The Winter 2005 issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute
Law Review is a symposium issue on the Bankruptcy Abuse
Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (“BAPCPA”). The
symposium consists of fifteen articles and one “Recent
Development.” In addition, the issue contains one reply, one LL.M.
thesis, and a student note.
Most of the provisions of BAPCPA, which the President signed on
April 20, 2005, became effective on October 17, 2005. The
effective date ushered in the most significant amendments to the
Bankruptcy Code since it was adopted in 1978. We asked
twenty-one authors, each an expert in his or her field, to write
either individually or jointly on a specific area of bankruptcy law
affected by BAPCPA. The outcome is a collection of enlightening
articles on topics ranging from the most controversial changes to
the Code to the seemingly innocuous ones. In the next few years, as
courts are deciding how to apply the amended provisions of the
Code, judges and attorneys alike will find a great resource in this
symposium.
This issue is dedicated to the late Chief Judge Conrad B.
Duberstein of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern
District of New York. Judge Duberstein was an alumnus and dear
friend of St. John’s University School of Law. As a special
feature, this issue includes a pair of tributes to Judge
Duberstein. One is authored by Prof. Robert M. Zinman, our faculty
advisor, and the other by Hon. Melanie L. Cyganowski, Judge
Duberstein’s successor as Chief Judge.