAFTA countries, for use throughout the world.
“Ian has always impressed me with non-political views, being pragmatic, embracing integrity and standing for independent thinking,” said Dr. Bob Wessels. “It was a joy to know and to work with someone who was so honest both as a person and intellectually. It was a great tragic for him, his wife Letitia and their sons Daniel and Julian, when he slowly lost his strength due to a malignant condition. I extend my deep sympathies with them. Ian left his mark on the insolvency world. I will miss him and always remember him.”
Professor Fletcher also served as an Adviser, from 1999 to 2003, for ALI’s earlier insolvency project, Transnational Insolvency: Cooperation Among the NAFTA Countries, specifically on the volume subtitled “International Statement of United States Bankruptcy Law.” (The project’s other three volumes were a volume of general principles of cooperation among the NAFTA countries, a statement of Mexican bankruptcy law, and a statement of Canadian bankruptcy law. They were published by Juris Publishing in 2003.)
In 2002, Professor Fletcher was elected an International Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. He was also a member of INSOL International and was the founding Chairman of its Academics’ Group from 1994 to 2015. Additionally, he served as a member of the Insolvency Lawyers' Association, INSOL Europe (formerly the European Insolvency Practitioners' Association) and the International Insolvency Institute. He was an Overseas Member of the United States National Bankruptcy Conference from 1995 to 2001, and served as a member of the Task Force formed by the World Bank to develop principles and guidelines for effective insolvency systems.
