Professor Robert M. Zinman developed and founded the LL.M. in
Bankruptcy program and had been Director of the Program since its
inception in 1999. He has announced his retirement as Director of
the program as of August 1, 2003 but has continued teaching in both
the LL.M. and J.D. programs at St. John’s, and helps to develop new
educational initiatives in bankruptcy. He was succeeded by G. Ray
Warner, Associate Dean for Bankruptcy Studies and Professor of
Law.
The LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program
Faculty
G. Ray Warner, Associate Dean for
Bankruptcy Studies and Professor of Law
G. Ray
Warner is the Associate Dean for Bankruptcy Studies and a
Professor of Law. Prior to joining the St. John's faculty in 2003,
he was the William P. Boreland Distinguished Scholar and Professor
of Law at the School of Law of the University of Missouri - Kansas
City. He has served as the Robert M. Zinman Resident Scholar at the
American Bankruptcy Institute in Washington, D.C., the leading
multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to research
and education on matters related to insolvency. He is Faculty
Advisor for the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, which is
edited by students at St. John's. Professor Warner holds an
LL.M. in Corporation Law from New York University School of Law, a
J.D. degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law
and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Emory University, where
he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Professor Warner has taught a variety of courses in the bankruptcy,
commercial law, and consumer law areas. Prior to joining the St.
John's faculty, he received the University of Missouri's Pierson
Award for Outstanding Teaching in Law and is a multiple recipient
of law school teaching awards at St. John's. Professor Warner
is a regular seminar speaker at professional conferences and has
published numerous articles in the bankruptcy, commercial law and
consumer law areas.
Professor Warner is active in national organizations in the
bankruptcy and insolvency fields. He served as Secretary and a
member of both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee
of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is the former Chair,
former Dean, and a founder of the American Board of Certification,
the only national credentialing body for bankruptcy and creditors'
rights practitioners. He is a Founding Member of the
International Insolvency Institute and a Fellow in the American
College of Bankruptcy. He is a former Director and former
Secretary of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He
also served as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools'
Section on Post-Graduate Legal Education. Professor Warner
serves as Of Counsel to the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, P.C.,
has consulted in numerous major bankruptcy and consumer law cases,
and represented the bankruptcy trustee before the United States
Supreme Court in a 9-0 victory in Fidelity Financial Services, Inc.
v. Fink, 522 U.S. 211, 118 S.Ct. 651, 139 L.Ed.2d 571
(1998).
Robert Zinman, Founder, LL.M. in
Bankruptcy Program and Professor of Law (Ret.)
Professor
Zinman retired as a full time tenured professor of law as of
July 31, 2007 but remains as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching
“Real Estate Workouts and Bankruptcy” in the LL.M. in Bankruptcy
program. During his 19 years as a full-time professor, he
taught courses in bankruptcy, property and real estate
transactions. He was the Founder and first director of the St.
John's Master of Laws Program in Bankruptcy.
Professor Zinman previously served as President and Chairman of the
American Bankruptcy Institute, the largest organization of
insolvency professionals in the world, with over 11000 members. The
American Bankruptcy Institute has named its scholar-in-residence
program in Professor Zinman’s honor. Professor Zinman is a Fellow
of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the American
College of Real Estate Lawyers, where he served for three years as
a Governor. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Real
Property Section of the New York State Bar Association, where he
serves as Co-Chair of the Real Property Workouts and Bankruptcy
Committee and as Chair of the Task Force on Adverse
Possession. He is a member of the American Law Institute and
was designated a Life Member in 2007.
Professor Zinman previously served as a member of the Council of
the Section of Real Property Probate and Trust Law of the American
Bar Association; as Chair of the American Bar Association's Ad Hoc
Committee to Study the Federal Priority in Insolvency; as a member
of the Joint Editorial Board for the Uniform Real Property Acts; as
an Advisor for the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and the
Restatement of Property, Third -- Mortgages; and as Chair of the
Section of Post-Graduate Legal Education of the Association of
American Law Schools.
Author of numerous articles and a frequent speaker in the areas of
real estate and bankruptcy, Professor Zinman is co-author (with
professors Bender, Hammond and Madison) of MODERN REAL ESTATE
FINANCE AND LAND TRANSFER (4th ed. 2008).
Professor Zinman joined the faculty in 1998 after serving at
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as Vice-President and
Investment Counsel. While at MetLife, he served as Chairman of the
life insurance industry's bankruptcy legislation committee and
participated in the drafting of the Bankruptcy Code and its
amendments. He was Chairman of the Investment Section of the
Association of Life Insurance Counsel. While practicing law, he was
an Adjunct Professor at Fordham and New York University Schools of
Law.
At St. John's, Professor Zinman started, and was first Director of
the LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program, the only such program in the
nation, which admitted its first students in 1999. He also
served as a Faculty Advisor for the AMERICAN BANKRUPTCY INSTITUTE
LAW REVIEW, widely regarded as the preeminent bankruptcy scholarly
journal, which is edited by the students at St. John's; He was also
faculty advisor for the Real Property Law Society; the Bankruptcy
Law Society; and the Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National
Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition (hosted annually by St. John's
and the American Bankruptcy Institute). In 2006, a privately
endowed scholarship was established in his honor which provides a
scholarship each year to an LL.M. in Bankruptcy
student.
