2008 Faculty
DOUGLAS G. BAIRD
Douglas Baird is the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He joined Chicago's faculty in 1980 and was its Dean from 1994 to 1999. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. Currently a Director of the American College of Bankruptcy, Baird served as Vice Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference from 1997 until 2004. Recent articles include "Serial Entrepreneurs and Small Business Bankruptcies" in the Columbia Law Review, "Discharge, Waiver, and the Behavioral Undercurrents of Debtor-Creditor Law" in the University of Chicago Law Review, and "Absolute Priority, Valuation Uncertainty, and the Reorganization Bargain" in the Yale Law Journal. Baird's one-volume overview of bankruptcy law, Elements of Bankruptcy, is now in its fourth edition.
WILLIAM E. BREWER, JR.
William E. Brewer, Jr. is certified by the North Carolina State Bar as a Specialist in Consumer Bankruptcy Law and is the principal in the Brewer Law Firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. He limits his practice to the representation of debtors and non-institutional creditors. He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) since 1997. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association's Bankruptcy Section and the Bankruptcy Section of the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers. He received his B.A. degree from University of North Carolina in 1973 and J.D. degree from the UNC School of Law in 1976. He has spoken on a variety of bankruptcy issues at NACBA's annual convention and before groups of bankruptcy professionals in North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Alabama, Mississippi, and New York.
MICHAEL D. FIELDING
Michael D. Fielding is an attorney in the Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors' Rights practice group of Blackwell Sanders LLP in Kansas City, Missouri where he focuses his practice on bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He has made numerous presentations on a variety of bankruptcy related topics including ethical issues relating to electronically stored information. A fluent Spanish speaker, Mr. Fielding has published various articles nationally and internationally on selected bankruptcy issues. He was also a contributing author for version 1.0 of the Open Compliance & Ethics Group's Internal Audit Guide.
ERIC L. FRANK
Eric L. Frank is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge serving in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to taking the bench, he practiced law in Philadelphia, PA with DiDonato and Winterhalter, P.C., Miller, Frank & Miller and Community Legal Services, Inc.. As a practitioner, Judge Frank had more than 27 years experience and was counsel in several cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 1998 to 2005, Judge Frank served as a member Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure of the federal Judicial Conference, where he was chair of the Consumer Rules Subcommittee and was a member of the Working Group that developed the official means test forms used after the effective date of the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code. He is the Contributing Author to chapter 523 of the treatise Collier on Bankruptcy (15th rev. ed.), which addresses dischargeability issues in chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.
DAVID S. HELLER
David S. Heller is global co-head of Latham & Watkins' Insolvency Practice Group. He has represented senior and junior secured and unsecured lenders in workouts and bankruptcy proceedings for over twenty-five years. He has also represented many high profile private and public companies in connection with the restructuring of their financial obligations both in and out of judicial proceedings. He also co-leads the Firm's Latin American Practice Group, which has more than sixty members, where he focuses on the restructuring and enforcement of debt owed by Latin American entities. In 1997, Turnarounds & Workouts selected him as one of the "Top Ten Bankruptcy Attorneys in the Country". He represents many of Chicago's banks and financial institutions.
DILLON E. JACKSON
Dillon E. Jackson is a member of the Seattle law firm of Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC where he is past chair of the Creditors Rights and Bankruptcy Practice Group. He is an inaugural fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. He was an initial board member of the American Board of Certification. He is Board Member of American Bankruptcy Institute and serves on a number of key boards and committees. He has spoken on the subject of bankruptcy law and creditors rights throughout the United States since 1974. Mr. Jackson is author of the Washington State Bar Association's Commercial Law Deskbook chapters on Chapter 11 Reorganization and Consumer Bankruptcy. He is a contributing author of Advanced Chapter 11 Practice, 1995. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 1984. His practice includes representation of debtors, secured and unsecured creditors and creditors committees in chapter 11 cases as well as representation of parties to purchases and sales or workouts of distressed companies.
STEPHEN D. LERNER
Stephen D. Lerner is chair of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.'s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group and is a partner resident in the firm's Cincinnati and New York offices. Mr. Lerner has an extensive national restructuring practice in which he represents debtors, committees of unsecured creditors, secured and unsecured creditors, equity interest holders and acquirers of troubled businesses in Chapter 11 reorganization cases and out-of-court restructurings throughout the United States. Mr. Lerner was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in 2002 and has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America each year since 1997. He was named one of eight Outstanding Young Bankruptcy Lawyers in a special report published by Turnarounds & Workouts in 2001. Since 2004, Mr. Lerner has been selected for placement in the highest tier of Ohio's bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers by Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers. Mr. Lerner is a perennial Ohio Super Lawyer and, in 2007, he was honored as one of the top ten overall Super Lawyers in the State of Ohio.
