Exporting Chapter 11

FT has a great, and extensive, article today about the push to adopt chapter 11-like procedures in Europe. One thing missing from the article is any discussion of the relative size of the respective jurisdictions. My sense is that chapter 11 works best for the very largest American firms, especially since the 2005 amendments to the Code made chapter 11 a very inhospitable place for small businesses. The U.S. has a sufficiently large number of big and mid-sized debtors to warrant a system like chapter 11, but I wonder if any individual European jurisdiction, even the U.K., can justify implementing a system that best serves a handful of debtors each year. What they really need is a chapter 11 process, with a dedicated court system, at the EU level, but I think we can agree that is unlikely.