Richard Lieb, Distinguished Scholar in
Residence and Director, St. John's Institute for Bankruptcy
Policy
Professor Lieb directs the St. John’s Institute for Bankruptcy
Policy and serves as the Distinguished Scholar in Residence for the
LL.M. in Bankruptcy program. A leader in both bankruptcy
scholarship and in the bankruptcy practice, Professor Lieb was a
founding partner in 1958 of Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman LLP
(now Cooley Godward Kronish LLP) in New York City and has been of
counsel to the firm since 2001. Professor Lieb is a Principal
Contributing Editor of Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice 2d and
the Editor-in-Chief of two leading bankruptcy law journals, the
Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law and the Journal of Bankruptcy Law
and Practice, both published by Thomson Reuters. For several
years he was a lecturer on Chapter 11 for the Legal Education
Institute conducted by the Executive Office for United States
Attorneys of the United States Department of Justice. He is a
fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.
A graduate of New York University School of Law, where he served as
Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Professor Lieb has written
extensively on bankruptcy law issues. He has authored or
co-authored numerous amicus briefs in United States Supreme Court
bankruptcy cases for groups of amicus curiae law professors
including the case of United States Supreme Court in Tennessee v.
Hood, 124 S. Ct. 1905 (2004), where the Court adopted his theory in
holding that a discharge in bankruptcy of state-held claims is an
in rem adjudication that does not subject a state to coercive
judicial process and thus does not implicate the state’s immunity
from suit in a federal court under the Eleventh Amendment to the
United States Constitution.
Professor Lieb teaches the Bankruptcy Theory; Development of Modern
Bankruptcy: The Innovators (with Professor Zinman); and the Amicus
Brief Writing Course. He also supervises each student’s
writing of a Masters thesis, which is the focus of the Advanced
Bankruptcy Research Seminar in the LL.M. in Bankruptcy
Program.
John P. Hennigan, Professor or
Law
Prior to joining the law faculty at St. John’s, Professor Hennigan
practiced for several years in a major New York City law firm,
where he specialized in business litigation. He is a member of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar
Association, where he serves as a contributing editor of Preview, a
publication of the Division. His scholarly interests have included,
among other areas, appellate jurisdiction and the legislative
process in bankruptcy. Professor Hennigan earned his A.B. at
Harvard College and his J.D. at Harvard Law School.
Professor Hennigan teaches Creditors' Rights, Commercial
Transactions, Secured Transactions, and Civil
Procedure.
Jacob L. Todres, Professor of Law
Professor
Todres is a member of Order of the Coif, Beta Alpha Psi, and a
past vice-president of Beta Gamma Sigma. Prior to joining the law
faculty, Professor Todres practiced law in New York City with major
law firms and was Assistant Tax Counsel with a national banking
institution. He also spent two years as an Instructor of Law at New
York University School of Law. He co-authored (with Professor
Davidian) Reducing Personal Income Taxes: A Guide to Deductions and
Credits.
Professor Todres is a member of the New York State Bar Association
and its Section of Taxation and several of its committees. He is
also a member of the American Bar Association and its Section of
Taxation and the Committees on Banking and Savings Institutions and
Teaching Taxation. As an ABA member, he was actively involved in
the Task Force drafting proposed federal legislation on state
taxation of banks whose recommendation was subsequently adopted as
the official position of the Association.
Professor Todres teaches Basic and Advanced Personal Income
Taxation, Basic and Advanced Corporate Income Taxation, Federal
Estate and Gift Taxation, and a Taxation Seminar in the JD
Program. Professor Todres teaches Bankruptcy Taxation in the
LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program.
Keith Sharfman, Visiting Professor of
Law
Keith Sharfman teaches and writes in the areas of antitrust,
bankruptcy, commercial law, corporate finance, corporate
reorganization, law and economics, and legal valuation. He
received a B.A. in economics and international relations from Johns
Hopkins and a J.D. from the University of Chicago. Following law
school, he clerked for Judge Frank Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then was an associate at Latham
& Watkins, where he worked on a wide range of antitrust,
bankruptcy, corporate finance, and intellectual property
matters.
For more than a decade, Professor Sharfman has published
extensively in a variety of scholarly journals. His articles
include “Contractual Valuation Mechanisms and Corporate Law,” 2
Virginia Law & Business Review 53 (2007); “Judicial Valuation
Behavior: Some Evidence from Bankruptcy,” 32 Florida State
University Law Review 387 (2005); “Derivative Suits in Bankruptcy,”
10 Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance 1 (2004);
“Valuation Averaging: A New Procedure for Resolving Valuation
Disputes,” 88 Minnesota Law Review 357 (2003); and “Is It Ever Too
Late for Innocence?,” 64 University of Pittsburgh
Law Review 263 (2003) (with George C. Thomas et al.).
In recognition of his scholarship, the National Conference of
Bankruptcy Judges selected Professor Sharfman in 2006 as an
American Bankruptcy Law Journal Fellow, and in 2007 he became a
member of the Journal’s editorial advisory board.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
Susan Boswell, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Boswell is managing partner in the Tucson office of
Quarles and Brady LLP. She has a national bankruptcy and
business reorganization practice. In more than 25 years of
bankruptcy practice, she has become familiar with all kinds of
industries, including healthcare, hotels, transportation (including
airlines), retail, numerous types of manufacturing, e-commerce,
financial institutions, asset-based lending (both accounts and
equipment), equipment leasing and finance, agribusiness and real
estate. She also has expertise in reorganizing non-profit entities
with an emphasis on religious entities. Ms. Boswell has
full-practice licenses in Arizona and Nevada; and she has been
granted limited admission to practice in cases in many other
jurisdictions throughout the United States.
