2009 Faculty
Margaret cangilos-ruiz
Margaret Cangilos-Ruiz was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of New York by the Second Circuit on February 16, 2008. A member of the Bar in Florida, Massachusetts and New York, Judge Cangilos-Ruiz headed the bankruptcy practice at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP immediately prior to her appointment to the bench.
JOHN F. CANNIZZARO
John F. Cannizzaro began his law practice in Maryville, Ohio in 1980 and is senior partner of Cannizzaro, Fraser, Bridges, Jillisky & Streng, LLC. He concentrates his practice in the area of consumer bankruptcy law. He was a Debtor’s counsel in the first appellate court case in the United States to carve out an exception to In Re Nobleman. He currently serves as the Chairman of the ECF Rules Committee for the Southern District of Ohio. He frequently lectures nationally and locally on bankruptcy matters from the Debtor’s perspective. He is a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) and the Thomas F. Waldron American Bankruptcy Law Forum (ABLF).
Andrea e. celli
Andrea E. Celli has served as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of New York in Albany since 1995. Her office currently administers approximately 6,500 pending Chapter 13 cases and disburses approximately $35 Million to creditors each year. Ms. Celli received her B.S from St. John Fisher College in 1985, her J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University in 1988 and her LL.M. in American Banking Law Studies from Boston University School of Law in 1989. Ms. Celli is a Past President of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and founding Board Member of the NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education. Over the past 20 years, she has lectured for the NACTT, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, NACBA and for many local and regional bankruptcy forums.
BARKLEY CLARK
Barkley Clark is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Stinson, Morrison Hecker, LLP. His area of expertise is commercial and banking law. He has long been on the list of Best Lawyers in America. He has taught at a number of law schools, including the University of Virginia, the University of Kansas, Georgetown and George Washington University. He has authored a number of books, including The Law of Secured Transactions under the UCC and the Law of Bank Deposits, Collections and Credit Cards. With Barbara Clark, he publishes monthly newsletters dealing with secured lending and bank deposits/payments. He served on the original Study Committee for Revised Article 9. Over the past several years, he has represented several auto financers in “negative equity” litigation around the country.
Carey D. Ebert
Carey D. Ebert received her B.A. degree from H. Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, cum laude, in Public Policy in 1982. She received her J.D. in 1985 from Texas Tech University. She has been a member of the firm, Ebert Law Offices, P.C. since 1989, and is a member of the State Bar College. She serves as a panel trustee in the Northern District of Texas. She is board certified in Consumer Bankruptcy by the State Bar of Texas and the American Bankruptcy Board of Certification. Ms. Ebert is the President-Elect and serving her fourth term as a Director for the National Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA). She has also served as President of the Northeast Tarrant County Bar Association and is a frequent lecturer at seminars nationwide. Ms. Ebert has served as a panelist at NACB conventions since 1998.
ROGER L. EFREMSKY
Roger L. Efremsky was appointed a bankruptcy judge for the Northern District of California on August 1, 2006. Judge Efremsky was previously a partner with the law firm of Efremsky & Nagel representing corporate creditor clients throughout California and served as advisory counsel to the Chapter 13 Standing Trustees for three divisions of the Bankruptcy Court for his District. He is a former chairman of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustee’s Creditor Auxiliary and has served on a number of professional committees at the state and local levels. Judge Efremsky has also testified on behalf of representative national creditors before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts regarding the role of the U.S. Trustee system. Judge Efremsky received his B.S. from Menlo College in 1978 and his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1983.
DAVID G. EPSTEIN
David G. Epstein practices in Dallas as Of Counsel to the law firm of Haynes and Boone. He also serves as a professor at the Dedman School of Law of Southern Methodist University. He previously practiced law with an Atlanta law firm; taught at other law schools, including Alabama, Georgia State, and the University of North Carolina; and served as dean at the University of Arkansas and Emory. He is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy and the National Bankruptcy Conference. He has written numerous books on
bankruptcy, commercial law and contracts.
MICHAEL D. FIELDING
Michael D. Fielding works in the Insolvency and Commercial Bankruptcy practice group of Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP in Kansas City. Mr. Fielding is certified as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification. He has written and spoken about the intersection of bankruptcy and electronically stored information.
