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Baird

Academic Faculty

Full Time Teaching Faculty

Douglas G. Baird

Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law

Biography

Douglas Baird graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. At Stanford he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He received his BA in English summa cum laude from Yale College in 1975. Before joining the faculty in 1980, he was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Baird served as Dean of the Law School from 1994 to 1999. His research and teaching interests focus on corporate reorganizations and contracts, and he is the chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference.

Education and Experience

Education

University of Rochester

LLD, honoris causa, October 1994

Stanford Law School

JD, June 1979

  • Order of the Coif
  • Managing Editor, 31 Stanford Law Review

Yale College

BA summa cum laude in English, June 1975

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law, 1996-present
Dean, 1994-1999
Harry A. Bigelow Professor of Law, 1988 -1996
Associate Dean, 1984-1987
Professor of Law, 1984-1987
Assistant Professor of Law, 1980-1983

Yale University

Visiting Professor of Law, 2000

Harvard University

Robert Braucher Visiting Professor of Law, 1993

Stanford University

Visiting Professor of Law, 1987-1988

Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Law clerk, 1980

Hon. Shirley M. Hufstedler, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Law clerk, 1979

Publications

Books (Author)

  • Elements of Bankruptcy (6th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2014).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2014 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2014) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2016 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2016) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2017 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2017) (with Theodore Eisenberg).cu
  • Cases, Problems and Materials on Bankruptcy, 1989 Supplement, 1989 ed., 1989 Supplement (Little Brown and Company, 1989).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law Selected Statutes, 2018 Edition (2018 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2018) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).
  • Cases, Problems and Materials on Bankruptcy, 1994 Supplement (Little Brown and Company, 1994) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Contracts: Cases and Comments (11 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2019) (with John P. Dawson, William B. Harvey & Stanley D. Henderson).
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (Foundation Press, 2005) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations (Cambridge University Press, 2022).www
  • Appendix to Contracts, Cases and Comments (Foundation Press, 2008) (with John P. Dawson, William B. Harvey & Stanley D. Henderson).cu
  • Elements of Bankruptcy (7th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2022).
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (Foundation Press, 1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Bankruptcy (2nd ed.) (Little Brown and Company, 1990) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • The Elements of Bankruptcy (Foundation Press, 1992).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (2nd ed.) (Foundation Press, 1987) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • The Elements of Bankruptcy (Revised ed.) (Foundation Press, 1993).cu
  • Reconstructing Contracts (Harvard University Press, 2013).cu
  • Contracts: Cases and Comment (10th ed.) (LEG, Inc./West Academic Publishing, 2013) (with John P. Dawson, William B. Harvey & Stanley D. Henderson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2013 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2013) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Elements of Bankruptcy (5th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2010).cu
  • Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (4th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2009) (with Randal C. Picker & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Contracts: Cases and Comment (9th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2008) (with John P. Dawson, William B. Harvey & Stanley D. Henderson).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Bankruptcy (4th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2007) (with Barry E. Adler & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2007 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2007) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2006 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2006) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2004 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2004) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2003 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2003) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (3rd ed.) (Foundation Press, 2002) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (3rd ed.) (Foundation Press, 2002) (with Randal C. Picker & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Game Theory and the Law (Harvard University Press, 1994) (with Randal C. Picker & Robert H. Gertner).cu
  • Strategic Behavior and the Law: The Role of Game Theory and Information Economics in Legal Analysis (1993) (with Randal C. Picker & Robert H. Gertner).cu

Books (Editor)

  • Economics of Contract Law. (Edward Elgar, 2007). cu
  • Contracts Stories. (Foundation Press, 2006). cu

