Professor of Law. A.B. Tufts University;
J.D, Harvard Law School; LL.M. New York University.
Professor Zinman teaches courses in bankruptcy, property and
real estate transactions. He is the Founder and first director of
the St. John's Master of Laws Program in Bankruptcy, the only such
program in the nation.
Professor Zinman has previously served as President and Chairman
of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the largest organization of
insolvency professionals in the world, with over 9000 members.
Recently, the American Bankruptcy Institute named its
scholar-in-residence program in his 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 and
Co-Editor of the N.Y. Real Property Law Journal. He is a member of
the American Law Institute.
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 Madison and Bender) of MODERN REAL ESTATE FINANCE AND
LAND TRANSFER (2d ed. 1999).
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 is Co-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 is 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). He teaches Property, Creditors' Rights,
Bankruptcy Theory, Real Estate Workouts and Bankruptcy, Advanced
Real Estate Transactions, and the Advanced Bankruptcy Research
Seminar.