Professor Boswell teaches Religious and Non-Profit Entity
Bankruptcy with Prof, Elsaesser.
Richard F. Broude, Adjunct Professor of Law
Professor Broude is a sole practitioner and former member of the
firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw in New York City. He holds
a J.D. degree with honors from the University of Chicago where he
was a member of the Board of Editors of the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
LAW REVIEW. He served as a full time Professor of Law at
Nebraska University Law School from 1966-69 and at Georgetown
University Law Center from 1969-71 and was an Adjunct Professor of
Law at the University of Southern California Law School from
1971-90.
He has written extensively in the fields of bankruptcy and
insolvency law. Professor Broude’s books and leading articles
include a two volume treatise on international and cross-border
insolvency to be published this year by Matthew Bender & Co.
for which he serves as Editor and co-author; REORGANIZATIONS UNDER
CHAPTER 11 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE published by Law Journal-Seminars
Press in 1986 and updated semi-annually; and The U.S. Bankruptcy
Act of 1994: How Does it Affect Real Estate Secured Transactions,
10 J. INT’L BANKING LAW 103 (1995).
Professor Broude is member of the American Law Institute, where he
serves as an Advisor for the Transnational Insolvency Project; a
member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, where he serves as
Chair, Committee on International Aspects; and a Fellow of the
American College of Bankruptcy. He has spoken throughout the
world on bankruptcy, secured transactions and transnational
insolvency.
Professor Broude teaches Mass Tort Bankruptcy.
John Collen, Adjunct Professor of Law
Professor Collen is a Chicago-based partner in the Law Firm
of Tressler, LLP.
His practice has concentrated on complex chapter 11 matters for
over 25 years. He is a prolific writer, having written a
single-volume treatise, "Buying And Selling Real Estate In
Bankruptcy" (West. 1997), as well as numerous scholarly articles on
bankruptcy topics. He is a Fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy, and Co-Chair Emeritus of the American Bankruptcy
Institute's Real Estate Bankruptcy Committee. He speaks frequently
on bankruptcy topics through-out the country. He is a 1980 graduate
of Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught legal research
and writing and won the prestigious Leahy Moot Court Competition,
and is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, where he
was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Professor Collen teaches Partnership and Alternative Entity
Bankruptcy.
Hon. Francis G. Conrad, Adjunct Professor
of Law
Judge Conrad is an Adjunct Professor of Law and previously served
as a member of the full time faculty as a Visiting Professor for
the Spring 2003 term. Judge Conrad recently retired as Judge,
United States Bankruptcy Court in Vermont. He also sat by
designation in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York; and
the District of Columbia.
A graduate of Fordham University School of Law and a Certified
Public Accountant, Judge Conrad served as Treasurer of the National
Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and serves as Chair of the Business
Law Subcommittee of the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants. Judge Conrad is sought after to lecture on and
to draft the bankruptcy laws of other nations, especially in the
emerging Eastern Block. He is the author of Dot.coms in
Bankruptcy Valuations Under Title 11 or www.Snipehunt in the
Dark.noreorg/noassets.com, 9 AM. BANKR. INST. L. REV. 417 (2001);
and the co-author of Exorcising Executoriness: Functionalist
Arguments and Incantations to Avoid Meeting the Devil in the Woods,
1995-1996 NORTON ANN. SURV. BANKR. L. 137; and A Critique of the
Bankruptcy Court Time Study, 67 AM. BANKR. L.J. 49 (1993).
Judge Conrad teaches Bankruptcy Procedure, Comparative Bankruptcy
Systems and Bankruptcy Accounting (with Professor
Ventricelli).
Hon. Melanie Cyganowski, Adjunct Professor
of Law
Judge Cyganowski is a member of the firm of Otterbourg, Steindler,
Houston & Rosen, P.C. in New York City. Prior to this,
she served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern
District of New York from 1993-2007 and as Chief Judge from
2005-2007. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the
State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. Following
graduation from law school, Judge Cyganowski served as a law clerk
to the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, United States District Judge
for the Southern District of New York.
Judge Cyganowski has written numerous articles concerning pressing
issues in bankruptcy and frequently appears as a commentator on Fox
Business News. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
and also an active member of the Commercial and Federal Litigation
Section of the New York State Bar Association, the ABI, the Federal
Bar Council, the Bar of the City of New York and the National
Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.
Judge Cyganowski teaches Bankruptcy Ethics, Fraud and
Malpractice with Judge Morris and has, in the past, also taught
Domestic Relations in Bankruptcy.
Douglas Deutsch, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Deutsch is a partner at Chadbourne & Parke LLP in New
York City where his focus is commercial restructurings and
bankruptcy. He specializes in representing secured and
unsecured creditors and creditors' committees. Professor
Deutsch is the co-chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute's
("ABI") Secured Credit Committee and a contributing editor to the
ABI Journal. He started his career as a law clerk for the
Hon. Leif M. Clark (W.D.Texas). Professor Deutsch received
his B.S. from Drew University and his J.D. (1996) and LL.M. (2001)
from St. John's University School of Law. At St. John's, he
was the editor-in-chief of the ABI Law Review in 1995-96 and, in
2001, was the recipient of the American Bankruptcy Institute
Scholarship. In the LL.M. Program, Professor Deutsch teaches
Bankruptcy Practice – Opinion with Professor Weber.