Journal Articles

  • Note, "Human Cannonballs and the First Amendment: Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.", 30 Stanford Law Review 1185 (1978). cu
  • "Present at the Creation: The SEC and the Origins of the Absolute Priority Rule," 18 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 591 (2010). cu
  • "Control Rights, Priority Rights, and the Conceptual Foundations of Corporate Reorganizations," 87 Virginia Law Review 921 (2001) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). cu
  • "Bankruptcy Step Zero," 2012 Supreme Court Review 203 (2013) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn cu
  • "Absolute Priority and Its Discontents," 2020/6 Revue de Droit Commercial Belge/ Tijdschrift voor Belgisch Handelsrecht 717 (2020).
  • "Substantive Consolidation Today," 47 Boston College Law Review 5 (2005). cu
  • "Remembering Pine Gate," 38 John Marshall Law Review 5 (2004). cu
  • "The Prime Directive," 75 University of Cincinnati Law Review 921 (2006) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). cu
  • "Precontractual Disclosure Duties under the Common European Sales Law," 50 Common Market Law Review 297 (2013). cu
  • "The Dark Side of Chapter 11: A Comment on Professor Triantis' Article," 20 Canadian Business Law Journal 261 (1992). cu
  • "The Holmesian Bad Man's First Critic," 44 Tulsa Law Review 739 (2008). ssrn cu
  • "Corporate Reorganizations and the Treatment of Diverse Ownership Interests: A Comment on Adequate Protection of Secured Creditors in Bankruptcy," 51 University of Chicago Law Review 97 (1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "One-and-a-Half Badges of Fraud," 60 Practical Lawyer 41 (2014). cu
  • "World without Bankruptcy, A Bankruptcy Revisited," 50 Law and Contemporary Problems 173 (1987). cu
  • "Technology, Information, and Bankruptcy," 2007 University of Illinois Law Review 305 (2007). cu
  • "Bargaining after the Fall and the Contours of the Absolute Priority Rule," 55 University of Chicago Law Review 738 (1988) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "The Rights of Secured Creditors after ResCap," 2015 University of Illinois Law Review 849 (2015). cu
  • "Remembrances of Adolf Sprudzs," 95 Law Library Journal 331 (2003). cu
  • "Standby Letters of Credit in Bankruptcy," 49 University of Chicago Law Review 130 (1982). cu
  • "Importance of Priority," 82 Cornell Law Review 1420 (1996). cu
  • "Dodd-Frank for Bankruptcy Lawyers," 19 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 287 (2011) (with Edward Morrison). ssrn cu
  • "Chapter 11's Expanding Universe," 87 Temple Law Review 975 (2015). cu
  • "Beyond Recidivism," 54 Buffalo Law Review 343 (2006). cu
  • "Common Law Intellectual Property and the Legacy of International News Service v. Associated Press," 50 University of Chicago Law Review 411 (1983). cu
  • "Jury Trials after Granfinanciera," 65 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 1 (1991). cu
  • "Serial Entrepreneurs and Small Business Bankruptcies," 105 Columbia Law Review 2310 (2005) (with Edward Morrison). cu
  • "Priority Matters: Absolute Priority, Relative Priority, And The Costs Of Bankruptcy," 165 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 785 (2017). cu
  • "Bankruptcy's Uncontested Axioms," 108 Yale Law Journal 573 (1998). cu
  • "Loss Distribution, Forum Shopping, and Bankruptcy: A Reply to Warren," 54 University of Chicago Law Review 815 (1987). cu
  • "Blue Collar Constitutional Law," 86 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 3 (2012). cu
  • "Adversary Proceedings in Bankruptcy: A Sideshow," 79 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 951 (2005) (with Edward Morrison). ssrn cu
  • "In Memoriam: Abner J. Mikva (1926-2016)", 83 University of Chicago Law Review 1723 (2016). cu
  • "Introduction: Taking Stock," 36 Journal of Law and Economics 237 (1993). cu
  • "Remembering Walter", 62 University of Chicago Law Review 1339 (1995). cu
  • "Bankruptcy Procedure and State-Created Rights: The Lessons of Gibbons and Marathon," 1982 Supreme Court Review 25 (1982). cu
  • "Possession and Ownership: An Examination of the Scope of Article 9," 35 Stanford Law Review 175 (1983) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Pari Passu Clauses and the Skeuomorph Problem in Contract Law," 67 Duke Law Journal Online 84 (2017). cu www
  • "Revisiting Auctions in Chapter 11," 36 Journal of Law and Economics 633 (1993). cu
  • "The Future of Law and Economics: Looking Forward," 64 University of Chicago Law Review 1129 (1997). cu
  • "Changing Technology and Unchanging Doctrine: Sony Corporation v. Universal Studios, Inc.," 1984 Supreme Court Review 237 (1984). cu
  • "The End of Bankruptcy," 55 Stanford Law Review 751 (2002) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy's Quiet Revolution," 91 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 593 (2017). cu
  • "The Young Astronomers," 74 University of Chicago Law Review 1641 (2007). cu
  • "In Coase's Footsteps," 70 University of Chicago Law Review 23 (2003). cu
  • "The Seventh Amendment and Jury Trials in Bankruptcy," 1989 Supreme Court Review 261 (1989). cu
  • "Other People's Money," 60 Stanford Law Review 1309 (2008) (with M. Todd Henderson). ssrn cu
