Headshot of Joshua C. Macey

Joshua C. Macey

Assistant Professor of Law

Josh Macey teaches and writes about bankruptcy, environmental law, energy law, and the regulation of financial institutions. He is the three-time winner of the Morrison Prize for most influential environmental law article of the previous year (“Zombie Energy Laws,” 73 Vanderbilt Law Review; “Long Live the Federal Power Act’s Bright Line,” 134 Harvard Law Review; "Clean Energy Through Grid Reliability," 74 Stanford Law Review).

Professor Macey graduated from Yale College, the London School of Economics, and Yale Law School. He has worked at Morgan Stanley and clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Education

Yale Law School

JD, 2017

  • The Yale Law Journal, Editor
  • Coker Fellow (Teaching Assistant, Constitutional Law), Professor Paul Kahn

London School of Economics

MSc in Political Theory, 2013

Yale College

BA in English Literature, 2012

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

Assistant Professor of Law, 2020-present

Cornell Law School

Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, 2019-2020
Post-Doctoral Associate, 2018-2019

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Law Clerk to Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III, 2017-2018

Journal Articles

  • "Bankruptcy by Another Name," __ Yale Law Journal __ (2025) (forthcoming) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn
  • "Insolvency Courts: General Principles for Systems Design," __ International Insolvency Review __ (2024) (forthcoming) (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "Grid Reliability in the Electric Era," 41 Yale Journal on Regulation 164 (2024) (with Hannah Wiseman & Shelley Welton). www
  • "Outsourcing Energy Market Design," 91 University of Chicago Law Review __ (2024) (forthcoming).
  • "Against Political Theory in Constitutional Interpretation," 76 Vanderbilt Law Review 899 (2023) (with Chris Havasy & Brian Richardson). www
  • "The Promise and Perils of Open Finance," 40 Yale Journal on Regulation 1 (2023) (with Dan Awrey). www
  • "The Corporate Governance of Public Utilities," 40 Yale Journal on Regulation 569 (2023) (with Aneil Kovvali). www
  • "Hidden Value Transfers in Public Utilities," 171 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 2129 (2023) (with Aneil Kovvali). www
  • "In Defense of Chapter 11 in Mass Torts Cases," 90 University of Chicago Law Review 973 (2023) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn www
  • "Checks, Not Balances," 101 Texas Law Review 89 (2022) (with Brian Richardson). www
  • "Open Access, Interoperability, and the DTCC's Unexpected Path to Monopoly," 132 Yale Law Journal 96 (2022) (with Dan Awrey). www
  • "Grid Reliability Through Clean Energy," 74 Stanford Law Review 969 (2022) (with Alexandra Klass & Shelley Welton & Hannah Wiseman). ssrn www
  • "Private Risk and Social Resilience in Liberalized Electricity Markets," 6 Joule 369 (2022) (with Jacob Mays, Michael T. Craig, Lynne Kiesling & Blake Shaffer & Han Shu). www
  • "Foreword (Symposium on The Economic Structure of Corporate Law at Thirty: A Retrospective on the Work of Easterbrook & Fischel)," 1 The University of Chicago Business Law Review iii (2022) (with Anthony J. Casey & Hajin Kim ). www
  • "The Bankruptcy Tribunal," 96 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 749 (2022) (with Anthony J. Casey).
  • "Zombie Energy Laws," 51 Environmental Law Reporter 10691 (2021).
  • "Long Live the Federal Power Act’s Bright Line," 134 Harvard Law Review 1360 (2021) (with Matthew Christiansen). www
  • "Bankruptcy Shopping: Domestic Venue Races and Global Forum Wars," 37 Emory Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal 436 (2021) (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "MOPR Madness," 42 Energy Law Journal 67 (2021) (with Robert Ward).
  • "Claim Durability and Bankruptcy’s Tort Problem," 38 Yale Journal on Regulation 766 (2021) (with Vincent Buccola). www
  • "Utility Mergers and the Modern (and Future) Power Grid," 42 Energy Law Journal 237 (2021). www
  • "Zombie Energy Laws," 73 Vanderbilt Law Review 1077 (2020). ssrn www
  • "Rate Regulation Redux," 168 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1181 (2020) (with Jackson Salovaara). ssrn
  • "Bankruptcy as Bailout: Coal Company Insolvency and the Erosion of Federal Law," 71 Stanford Law Review 879 (2019) (with Jackson Salovaara). ssrn
  • "What Corporate Veil?," 117 Michigan Law Review 1195 (2019). ssrn
  • Note, "Dodd-Frank is a Pigouvian Regulation", 126 Yale Law Journal 1336 (2018) (with Aaron Levine). ssrn www
  • "The Costs of Administrative Aggregation," 70 Stanford Law Review Online 123 (2018) (with Shannon Grammel). www
  • Note, "Playing Nicely: How Judges Can Improve Dodd-Frank and Foster Interagency Collaboration", 126 Yale Law Journal 806 (2017). ssrn

Working Papers

  • "Does ESG Crowd Out Support for Government Regulation?," Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 983(2023) (with Hajin Kim & Kristen A. Underhill). ssrn cu
  • "Does ESG Crowd Out Support for Government Regulation?," (2022) (with Hajin Kim & Kristin Underhill). ssrn