Hon. Robert D. Drain, Adjunct Professor of
Law
The Honorable Robert D. Drain is a United States Bankruptcy Judge
for the Southern District of New York. At the time of his
appointment on May 24, 2002, he was a partner in the Bankruptcy
Department of the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton
& Garrison. Judge Drain received his B.A. degree cum
laude and with honors from Yale University in 1979 and his J.D.
degree in 1984 from the Columbia University School of Law, where he
was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for three years. Judge Drain
is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the International
Insolvency Institute, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges
and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he
was a past secretary of its Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate
Reorganization. He has lectured and written on numerous
bankruptcy-related topics.
Judge Drain teaches Negotiations in Bankruptcy.
Ford Elsaesser, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Elsaesser is a senior partner of the firm Elsaesser
Jarzabek Anderson Marks Elliott & McHugh in Sandpoint, Idaho. A
graduate of the University of Idaho, College of Law, Professor
Elsaesser’s practice areas include Commercial Law and Banking,
Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Trusteeships, and Civil Litigation. He
served as Chairman and President of the American Bankruptcy
Institute, and is a Fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy. He has successfully argued before the United
States Supreme Court and has testified before various subcommittees
of the House of Representatives.
Professor Elsaesser teaches Small Business Bankruptcy with
Professor Kilpatrick, Representing Trustees in Bankruptcy with
Professors Hildebrand and Jackson, Religious & Non-Profit
Entity Bankruptcy with Professor Boswell and The Great Mortgage
Debacle of 2008 – Foreclosure and Bankruptcy with Professor
Hildebrand.
Robert J. Feinstein, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Feinstein is the managing partner of the New York office
of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, which he opened in 2001.
He has had extensive experience representing debtors, creditors'
committees, equity committees, and acquirers, among others, in
business reorganizations and related litigation. He frequently
lectures and has authored numerous articles on bankruptcy topics,
is the Associate Editor of the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law
& Practice, and is a regular contributor to the Norton
Bankruptcy Law Advisor and Norton Bankruptcy Law & Practice
2d. Mr. Feinstein is a graduate of Lafayette College and
received his J.D. magna cum laude from Boston University School of
Law. Representative matters include his representation of
chapter 11 debtors General Media (named one of the "Top 10
Successful Restructurings of 2004" by Turnarounds & Workouts);
boxer Mike Tyson; Dice, Inc. (named one of the "Top 10 Successful
Restructurings of 2003" by Turnarounds & Workouts); AC and S,
Inc.; Hvide Marine; Venture Stores; Hexcel Corporation; and
conflicts counsel to Dana Corporation. His many
creditors' committee representations include Circuit City, Freedom
Communications; Flying J, Chrysler LLC (committee conflicts
counsel), JHT Holdings Inc.; Jevic Holding Corp.; Movie Gallery
(named Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year of 2008 by Turnaround
Atlas Awards); Brooke Corporation; Empire Beef; Lou Pearlman and
Trans Continental Airlines; Foss Manufacturing; Salander O'Reilly
Art Galleries; Berry-Hill Galleries; Agway; Penn Fashions; and
Loews Cineplex Entertainment.
Professor Feinstein teaches the Bankruptcy Litigation
Seminar.
Hon. James Garrity, Jr., Adjunct Professor
of Law
Judge Garrity is a retired United States Bankruptcy Judge for the
Southern District of New York. He is a member of the firm of
Shearman & Sterling in New York City. Additionally, he
has also served as an Adjunct Professor at New York Law
School. Judge Garrity received his J.D. degree from St.
John’s University School of Law and an LL.M. degree from New York
University School of Law. He is a member of the Advisory
Board of the LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program at St. John’s.
Judge Garrity has played pivotal rolls in major bankruptcy cases,
including Bank of Credit and Commerce International (“BCCI”),
Barney’s and Caldors.
Judge Garrity teaches Bankruptcy Jurisdiction with Professor
Heuer.
Christopher F. Graham, Adjunct Professor
of Law
Professor Graham is a partner in McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP’s
New York office. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the
Workout and Bankruptcy Group at Thacher Proffitt & Wood in New
York City. A graduate of Georgetown University and the London
School of Economics and Political Science, Professor Graham
received his J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law
School. He is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy subjects,
served as Chair of the Real Estate and Law School Committees of the
American Bankruptcy Institute and a two term Director of the
American Bankruptcy Institute. He is the creator and Director of
the ABI’s Bankruptcy Medal of Excellence program. His
representative experience includes bankruptcy counsel to the FDIC
and/or the RTC in the following bankruptcies: Drexel Brunham
Lambert, Inc.; Allied Stores and Federated Stores Inc.; Braniff
Airlines. He has played major roles in the Chapter 11 cases
of Global Crossing, Enron, Regency Group and Continental Airlines.
He is author of A Fair Chapter 11 Process Requires Organized
Creditors’ Participation, 1 AM. BANKR. INST. L. REV. 389
(1993).
Professor Graham teaches Reorganizations Under Chapter 11 with
Professor Rosen.