JEFFREY W. MORRIS
Professor Morris has been on the faculty of the University of Dayton School of Law since 1981, and in 2004 he was appointed to the Samuel A. McCray Chair in Law. Prior to teaching, he practiced bankruptcy law in Atlanta. He has also served as a Visiting Professor at the Law Schools of Ohio State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Professor Morris will be the SBLI Visiting Professor at the Georgia State University College of Law in 2007-08. Professor Morris has coauthored three books, the most recent of which is Problems & Materials on Debtor Creditor Law, 3d Ed. (Aspen 2005). He has authored a number of articles on bankruptcy and commercial law topics, and he has been a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy. Prof. Morris has been the Reporter to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules since 1999.
SALLY S. NEELY
Sally S. Neely practices in the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP. She began practicing bankruptcy law in 1974, and specializes in chapter 11 reorganizations and out-of-court restructurings. She has represented debtors, creditors, trustees, lessors, acquirers, committees, and financially-troubled businesses in numerous industries. She has represented foreign clients in US-centered reorganizations, and has also advised a Korean chaebol in connection with its international financial difficulties. Ms. Neely is a Conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and is Co-Chair of its Committee on Legislation and a member of its Executive Committee. She is Vice President of the American College of Bankruptcy and Co-Chair of its Educational Programs Committee. She has written and taught extensively on numerous bankruptcy topics.
NEIL P. OLACK
Neil P. Olack is the United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi. Prior to taking the bench, he practiced law for 25 years in the areas of bankruptcy, creditors' rights, and workouts. He represented clients in the chapter 11 proceedings of many major companies, including debtors, creditors' committees, franchisors, indenture trustees, parties to executory contracts and unexpired leases, public bodies, purchasers of assets, secured creditors, equity holders, trade creditors, and chapter 11 trustees. Judge Olack is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Prior to his appointment, he served on the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He also served on the advisory boards of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review and the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal. Judge Olack has had considerable teaching experience in the bankruptcy area, serving as an adjunct law professor for the debtor/creditor law class and as an instructor for the business bankruptcy course in a masters of business administration program.
MICHAEL SABBATH
Professor Sabbath has been teaching at Mercer University School of Law since 1978, serving as an Associate Dean from 1997-2002, and as the Interim Dean from 2002-2004. He was a visiting professor at Emory University School of Law in fall, 1989, and at Wake Forest University School of Law in fall, 2004. Professor Sabbath served as an editor of the Emory Law Journal and was a member of the Order of the Coif. He worked from 1975-1978 in the litigation section of an Atlanta law firm. He teaches in the areas of Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, and Contracts, and has done writing and speaking in these areas. He currently is the holder of The Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute/W. Homer Drake, Jr. Endowed Chair in Bankruptcy Law.
FRANK J. SANTORO
Frank J. Santoro has been designated as a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. Prior to his recent designation, he has served as managing partner of Marcus, Santoro & Kozak, P.C., a law firm located in Chesapeake, Virginia, which focuses exclusively on bankruptcy, corporate reorganization, and corporate finance since 1981. As Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for filings in Norfolk and Newport News Divisions of the Eastern District of Virginia, Mr. Santoro supervises the administration of approximately 5,000 bankruptcy cases. Mr. Santoro is a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy. He participated in the 2005 National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and has participated in the Mid-Atlantic Institute on Bankruptcy and Reorganization Practice since 1987.
PAUL S. SINGERMAN
Paul S. Singerman is a shareholder and the Co-CEO of Berger Singerman, P.A., and is resident in the firm's Miami office. Mr. Singerman is active throughout the Unites States in large and complex restructuring matters. According to the 2005 edition of the Legal Media Group's Expert Guides, Mr. Singerman was nominated as the top Insolvency and Restructuring expert in Florida. Although Mr. Singerman is best known for his representation of debtors in complex restructuring cases, he is also experienced in representing creditors' committees, lenders, large unsecured creditors, asset purchasers in §363 sales and trustees. He has consistently been recognized by his peers for excellence in restructuring and bankruptcy matters, as evidenced by his receiving the highest rating in Chambers USA in each of 2005, 2006 and 2007 for bankruptcy/restructuring lawyers in Florida. Mr. Singerman has also been included amongst the best bankruptcy lawyers in Florida in Best Lawyers in America for ten consecutive years. He was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in 2003.
MICHAEL G. WILLIAMSON
Michael G. Williamson was appointed to the bench on March 1, 2000 and sits as a bankruptcy judge in the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division. He began his bankruptcy practice serving as a Chapter 7 panel trustee in 1977. Thereafter, in the following 23 years, he represented numerous Chapter 11 corporate debtors, creditors' committees, and trustees in bankruptcy cases pending throughout the state of Florida. Judge Williamson is past chair of the Committee on Creditors' Rights, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association; past chair of the Business Law Section of The Florida Bar and that section's Bankruptcy/UCC Committee; and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.