Hon. Alan S. Trust

Adjunct Professor
Syracuse University, (summa cum laude), 1981 J.D., New York University School of Law

CHIEF BANKRUPTCY JUDGE ALAN S. TRUST

The Honorable Alan S. Trust ascended to the bench on April 2, 2008, and sits in the Eastern District of New York. He became Chief Bankruptcy Judge on October 1, 2020. He has been appointed to a second term commencing April 2, 2022.

Judge Trust has been an adjunct professor of law at the St. John’s University School of Law since 2009.  He served a 2 year term as President of the Eastern District of New York Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and serves as CLE Committee co-chair. He is a past Chair of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, a member of the Board of Directors of that Section, and has served as the CLE Committee chair. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, is a coordinating editor for the Journal, and for several years has had responsibility for the Dicta column. He is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Judge Trust has previously been designated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to mediate cases in the Southern District of New York and to sit in the District of Connecticut bankruptcy court. Judge Trust continues to serve as a judge mediator. 

Judge Trust has been selected by the Federal Judicial Center on several occasions to serve as a faculty member for national bankruptcy judge workshops, and has spoken on issues such as evidence and the power of the bankruptcy courts to regulate its proceedings through sanctions and contempt. He also served for 5 years on the Judiciary Data Working Group under the auspices of the Administrative Offices of the United States Courts.

Judge Trust remains a frequent speaker and contributor for numerous CLE events and seminars, addressing bankruptcy, mediation, trial practice and ethics issues, and has participated in a number of civics programs. He was instrumental in the creation of the Pro Bono Mediation Program and the formation of the Consumer Lawyer Advisory Committee adopted by the Eastern District of New York Bankruptcy Court. He works with multiple bar associations and Court committees on numerous bench bar and CLE programs.

Judge Trust is the recipient of the New York Institute of Credit’s 14th Annual Conrad B. Duberstein Memorial Award for Excellence and Compassion in the Bankruptcy Judiciary, and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors’ 2022 Judicial Service Award.

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, and graduated 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 Dallas in December 1995, and managed that firm until appointed to the bench.