William C. Heuer, Adjunct Professor Law
Professor Heuer is a member of the firm Dewey & LeBoeuf and
practices in the field of bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and
financial restructuring. Professor Heuer has both counseled clients
and been involved in cases and restructurings in a broad range of
industries, including financial services, real estate, healthcare,
fire and life safety equipment and services, telecommunications,
shipping (international and domestic) and consumer products and
services. Representative cases include In re Randall’s Island
Family Golf Centers; In re Enron Corp.; In re AutoTech Leasing
Services, LLC; In re Global Ocean Carriers; In re Genesis Health
Ventures; In re EBW Laser, Inc.; In re Integrated Systems &
Power, Inc.; In re Montgomery Ward, LLC; and In re Ames Department
Stores, Inc.
Professor Heuer has been involved in bankruptcy cases before the
U.S. Supreme Court, including Travelers Cas. & Surety Co. of
America v. Pacific Gas & Electr. Co.; Marrama v. Citizens Bank
of Massachusetts; DeRoche v. Ariz. Indus. Comm’n; Marshall v.
Marshall; and In re Howard Delivery Service,Inc.
Professor Heuer has also been involved in bankruptcy appeals before
the Circuit Courts of Appeals and District Courts, including
Advanced Telecommunication Network v. Daniel W. Allen, et al.; In
re Iridium Operating LLC; In re John Zachary DeLorean; In re
Rockefeller Center Properties; and John Richards
Homes Building Co., LLC. v. Kevin Adell.
Professor Heuer also devotes substantial time to pro bono matters,
and has been recognized as a member of the Pro Bono Society of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Professor Heuer teaches Bankruptcy Jurisdiction with Professor
Garrity.
Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Adjunct
Professor of Law
Professor Hildebrand, has served as Standing Trustee for Chapter 13
matters in the Middle District of Tennessee since 1982 and as
Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for that district since 1986. He
also is a partner in the Nashville law firm of Lassiter, Tidwell
& Hildebrand, PLLC.
Professor Hildebrand graduated from Vanderbilt University and
received his J.D. from the National Law Center of George Washington
University. He is a fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy and serves on its Education Committee. He is Board
Certified in consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of
Certification and serves o its Board of Directors. He is
Chairman of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee for the
National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and serves on the
Consumer Bankruptcy Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s
Business Law Committee. He is also on the Board of the NACTT
Academy for Bankruptcy Education (www.considerchapter13.org).
Professor Hildebrand has served as case notes author for The
Quarterly, a newsletter dealing with consumer bankruptcy issues and
Chapter 13 practice in particular since 1991. He is a regular
contributor to the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. He
is an adjunct faculty member for the Nashville School of
Law.
Professor Hildebrand teaches Representing Trustees in Bankruptcy,
with Professors Elsaesser and Martini in the LL.M. in Bankruptcy
program at St. John’s.
Dillon E. Jackson, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Jackson is a member of the firms of Forster & Pepper
PLLC. His practice emphasizes bankruptcy and other
creditor-debtor matters, including representing debtors and secured
creditors in workouts and loan restructuring; secured creditors and
landlords in retail, commercial, and multifamily real estate
chapter 11 bankruptcies in Washington, Oregon, Oklahoma, Arizona
and California; chapter 11 debtors in Washington and Alaska; and
major purchasers of assets of troubled companies in bankruptcies
and bulk sales. Additional experience includes the representation
of creditors’ committees in chapter 11 cases in Washington and
Alaska.
Professor Jackson is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy
and has been Secretary and a member of the board and executive
Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He has been in
Best Lawyers in America since 1984 and a Washington Superlawyer
since its inception. He has given 100s of presentations to
lawyers and industry groups on business bankruptcy law and
strategies throughout his career. Professor Jackson is a
soaring pilot and very bad golfer.
Professor Jackson teaches Representing Trustees in Bankruptcy with
Professors Elsaesser and Hildebrand.
Richardo Kilpatrick, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Kilpatrick is a member of the firm Kilpatrick &
Associates. A University of Michigan Law School graduate,
Professor Kilpatrick is a presenter at numerous seminars focusing
on bankruptcy and collections given by the Institute of Continuing
Legal Education faculty for the Norton Litigation Institute
(1992-present); PESI; and the American Bankruptcy
Institute. Professor Kilpatrick is the Immediate Past
President of the ABI and a Fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy. He frequently publishes articles on consumer and
commercial bankruptcy.
Professor Kilpatrick teaches Small Business Bankruptcy with
Professor Elsaesser.
Erik Klingenberg, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Klingenberg is a partner at Sonnenschein, Nath &
Rosental. He is a member of Sonnenschein’s Capital Markets
Practice specializing in structured finance, including all aspects
of commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities,
asset-backed securities, commercial paper, collateralized debt
obligations and other structured products.
Professor Klingenberg assumed an early, prominent and ongoing role
as counsel to various U.S. government agencies and their efforts to
restore the financial markets for a range of financial products and
situations
Professor Klingenberg is widely sought for his understanding of,
and practical experience with, recent government programs such as
TALF and PPIP. He regularly advises institutions about
opportunities and legal considerations involved in the programs
that were instituted to stimulate the financial markets. In
addition, he also serves as counsel to numerous private
institutions as they address issues and access opportunities in the
current market, including representing buyers, sellers and lenders
in connection with the sale of all types of structured products and
collateral.
