Lancaster University pays tribute to Professor David Milman’s pivotal role in shaping legal scholarship

May 15, 2025

Professor Emeritus David Milman marked his retirement from Lancaster University with a talk on his research, policy impact, and role in establishing a foundation of excellence in insolvency research this week.

Professor Milman, who remains a Professorial Associate at Exchange Chambers following his retirement from Lancaster University, has played a pivotal role in shaping legal scholarship. His numerous publications, including 27 editions of the Annotated Guide to Insolvency Legislation, have been widely used within judicial citing, demonstrating their lasting impact on both academia and practice.

Lisa Linklater KC from Exchange Chambers was honoured to provide the practitioner address at the event. Paying tribute to Professor Milman’s stellar career, Lisa said:

“Speaking on behalf of Exchange Chambers, we highly value our long-standing association with you. You became a Professorial Associate of Exchange Chambers in 2010, which by coincidence is the year I joined Exchange. Since then, you have delivered highly influential and illuminating papers at our annual insolvency conference, often in the field of Personal Insolvency Law.

“You have been a role model to others in carrying forward the ethos of the importance of bringing people together to shape policy and inspire practice.”

During the event, Professor Milman reviewed changes in policy with regard to the handling of insolvency matters since the mid 1970s.

Professor Milman said:

“In that early period the subject was undeveloped. Insolvency procedures were lacking in sophistication. There was no emphasis on business rescue. Treatment of personal insolvency was still dominated by Victorian approaches. Professional regulation was lax. But the often overlooked Insolvency Act 1976 suggested that change was in the air both with regard to director disqualification and treatment of bankrupts.

“The 1980s witnessed the publication of the Cork Report in 1982. This is still the leading policy source on modern Insolvency Law some 40 years on. It suggested major changes in both corporate and personal insolvency law, particularly with regard to rescue and rehabilitation. The ‘stick and carrot’ approach for directors of distressed companies was prominent – options were made available and potential sanctions for inactivity were bolstered. Some aspects of the Cork Report were eventually implemented in the 1986 legislation. This was the context in which the first Sealy and Milman Annotated Guide edition appeared. Other reforms had to wait until the Insolvency Act 2000 and the Enterprise Act 2002. These reforms witnessed the prescribed part for unsecured creditors and the end of Crown preference.”

He continued:

“Looking at the modern period we noted the increased attention given to cross border insolvency. The debt relief order mechanism for low level debtors was introduced in 2009 via the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Procedural changes were implemented by the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 in response to the Red Tape Challenge. A deregulated adjudication procedure for self-bankrupting came about via the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. Professional regulation moved forward apace.  Preferential status for Crown debts was revived as a result of the Finance Act 2020. The Covid pandemic led to a number of reforms, in particular the new scheme of arrangement restructuring procedure for distressed companies now located in Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006.”

The talk ended with Professor Milman noting six consistent policy trends over the period under review and with some speculation on future reforms.