  • "The Bankruptcy Partition," 166 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1675 (2018) (with Anthony J. Casey & Randal C. Picker). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy from Olympus," 77 University of Chicago Law Review 959 (2010). cu
  • "Discharge, Waiver, and the Behavioral Undercurrents of Debtor-Creditor Law," 73 University of Chicago Law Review 17 (2006). cu
  • "The Reorganization of Closely Held Firms and the 'Opt Out' Problem," 72 Washington University Law Quarterly 913 (1994). cu
  • "Fraudulent Conveyance Law and Its Proper Domain," 38 Vanderbilt Law Review 829 (1985) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Unlikely Resurrection: Richard Posner, Promissory Estoppel, and The Death of Contract," 86 University of Chicago Law Review 1037 (2019).
  • "Secured Lending and Its Uncertain Future," 25 Cardozo Law Review 1789 (2004). cu
  • "Notice Filing and the Problem of Ostensible Ownership," 12 Journal of Legal Studies 53 (1983). cu
  • "Rules, Standards, and the Battle of the Forms: A Reassessment of §2-207," 68 Virginia Law Review 1217 (1982) (with Robert Weisberg). cu
  • "Four (Or Five) Easy Lessons from Enron," 55 Vanderbilt Law Review 1787 (2002) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "The Fraudulent Conveyance Origins of Chapter 11: An Essay on the Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations," 36 Emory Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal 699 (2020). www
  • "Self-Interest and Cooperation in Long-Term Contracts," 19 Journal of Legal Studies 583 (1990). cu
  • "Information, Uncertainty, and the Transfer of Property," 13 Journal of Legal Studies 299 (1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Absolute Priority, Valuation Uncertainty, and the Reorganization Bargain," 115 Yale Law Journal 1930 (2006) (with Donald S. Bernstein). ssrn cu
  • "Boyd's Legacy and Blackstone's Ghost," 1999 Supreme Court Review 393 (1999) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Common Law Judging in an Age of Statutes," 87 University of Chicago Law Review 2321 (2020). www
  • "Commercial Norms and the Fine Art of the Small Con: Comments on Daniel Keating's Exploring the Battle of the Forms in Action," 98 Michigan Law Review 2716 (2000). cu
  • "Fraudulent Conveyances, Agency Costs, and Leveraged Buyouts," 20 Journal of Legal Studies 1 (1991). cu
  • "Private Debt and the Missing Lever of Corporate Governance," 154 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1209 (2006) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). cu
  • "Introduction to Symposium: Homo Economicus, Homo Myopicus, and the Law and Economics of Consumer Choice," 73 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2006) (with Richard A. Epstein & Cass R. Sunstein). cu
  • "Bankruptcy - Past, Present, and Future," 94 Advocate 13 (2021) (with Marvin Isgur).
  • "The Boilerplate Puzzle," 104 Michigan Law Review 933 (2005). cu
  • "The Bankruptcy Exchange," 4 Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law 23 (2009). ssrn cu
  • "Kovacs and Toxic Wastes in Bankruptcy," 36 Stanford Law Review 1199 (1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "The Initiation Problem in Bankruptcy," 11 International Review of Law and Economics 223 (1991). cu
  • "A Cause for Distress? Ways the Federal Income Tax Pushes Taxpayers into Bankruptcy," 99 Taxes - The Tax Magazine 63 (2021).
  • "Llewellyn's Heirs," 62 Louisiana Law Review 1287 (2002). cu
  • "The New Face of Chapter 11," 12 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 69 (2004). cu
  • "Reply: Chapter 11 at Twilight," 56 Stanford Law Review 673 (2003) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Book Review (reviewing Avinash K. Dixit & Barry J. Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life (1991))," 100 Journal of Political Economy 1278 (1992). cu
  • "Making Sense of Make-Wholes," 94 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 567 (2020).
  • "No Exit? Withdrawal Rights and the Law of Corporate Reorganizations," 113 Columbia Law Review 1 (2013) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn cu
  • "Lessons from the Automobile Reorganizations," 4 Journal of Legal Analysis 271 (2012). cu
  • "Antibankruptcy," 119 Yale Law Journal 648 (2010) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy's Undiscovered Country," 25 Emory Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal 1 (2008). cu
  • "In Memoriam: Bernard D. Meltzer (1914-2007)," 74 University of Chicago Law Review 417 (2007). cu
  • "Legal Approaches to Restricting Distributions to Shareholders: The Role of Fraudulent Transfer Law," 7 European Business Organization Law Review 199 (2006). ssrn cu
  • "¿Bogart permanece en boga?: Rights of publicity en la era digital," 14 ius et veritas 179 (2005). cu
  • "Does Bogart Still Get Scale? Rights of Publicity in the Digital Age," 4 Green Bag 357 (2001). cu
  • "Security Interests Reconsidered," 80 University of Virginia Law Review 2249 (1994). cu
  • "A Simple Noncooperative Bargaining Model of Corporate Reorganizations," 20 Journal of Legal Studies 311 (1991) (with Randal C. Picker). cu
  • "Avoiding Powers under the Bankruptcy Code," Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization __ (1990). cu
  • "The Uneasy Case for Corporate Reorganizations," 15 Journal of Legal Studies 127 (1986). cu