Representing issuers, underwriters and many other capital market
participants, Mr. Klingenberg has structured and documented a broad
range of domestic, off-shore and cross-border transactions. His
practice focuses on complex, innovative structures, including CDOs,
re-REMICS, commercial paper conduits, master trusts and other
revolving pool transactions, with assets ranging from residential
and commercial mortgage loans, b-notes and mezzanine loans to
student loans, servicing advances and other asset-backed
securities. Mr. Klingenberg also has extensive experience
representing lenders and borrowers in structured warehouse
transactions and asset-based financings.
Professor Klingenberg teaches Securitization, Structured Finance
and Capital Markets.
Lawrence F. Landgraff, Adjunct Professor
of Law
Professor Landgraff is Trial Attorney in the Office of the General
Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. A graduate of
St. John’s University School of Law in 1971, Professor Landgraff
was in private practice until joining the PBGC in 1980. He is
admitted to practice before the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11, and D.C.
Circuit Courts of Appeals. Professor Landgraff teaches Pension
Benefits in Bankruptcy, an area in which he has great expertise, in
addition to frequent lecturing for Professor Stabile’s Pension
Benefits class at St. John’s University School of Law.
Deirdre A. Martini, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Martini is Managing Director of Wachovia Capital Finance
in New York focusing on the restructuring sector in the
Northeast with particular expertise in restructuring financings and
insurance products.
From October 2003 through April 2006, Ms. Martini served as United
States Trustee and oversaw the administration of the largest and
most complex chapter 11 restructurings in recent history that were
filed in the Southern District of New York. Among the cases
commenced during her tenure were Delphi Corporation, Delta
Airlines, Dana Corporation, Northwest Airlines, Refco Inc., Calpine
Corporation and St. Vincent’s Medical Center, all multi-billion
dollar reorganizations.
For several years before her appointment by the United States
Attorney General, Ms. Martini chaired the restructuring practice at
Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara, LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. Before
that from 1988 to 1999, she was as an Assistant United States
Attorney for the District of Connecticut, representing federal
agencies in the bankruptcy court and prosecuting bankruptcy crimes.
While at the United States Attorney’s Office, she served as a
mediator for the Senior Counsel for Alternative Dispute Resolution
at the Department of Justice and developed a curriculum and
teaching materials on mediation advocacy and advanced negotiations
for civil assistants nationwide.
After leaving the Department of Justice, Deirdre joined CIT Group
as a Managing Director and Senior Restructuring Advisor for
Corporate Finance where she acted as strategic advisor to the
industry business units on all areas and opportunities in
restructuring.
Professor Martini teaches Representing Trustee in Bankruptcy with
Professors Elsaesser and Hildebrand.
Hon. Cecilia G. Morris, Adjunct Professor of Law
Judge Morris was appointed Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern
District of New York in July 2000. Prior to her appointment, she
served as Clerk of Court for the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern
District of New York from December 1988. Judge Morris also served
as Clerk of Court for the Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District
of Georgia from February 1986 until moving to New York.
Before her career with the court, Judge Morris had a private law
practice in Macon, Georgia from May 1981 until February 1986. She
served as an Assistant District Attorney, as the Administrator of
the Civil Division Child Support Recover Unit, Griffin Judicial
Circuit in Griffin, Georgia from September 1979 until May
1981.
Judge Morris also had a private law practice in Griffin Georgia
from October 1977 until January 1978 and served as a law clerk at
Seay Sims & Park (now Bolton & Park) in Griffin, Georgia in
1976.
Judge Morris has participated as a trainer in many
Mediation/Arbitration programs sponsored by the Federal Judicial
Center; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; the
National Association of Security Dealer Regulation and Bankruptcy
Court; Endispute Inc. and the Center for Public Resources, Inc. She
has successfully mediated many disputes in some of the most
prominent cases pending before the Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of New York.
Judge Morris teaches Bankruptcy Ethics Fraud and Malpractice with
Judge Cyganowski.
Alec P. Ostrow, Adjunct Professor of Law
Professor Ostrow is a shareholder in the New York City office of
Stevens & Lee, P.C., who has been specializing in bankruptcy,
creditors’ rights, corporate reorganizations, work-outs, and
commercial litigation for nearly 25 years. He is a fellow of
the American College of Bankruptcy and the co-chair of the ABI’s
Real Estate Committee. Mr. Ostrow has lectured on numerous
bankruptcy issues, including at conferences sponsored by the ABI,
the American Bar Association, the Judicial Conference of the Second
Circuit, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, and the
New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He
has published many articles on diverse topics in bankruptcy law,
including, in the last two years, My Lips Are Sealed: Sealing
Files, Closing Courtrooms and in Camera Inspections in Bankruptcy
Cases, 2004 ANN. SURV. BANKR. L. 203; The “Animal Farm” of
Administrative Insolvency, 11 AM. BANKR. INST. L. REV. 339
(2003); and Free and Clear of Successor Liability, or Whose
Liability Is it Anyway?, 2003 ANN. SURV. BANKR. L. 119. Mr.
Ostrow serves as a member of the panel of mediators for the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He
graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1977, and
received his law degree from New York University School of Law in
1980.
Professor Ostrow teaches Drafting Bankruptcy and Commercial
Agreements and Documents and Bankruptcy Practice – Litigation with
Professors Larry and Rosenblatt.