MARGARET HOWARD
Margaret Howard is the Law Alumni Association Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University. Professor Howard received her undergraduate degree from Duke University, her J.D. and M.S.W. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, and LL.M from Yale Law School. She is a member of the Order of the Coif, the American Law Institute, and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She has also served on the faculties of Vanderbilt and St. Louis Universities, and has visited at Alabama, Emory, UNC, Washington University, Duke and Harvard.
Corali Lopez-Castro
Corali Lopez-Castro is a shareholder in Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton. She concentrates her practice on bankruptcy matters, including bankruptcy reorganizations, business liquidations, workouts, debt restructuring, and creditors’ rights. Her practice also involves commercial litigation matters that arise from receiverships and liquidations. She previously served on the panel of Trustees for the Southern District of Florida. She is President of the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA). Mrs. Lopez-Castro has also lectured on bankruptcy-related topics at meetings and seminars of the American Bar Association.
Margaret A. Mahoney
Margaret A. Mahoney has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas and the District of Minnesota, and now serves as a judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Judge Mahoney is an honor graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was a partner in the business reorganization department of the New York law firm of Weil, Gotshall & Manges, and headed that department in the firm’s Dallas office. She has spoken at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and other national and regional seminars on bankruptcy law and has written and published extensively on insolvency issues. She is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States Courts.
Bruce A. Markell
Bruce A. Markell is a bankruptcy judge from the District of Nevada, and a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit. He is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member of the International Insolvency Institute, and a member of the American Law Institute. He contributes to Collier on Bankruptcy, and is a member of its editorial advisory board.
THOMAS M. Mayer
Thomas M. Mayer is a partner in the Creditors’ Rights Department at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, where he specializes in representing investors with claims against, and interests in, financially distressed businesses. Mr. Mayer graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is a director of the American College of Bankruptcy. He has authored or co-authored articles and the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Manual chapter on the law of trading claims and taking control of corporations in Chapter 11.
JUDITH GREENSTONE MILLER
Judith Greenstone Miller (Partner, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C. - Southfield, MI), focuses her practice on bankruptcy/insolvency and creditors’ rights in Chapter 11 reorganizations, and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Miller is a member of the ABA (Business Bankruptcy Committee, Chair, Legislative Subcommittee, Immediate Past Co-Chair, Appeals Subcommittee); Commercial Law League of America (Past Chair, Bankruptcy Section); and State Bar of Michigan (Co-Chair, Debtor’s/Creditors Rights Committee). Ms. Miller has also testified before the Judiciary Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Joseph R. Prochaska
Joseph R. Prochaska is the managing member of Williams & Prochaska, P.C. and is certified as a specialist in business bankruptcy by the ABBC. He has represented some of the nation’s largest lenders in bankruptcy and appellate matters across the country, including the surrender-in-full satisfaction cases. He has focused his practice primarily on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights issues.
Alesia Ranney-Marinelli
Alesia Ranney-Marinelli is a senior partner in the Corporate Restructuring Group of Skadden, Arps. She has represented financially troubled companies in and out of Chapter 11, investment bankers, directors of troubled companies, creditors, and those seeking to acquire, invest in or lend to companies that are troubled or undergoing reorganization. She has provided restructuring advice to Chapter 11 Debtor clients and represented companies in out-of-court restructuring. She is a fellow of American College of Bankruptcy. She is an author of various educational outlines and is a frequent lecturer on such matters.
THOMAS F. WALDRON
Thomas F. Waldron was appointed as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, at Dayton, in 1985 and served as Chief Judge of that Bankruptcy Court and the first Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of he Sixth Circuit. He retired after 22 years of judicial service in October of 2007. He is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy and the American Board of Certification. He has contributed to various publications, including the American Bankruptcy Journal and is currently the Advisor for the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees’ Academy for Consumer Education - ConsiderChapter13.org. He has been a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Dayton Law School.
JACK F. WILLIAMS
Jack F. Williams is a Professor at Georgia State University College of Law and in the Middle East Institute of Atlanta, Georgia, where he teaches and/or conducts research in the areas of bankruptcy and business reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, taxation, Islamic Commercial Law, and law and terrorism. He is also a Managing Director at BDO Consulting, a division of BDO Seidman, in the New York and Atlanta offices. His areas of focus include restructuring and financial advisory services, financial fraud and fraudulent transfers, distressed business valuations, restructuring and insolvency taxation, forensic accounting, commercial damages modeling, investigation, litigation consulting, and the foreign corrupt practices act. He is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and is a prolific writer and speaker.