Anna
Gelpern (American), who recently did a guest
post here at the Lounge on the Greek crisis, is guest blogging over at Credit
Slips. In her first post today, Anna asked Why
Sovereign Is The New Black, noting that, after years on the exotic fringe
of the legal academy, sovereign debt has gone mainstream and then some. Gelpern then goes on to ponder the
reasons why.
Anna is right on with this one – even I’m blogging about the
Greek crisis, an irony that can only be appreciated by those who know me
well. (For years, I instituted a
ban against any mention of sovereign debt in my presence, which really is still
intact: only I, and no one else, am allowed to raise the issue, and even then
the discussion must relate to swaps).
But Anna is one of the (few) original sovereign legal experts
and her post is well worth a read for anyone who wants to understand the Greek
crisis, its historical and legal context, and why the rest of us are suddenly
interested. And while you’re at
it, take a look at today’s The Lex Column in the FT: Greece
/ Goldman: Trojan Horse bolts. Yea, what
I said (but shorter, punchier, and to a larger circulation – as if such
things mattered.)