Nancy B. Rapoport, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Rapoport is the Gordon & Silver, Ltd. Professor of
Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of
Nevada. Prior to this she served as Professor of Law at the
University of Houston Law Center from 2006-2007 and Dean and
Professor of Law from 2000-2006. After receiving her B.A., summa
cum laude, from Rice University and her J.D. from Stanford Law
School, she clerked for the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then practiced
law (primarily bankruptcy law) with Morrison & Foerster in San
Francisco. She started her academic career at The Ohio
State University College of Law in 1991, and she moved from
Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to Associate Dean for
Student Affairs and Professor in 1998 (just as she left Ohio State
to become Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska
College of Law). She served as Dean of the University of
Nebraska College of Law from 1998-2000. She has been the Dean
at the University of Houston Law Center since 2000.
Her specialties are bankruptcy ethics and law and popular
culture. She has taught Contracts, Sales (Article 2),
Bankruptcy, Chapter 11 Reorganization, Legal Writing, Contract
Drafting, and Professional Responsibility. Among her
published works is ENRON: CORPORATE FIASCOS AND THEIR
IMPLICATIONS (Foundation Press 2004) (co-edited with Professor Bala
G. Dharan of Rice University). She is admitted to the bars of
the states of California, Ohio, Nebraska, and Texas and to the
United States Supreme Court. In 2001, she was elected to
membership in the American Law Institute, and in 2002, she received
a Distinguished Alumna Award from Rice University. She is a
Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the American
College of Bankruptcy. In her spare time, she competes,
pro-am, in international Latin and Standard dance with her teacher,
Sergiy Shapoval.
Professor Rapoport teaches Enron, Corporate Scandal, Ethics and
Bankruptcy
Adam L. Rosen, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Rosen is a partner in Silverman Acampora LLP where he
practices all aspects of bankruptcy and corporate reorganization
law. He is a 1980 magna cum laude graduate of the University of
California, Santa Barbara, and a 1984 graduate of the University of
California at Davis School of Law, where he was a member of
Environs Environmental Law & Policy Journal.
Professor Rosen is admitted to practice in New York and California
and has lectured and written on a variety of bankruptcy
topics. He is an author for the Collier Bankruptcy Practice
Guide, a member of the Board of Contributors to the Bankruptcy
Strategist and a fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy. He also is a member of the panel of mediators for
the United States Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern and Eastern
Districts of New York and the District of Delaware.
Professor Rosen teaches Reorganization Under Chapter 11 with
Professor Graham.
Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong, Adjunct Professor
of Law
Judge Elizabeth S. Stong was appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
for the Eastern District of New York on September 2,
2003.
Before taking the bench, Judge Stong was an associate and partner
at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York from 1987 and an
associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York from 1983 to
1987, concentrating in complex federal and state civil
litigation. She also was a mediator and arbitrator for the
NASD, the Eastern District of New York, and New York Supreme
Court’s Commercial Division.
Judge Stong is Vice President of the Board of the Federal Bar
Council and a trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the
Practising Law Institute. She is an advisor to the U.S.
Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program and has
trained judges in Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, and the Arabian
peninsula in business reorganization and liquidation issues,
business dispute adjudication, and alternative dispute
resolution.
Judge Stong is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy
Judges, Chair of its International Judicial Relations Committee,
and a member of its Liaison Committee to the American Bar
Association, as well as a member of the American Bankruptcy
Institute and International Insolvency Institute. She is a
member of the ABA House of Delegates and Commission on Homelessness
and Poverty, and was a member of the Commission on Women in the
Profession. She is an officer of the ABA Business Law
Section, chaired its Business and Corporate Litigation Committee,
co-chairs the ABA’s Judicial Division Bench-Bar Bankruptcy Council,
and serves on the National Conference of Federal Trial Judges
Executive Committee. Judge Stong is a member of the New York
City Bar’s Committee to Encourage Judicial Service, and chaired the
City Bar’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. She also
served as Vice Chair and a member of the City Bar’s Judiciary
Committee and a member of its Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate
Reorganization and Public Service and Education Committee.
She is a member of the New York State and Brooklyn Bar
Associations.
Judge Stong previously served as President of the Harvard Law
School Association, Vice President of the Board of Directors of New
York City Bar Fund Inc. and the City Bar Justice Center, and was a
member of the board of MFY Legal Services, Inc., one of the largest
providers of free civil legal services to low-income residents of
New York City.
Judge Stong is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University
School of Law and Brooklyn Law School, and an occasional speaker at
Harvard Law School. She has authored articles and contributed
chapters to several practice manuals and treatises on bankruptcy
law, securities law, trial strategy, and alternative dispute
resolution. She is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy law and
procedure, securities law, settlement strategy and damages
assessment, discovery techniques, ADR, and public service.
She is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute and
International Adviser to its joint project with the International
Insolvency Institute on Transnational Insolvency, and a fellow of
the American and New York Bar Foundations.
Judge Stong graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude with
an A.B. in History and Science in 1978 and from Harvard Law School
in 1982. She was a law clerk to Hon. A. David Mazzone of the
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1982 to
1983.
Judge Stong teaches Consumer Bankruptcy.
Hon. Alan S. Trust, Adjunct Professor of
Law
The Honorable Alan S. Trust ascended to the bench on April 2, 2008,
and sits in the Eastern District of New York. He is an
adjunct professor of law at the St. John’s University School of
Law. Judge Trust is on the Board of Directors of the
Bankruptcy Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, as well as
on the Board of Directors of the Eastern District of New York
Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He is also a member of the
American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Conference of
Bankruptcy Judges.