Book Sections

  • "Enron and the Long Shadow of Stat. 13 Eliz.," in Enron: Corporate Fiascos and their Implications, Bala G. Dharan & Nancy Rapoport eds. (Foundation Press, 2004). cu
  • "Property Rights, Priority Rights, and Ostensible Ownership: The Deep Structure of Article 9.," in Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code, William Hogan, Peter Coogan, Julian McDonnell & Detlev Vagts eds. (Matthew Bender, 1988). cu
  • "Fraudulent Conveyance," in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law 168., Peter Newman ed. 1998). cu
  • "Leveraged Buyouts," in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law 570., Peter Newman ed. 1998). cu
  • "The Law and Economics of Contract Damages," in Chicago Lectures in Law and Economics, Eric A. Posner ed. (Foundation Press, 2000). cu
  • "Law, Commerce, and Gender in Trollope's Framley Parsonage," in Subversion and Sympathy: Gender, Law, and the British Novel, Martha C. Nussbaum & Alison L. LaCroix eds. (Oxford University Press, 2013). cu
  • "Coase's Journey," in Ronald H. Coase (University of Chicago Law School, 2014). cu
  • "American Stoic," in American Guy: Masculinity in American Law and Literature, Saul Levmore & Martha C. Nussbaum eds. (Oxford University Press, 2014). cu
  • "Economics of Contract Law," in The Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics: Volume 2: Private and Commercial Law, Francesco Parisi ed. (Oxford University Press, 2017). cu
  • "Money and Art in Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward," in Power, Prose, and Purse: Law, Literature, and Economic Transformations, Alison L. LaCroix, Saul Levmore & Martha C. Nussbaum eds. (Oxford University Press, 2019).
  • "Forward: The Creditors' Bargain—Past, Present, and Future," in Research Handbook on Corporate Bankruptcy Law, Barry E. Adler ed. (Edgar Publishing, 2020). www
  • "Law and War in the New World: The Last of the Mohicans, The Spy, and the Pioneers," in Cannons and Codes : Law, Literature, and America's Wars, Alison L. LaCroix, Jonathan S. Masur, Martha C. Nussbaum & Laura Weinrib eds. (Oxford University Press, 2021).
  • "Reconstructing Contracts: Hamer v. Sidway," in Contracts Stories, Douglas G. Baird ed. (Foundation Press, 2006). cu
  • "The Story of INS v. AP," in Intellectual Property Stories, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss & Jane C. Ginsburg eds. (Foundation Press, 2006). cu
  • "Game Theory and the Law," in 2 The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law 192., Peter Newman ed. 1998). cu

Working Papers

  • "Bankruptcy's Quiet Revolution," Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 755 (2016). ssrn cu

Other Publications

  • "The Lessons of Enron," Fathom, 2002 (with Daniel R. Fischel, Randal C. Picker & Julie A. Roin). www
  • "Bankruptcy's Quiet Revolution," Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, July 19, 2016. www
  • "The Bankruptcy Partition," CLS Blue Sky Blog, April 30, 2018 (with Anthony J. Casey & Randal C. Picker). www

Additional Activities

Memberships and Professional Affiliations

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

  • Fellow (1996-present)

American Law and Economics Association

  • President (2013-2014)
  • Vice President (2012-2013)
  • Secretary-Treasurer (2011-2012)
  • Board of Directors (1992-1995; 2008-2010)

Events

National Bankruptcy Conference

  • Chair (2020-present)
  • Member (1993-present)
  • Vice-Chair (1997-2005)

American College of Bankruptcy

  • Fellow (2003-present)
  • Scholar in Residence (2009-2013)
  • Director (2005-2009)

Service

South East Chicago Commission

  • Treasurer, (2010-2011)
  • Vice President (2003-2011)
  • Board of Directors and Member of Executive Committee (1991-2011)

American Law Deans Association

  • Board of Directors (1997-99)

American Law and Economics Association

  • Board of Directors (1992-1995; 2008-2010)

The Renaissance Society

  • Treasurer (2002-2004)
  • Board of Directors (1992-2004)

Faculty Retirement Oversight Committee

  • Chair (2020-present)
  • Member (2014-16)

Committee on Awards and Prizes

  • Chair (2009-2011)

University of Chicago

  • Chair, Standing Committee on Academic Fraud (2005-2007)
  • Chair, Arts Planning Council (2001-2003)
  • Chair, Committee on Patents, Software and Intellectual Property (1989-92)
  • Member, Council on Research (1989-92)
  • Chair, Library Board (1989-92)