Other Publications

  • "Does ESG Crowd Out Support for Government Regulation?," Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 12, 2023 (with Hajin Kim & Kristen A. Underhill). www
  • "In Defense of Chapter 11 for Mass Torts," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, May 30, 2023 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "The Corporate Governance of Public Utilities," Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 11, 2023 (with Aneil Kovvali). www
  • "Crypto Volatility and The Pine Gate Problem," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, March 21, 2023 (with Anthony J. Casey & Brook E. Gotberg ). www
  • "What Are Networks, Platforms, and Utilities and What Should We Do with Them?," Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment, January 24, 2023 (with Genevieve Lakier). www
  • "A Qualified Defense of Divisional Mergers," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, June 28, 2022 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "The Promise and Perils of Open Finance," Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, April 4, 2022 (with Dan Awrey). www
  • "Clean Energy Is Grid Reliability’s Best Hope, Not Enemy," Bloomberg Law, March 17, 2022 (with Alexandra Klass, Shelley Welton & Hannah Wiseman). www
  • "Bankruptcy Shopping: Domestic Venue Races and Global Forum Wars," Oxford Business Law Blog, May 6, 2021 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "Bankruptcy Shopping: Domestic Venue Races and Global Forum Wars," Herstructurering & Recovery Online, May 5, 2021 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "Bankruptcy Shopping: Domestic Venue Races and Global Forum Wars," CLS Blue Sky Blog, May 5, 2021 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "Bankruptcy Shopping: Domestic Venue Races and Global Forum Wars," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, April 27, 2021 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "The Hertz Maneuver (and the Limits of Bankruptcy Law)," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, January 12, 2021 (with Anthony J. Casey). www
  • "The Hertz Maneuver (and the Limits of Bankruptcy Law)," Oxford Business Law Blog, December 16, 2020 (with Anthony J. Casey).
  • "The Hertz Maneuver (and the Limits of Bankruptcy Law)," University of Chicago Law Review Online, October 7, 2020 (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn www

2022

  • FERC Technical Conference on Transmission Planning and Cost Management, Panel on Local and Regional Reliability Transmission Planning Criteria and Cost Management
  • National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Annual Conference, Committee on Electricity, “It’s All About the Connection (Transmission)”
  • Morrison Prize Keynote Lecture, “Long Live the Federal Power Act’s Bright Line”
  • University of Virginia Law School Faculty Workshop, “The Regulatory Compact”
  • University of Texas Law School Faculty Workshop, “Incomplete Energy Markets”
  • Yale Law, Economics, and Organization Faculty Workshop, “Incomplete Energy Markets”
  • Columbia Law School Faculty Workshop, “Incomplete Energy Markets”
  • American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, “The Payments Trilemma”
  • American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, “The Promise and Perils of Open Finance” (presented by Dan Awrey)
  • Environmental Law and Economics Annual Conference, “Private Risk and Social Resilience in Liberalized Electricity Markets”

2021

  • American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, “MOPR Madness”
  • American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, “Too Small To Succeed” (presented by Dan Awrey
  • Wharton Financial Regulation Workshop, “Too Small To Succeed”
  • Vanderbilt Financial Regulation Workshop, “Too Small To Succeed”
  • Morrison Prize Keynote Lecture, “Zombie Energy Laws”
  • Environmental Law and Policy Review Annual Meeting, “Zombie Energy Laws”

2020

  • Vanderbilt Business Law Workshop, “Claim Durability and Bankruptcy’s Tort Problem”
  • University of Texas Austin Electricity Conference, “Capacity Markets”
  • BYU New Deals Conference, “The Regulatory Compact”
  • AALS New Voices in Administrative Law and Legislation, “The Regulatory Compact”
  • Yale Seminar on Private Law, “The Regulatory Compact”

2019

  • Northern Plains Resource Council Annual Meeting, “Bankruptcy as Bailout: Coal Company Insolvency and the Erosion of Federal Law”
  • Energy Law and Policy in the Rockies, “Bankruptcy as Bailout: Coal Company Insolvency and the Erosion of Federal Law”
  • Emerging Energy Law Scholars Conference, “Rate Regulation Redux”
  • National Business Law Scholars Conference (NBLSC), “The Lost History of the National Securities Clearing Corporation”
  • Richmond Junior Faculty Forum, “Rate Regulation Redux”
  • American Law and Economics Association Annual Conference (ALEA), Annual Meeting, “Rate Regulation Redux”
  • BYU New Deals Conference, “The Lost History of the National Securities Clearing Corporation”

2018

  • Young Bankruptcy Law Scholars Conference, “It’s Not Moral Hazard, It’s the Market: Natural Monopoly and the Misregulation of Financial Market Utilities”
  • Canadian Law and Economics Annual Conference (CLEA), “Bankruptcy as Bailout: Coal Company Insolvency and the Erosion of Federal Law”
  • Midwestern Law and Economics Association Annual Conference (MLEA), “It’s Not Moral Hazard, It’s the Market: Natural Monopoly and the Misregulation of Financial Market Utilities”

Awards and Honors

  • Winner of the 2020 Morrison Prize for most impactful environmental law article of the year: Zombie Energy Laws, 73 Vanderbilt Law Review (2020)
  • Selected for inclusion in the 2020 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review as one of the top four environmental law articles of the previous year: Zombie Energy Laws, 73 Vanderbilt Law Review (2020)
  • Selected for inclusion in the 2020 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review as one of the top twenty environmental law articles of the previous year: Bankruptcy as Bailout: Coal Company Insolvency and the Erosion of Federal Law, 71 Stanford Law Review 879 (2019) (with Jackson Salovaara)

Service

  • Journal Committee, University of Chicago Law School, 2021-present
  • Faculty Advisory, The University of Chicago Business Law Review, 2021-present
  • Faculty Appointments Committee, University of Chicago Law School, 2022-2023
  • Member, Cornell Law School Clerkship Committee, 2019-2020
  • Member, PhD Committee for Daniel Large (Cornell Natural Resources Department)