Judge Trust attended Syracuse University, graduating summa cum
laude in 1981, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He attended New
York University School of Law, where he served on the Law Review
from 1982-83. Judge Trust graduated with a JD degree cum laude in
1984. After graduation, he relocated to Dallas, Texas to begin his
law practice. Judge Trust opened his own law firm
(Trust.Law.Firm, P.C.) in December 1995, and managed that firm
until appointed to the bench.
Judge Trust has been a frequent speaker and author for numerous CLE
events and seminars, addressing bankruptcy and real property
issues. He is a trained mediator. Judge Trust has also
served on many local, state and national bar organizations,
including American Bar Association title insurance and real
property committees, and Dallas Bar Association fee disputes and
ethics committees.
Judge Trust teaches Domestic Relations in Bankruptcy.
Mahesh Uttamchandani, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Uttamchandani is the Global Product Leader for the World
Bank Group's insolvency technical assistance program – providing
advisory services to governments around the world on the subject of
insolvency and creditor rights. Prior to joining the
Bank, Mr. Uttamchandani was Insolvency Counsel to the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, England where
he led the reform of insolvency systems throughout eastern Europe
and central Asia. Professor Uttamchandani is considered one
of the world’s foremost authorities on global insolvency
systems.
Professor Uttamchandani is a Canadian lawyer who practiced for
several years exclusively in the area of insolvency &
creditors’ rights at a leading Canadian law firm and began his
legal career as a law clerk to the Commercial List of Toronto,
Canada’s largest bankruptcy court.
Professor Uttamchandani has published and lectured extensively in
North America, Europe and Asia and is a board member of the
insolvency-related legal journal, International Corporate Rescue,
as well as an Adjunct Professor of Law in the St. John’s University
Law School LL.M in Bankruptcy Program teaching Shariah Finance and
Law and International Development – Bankruptcy and Security.
Daniel J. Ventricelli, Adjunct Professor of Law
Prof. Ventricelli is a Managing Director with Protiviti’s
Litigation, Restructuring and Investigation practice and leads the
computer forensics group. He has more than 21 years of
accounting, finance and consulting experience in the areas of
financial investigations, commercial litigation and
bankruptcy. Prior to joining Protiviti in August 2007, he was
a Senior Managing Director in the Forensic and Litigation
Consulting segment at FTI. Mr. Ventricelli is licensed as a
Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner and
Attorney.
Prof. Ventricelli has worked extensively with outside counsel in
conducting investigations on behalf of companies, audit and special
committees of the Board of Directors in a number of complex fact
finding, accounting investigations involving restatements of
financial results, allegations of securities fraud, embezzlement,
vendor kick-back schemes, stock option backdating and violations of
the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Prof. Ventricelli
has provided expert testimony at deposition and trial concerning
accounting irregularities, schemes among related entities to divert
assets, fraudulent conveyances and damages. He has also provided
forensic accounting services on behalf of the United States
Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, in connection with
a fraud investigation involving the embezzlement of funds sourced
from government subsidies.
Prof. Ventricelli has significant bankruptcy consulting experience
serving as financial advisor to trustees, debtors, lenders and
committees. He specializes in the reconstruction of
incomplete accounting and financial records and the identification,
investigation and assessment of potential recovery causes of action
such as preferences, fraudulent conveyances and solvency
determinations, accountant liability and substantive consolidation.
Prof. Ventricelli also has extensive experience winding down
companies and has served as a court appointed Examiner in several
Chapter 11 cases. He is an adjunct professor at St. John’s
University School of Law in the LL.M. in bankruptcy program, where
he teaches a course on accounting and litigation consulting
services in bankruptcy proceedings.
Thomas J. Weber, Adjunct Professor of
Law
Professor Weber is a shareholder of the firm Greenburg
Traurig. He represents clients in all aspects of U.S.
bankruptcy and insolvency law in many jurisdictions across the
country. He has been specially admitted to practice in the
bankruptcy courts of more than 20 states. He represents debtors,
debtors in possession, secured and unsecured creditors, public and
private debt holders and investors, parties acquiring interests in
or assets from Chapter 11 companies, and creditors' committees. In
recent years, his practice has been focused on representations in
the automotive, telecommunication, financial services, healthcare,
consumer products, real estate, transportation, and retail
industries in domestic and international bankruptcy cases.
Professor Weber teaches Bankruptcy Practice – Opinion.
Professor Bob Wessels, Adjunct Professor Law
Professor Wessels is professor of Business Law at Vrije University,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands and a partner in the Dutch law firm of
Holland Van Gijzen. He will be a member of the Bankruptcy
LL.M. adjunct faculty and a visiting scholar here at the law school
during the spring semester conducting research in the area of
Comparative and International Insolvency Law. Professor
Wessels is one of Europe’s leading scholars in corporate
reconstruction and international insolvency law. He has served as
Technical Consultant to the World Bank and to the IMF. He
co-founded the Dutch language Insolvency Law Review and author or
co-author of some fifteen books on corporate, contract and banking
law. He is the author of a 10-volume Dutch series on insolvency
law, including a volume on International Insolvency Law, published
in 2003. He is an International Fellow of the American College of
Bankruptcy and a Director of the International Insolvency
Institute.