Jenny Clift

Jenny Clift is the Principal Legal Officer of the International Trade Law Division, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the Secretariat for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She is head of the Legislative Branch of the Secretariat, with oversight of the 6 working groups current active at UNCITRAL, and secretary of UNCITRAL’s Working Group V on insolvency law.  In the latter position, she has led the completion of a number of insolvency texts, including the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law, parts one to four; the UNCITRAL Practice Guide on Cross-Border Insolvency Cooperation; the Judicial Perspective on the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, the revised Guide to Enactment and Interpretation of the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency and most recently the UNCITRAL Model Law on Recognition and Enforcement of Insolvency-Related Judgments. Current projects include a further model law on enterprise group insolvency, an addition to part four of the Legislative Guide dealing with the obligations of directors of enterprise group companies in the period approaching insolvency, and legislative recommendations on the insolvency of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Prior to joining the United Nations in 1998, Jenny worked as a senior legal adviser for the Australian Attorney-General’s Department in the area of international trade law and for five years was the Australian delegate to UNCITRAL in the area of electronic commerce. She has received the INSOL International’s Scroll of Honour and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.