Historical Perspectives: Bankruptcy and the U.S. Supreme Court

Professor Margaret Howard is the Law Alumni Association Professor of Law Emerita at Washington & Lee University School of Law in Virginia.

Considered one of the leading bankruptcy scholars of his generation, Professor Brubaker is the Carl L. Vacketta Professor of Law. He served as Interim Dean of the College of Law in 2008-09 after serving as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the previous two years. Professor Brubaker rejoined the Illinois faculty in 2004, returning to his alma mater after serving as a member of the faculty at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia for 10 years, where he was also the faculty adviser to the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

After earning an undergraduate degree with Bronze Tablet distinction at Illinois, Professor Brubaker passed the CPA exam before pursuing a dual JD/MBA degree. Professor Brubaker received his JD summa cum laude from the College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, a Harno Fellow, and recipient of Rickert Awards for Excellence in Academic Achievement and in Legal Writing. He also served as articles editor for the University of Illinois Law Review.

Following graduation, Professor Brubaker clerked for Judge James K. Logan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Later, he practiced in the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization group of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he gained extensive experience in large- and medium-sized Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization proceedings, including prepackaged, leveraged buy-out, and mass-tort bankruptcies.

Professor Brubaker began teaching at the College of Law, later joining the Emory faculty in 1995. He is co-author of Bankruptcy Law: Principles, Policies, and Practice (with Charles J. Tabb) and has written dozens of journal articles and essays exploring all facets of federal bankruptcy law, particularly Chapter 11 corporate reorganizations and the complex jurisdictional and procedural aspects of federal bankruptcy proceedings. He was awarded the 2003 Editors’ Prize from The American Bankruptcy Law Journal for his article, “Of State Sovereign Immunity and Prospective Remedies: The Bankruptcy Discharge as Statutory Ex parte Young Relief,” 76 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 461 (2002).

Professor Brubaker is the editor-in-chief and a contributing author for West’s Bankruptcy Law Letter, and he has served on the editorial advisory boards of The American Bankruptcy Law Journal and the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review. He is a member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, for which he currently serves as the Scholar-in-Residence. Professor Brubaker has been a member of the executive committee of the board of directors for the American Bankruptcy Institute, and he was a member of the advisory committee on 363 sales for the ABI’s 2014 Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11.

Ronald Mann is the Albert E. Cinelli Enterprise Professor of Law and co-director of the Charles Evans Gerber Program in Transactional Studies at Columbia Law School. Mann is a nationally renowned scholar in the areas of commercial finance, bankruptcy law, secured credit, payment systems, intellectual property, and transnational bankruptcy.

Before joining Columbia Law School faculty in 2007, Mann has held several tenured positions at various universities. These include the University of Michigan, University of Texas, and the Washington University School of Law.

Prior to joining Columbia Law School, his work includes appellate litigation within the Office of the Independent Counsel from 1998 to 2000. Assistant to the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 1991-1994. Dow, Cogburn & Friedman from 1987-1991. Mann also served as an assistant to the Solicitor General in the Justice Department in the early 1990s. Prior to that, he practiced real estate and commercial law in Houston.

Mann clerked for Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. while he served on the Supreme Court from 1986 to 1987. He was law clerk to Judge Joseph T. Sneed, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1986.

He has authored dozens of law review articles in leading law reviews, as well as path-breaking casebooks on commercial finance, payment systems, and economic commerce. Mann has authored several books, including Bankruptcy and the U.S. Supreme Court (Cambridge University Press 2017); Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets around the World "Winner of 2006 annual book prize from the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers" (Cambridge U. Press 2006); Payment Systems and other Financial Transactions (6th ed. Wolters Kluwer 2016) (5th ed. 2011; 4th ed. 2008; 3rd ed. 2006; 2nd ed. 2003; 1st ed. 1999); Electronic Commerce (4th ed. Wolters Kluwer 2011; 3rd ed. 2008) (2nd ed. 2005; 1st ed. 2002) (with Jane K. Winn); Commercial Finance: A Transactional Approach (Foundation Press 2017), Commercial Transactions: A Systems Approach (6th ed. Wolters Kluwer 2016) (5th ed. 2012; 4th ed. 2009; 3rd ed. 2006; 2nd ed. 2003; 1st ed. 1998) (with Robert M. Lawless, Lynn M. LoPucki, Elizabeth Warren & Daniel Keating); and Comprehensive Commercial Law: Statutory Supplement (Wolters Kluwer 2003-2018) (with Elizabeth Warren & Jay Lawrence Westbrook).

Mann is a member of the American Law Institute; a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference; and a fellow at the American Bar Foundation. He is a commentator on the SCOTUSBlog on intellectual property and banking law; a reporter for amendments to UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A, 2000-2003. Mann is a frequent visiting scholar at Federal Reserve Banks.

Mann received his J.D. from University of Texas at Austin, 1985 and his B.A. from Rice University, Houston, Texas, 1982.