FOCUS ON FELLOWS We invite all Fellows to submit information (whether about themselves or other Fellows) regarding awards, news, job changes, and/or recent publications. Member highlights will be distributed to all Fellows through email and social media. Please email focus@amercol.org and include a brief description of the items you would like considered for inclusion in our announcements. Thank you.

U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro is stepping down from active service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a court official said on December 15, creating a new judicial vacancy for President Joe Biden to fill on the Philadelphia-based court, Reuters reported. Ambro, a former bankruptcy lawyer in Delaware and appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, notified the White House on Tuesday that he will take senior status upon the confirmation of a successor.

Rick Bendix has been named the 2021 Volunteer of the Year by Legal Aid Chicago for his work at the Bankruptcy Help Desk assisting pro se consumer debtors with their Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The ACB 4th Circuit education committee (Paula Beran, Michael Bernstein, David Cox, Beth Wiggins, and Chair Denise Neary) hosted a regional moot court for six teams of advocates (Brooklyn, Campbell, George Washington, Howard, Maryland and Suffolk law schools), with support from Regent Doug Foley and the ABI. Our participating judges (Hon. Elizabeth Gunn, Hon. Michelle Harner, Hon. Brian Kenney, Hon. Klinette Kindred, Hon. Pam McAfee and Hon. Maria Ruark) provided spectacular practice for the advocates. Team coaches included fellows Joan Feeney and Margaret Westbrook. Campbell won the competition, with Howard in second place.

Fellow Emeritus Josiah Daniel of Dallas received an accolade from Credit Slips for his "What Can the Past Teach Today’s Bankruptcy Law Students, Lawyers, Judges, and Restructuring Professionals?: An Annotated Bibliography of Histories of Debt and Bankruptcy." The bibliography has been read or downloaded more than a thousand times.

In December 2021, Guy Davis, class of 2007, and nine of his restructuring colleagues, left Protiviti and joined the Corporate Finance group at FTI Consulting. Read more here.

Professor Mechele Dickerson is the recipient of the Massey Teaching Excellence Award, which is given to a law professor who “epitomizes the School’s priority of providing the highest quality of teaching to its students.”

Joe Dworetzky has begun a second career as a journalist and occasional editorial cartoonist. He earned a Master’s degree in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He interned at the LA Times where he worked on the Metro Desk. He is currently a beat reporter for Bay City News in Berkeley, California where he covers Arts & Culture and well as Legal Affairs. His cartooning appears under the caption Bay City Sketchbook on localnewsmatters.com. Joe believes, but has not verified, that he is the oldest cub reporter in the country.

On February 8, 2022, the Honorable Judith K. Fitzgerald (Ret.) and Prof. David Skeel testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights on the topic of "Abusing Chapter 11 Corporate Efforts Side-Stepping Accountability Through Bankruptcy."

This years’ Fifth Circuit Bench Bar winners of the Michelle Mendez Serviam Award—three Fellows from the Fifth Circuit: Elizabeth Futrell (Jones Walker, LLP, Louisiana), Hon. Harlin Hale (Northern District of Texas), and Hon. Neil Olack (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi, ret.)! Photo includes: Bill Wallander and the two who attended in person, Hon. Lisa Futrell and Hon. Harlin Hale. Judge Olack participated virtually.

Syracuse University College of Law honored Sam Gerdano (Class XII) with a special bankruptcy symposium issue in late 2021, upon his retirement as Executive Director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He contributed an essay on his 35 years in bankruptcy policy. Volume 71 No. 2 of the Syracuse Law Review also featured articles by Fellows David Epstein, Hon. Michelle Harner, Edward Janger, Robert Keach, David Skeel and Charles Tabb. Sen. Charles Grassley wrote the Foreword to the issue.

Jay Goffman was appointed as Client Chairman of Teneo's Financial Advisory business. In this role, Jay will lead client development and execution for Teneo’s North American Financial Advisory business as well as working across the broader business globally.

Stacey Jernigan has a new fiction novel being released (her second) called Hedging Death (release date is 3/22/22). Hedging Death is a twisted tale about a Ponzi scheme that wasn’t, duped hedge fund investors, faked deaths (“pseudocide”), fraudulent life insurance settlements, credit default swaps provided by Mexican crime cartels, international money laundering, an Andromeda Strain-type underground research lab in Texas, and...bankruptcy of course!

Jordan A. Kroop joined Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones after several years with his previous firm. He is resident in the firm’s New York office and also maintains a satellite presence in Phoenix.

Hon. Randall Newsome (Ret.) launched his own firm: Randall Newsome ADR and Consulting LLC on January 1, 2022.

Hon. Margaret Mann is the new Bankruptcy Observer to the Judicial Council of the United States for a two year term.

Julie Rabin received the Legal Aid Society’s 2021 Legacy of Justice Award. Read more here. The Legacy of Justice Award is presented annually to an individual whose participation in pro bono or other volunteer efforts has been significant in terms of length and/or impact. She was recognized for volunteering on more than 70 pro bono cases and helping to create, more than 15 years ago, the bankruptcy referral project at Legal Aid that still operates now.

Professor Steven L. Schwarcz's article "The Inequities of Equitable Subordination," is imminently forthcoming in 96 American Bankruptcy Law Journal (issue no. 1, 2022) (and also available online here).

Hon. Deborah Thorne is the current president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Hon. John Gregg (incoming class of fellows) is the Education Chair. President Elect is Hon. Dan Collins.

The Seventh Circuit Fellows in collaboration with the ABI held the Midwest Duberstein Regional Competition on February 4. Hon. Deborah Thorne, Brian Shaw and Nancy Peterson spearheaded the effort with the assistance of other College Fellows including, Tim Nixon, Melissa Root, Hon. Eugene Wedoff, Ron Peterson, Richard Bendix and Hon. John Gregg (incoming class of Fellows). Eight teams participated with Creighton winning first place and Kansas coming in second.

Richard Wasserman has joined the law firm of Willcox & Savage as Senior Counsel.

Bob Wessels, a professor emeritus of International Insolvency Law, University of Leiden, the Netherlands, recently published Rembrandt’s Money: The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepreneur in 17th century Holland. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the legal and financial aspects of the life and work of the most well-known 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606-1669), including his bankruptcy (cessio bonorum) in 1656. The author investigates the many legal disputes and conflicts which occurred or surrounded Rembrandt and provides a deeper understanding of the local and social Amsterdam history and a part of its local administration and legal system. The book will appeal to legal and financial professionals with an interest in the Dutch 17th century, but also to anyone who wants to gain a deeper insight of the business side of Rembrandt's profession. For more information on the book, its author and the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, see here and here.