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Douglas 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)

  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2024 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2024) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2023 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2023) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).www
  • The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations (Cambridge University Press, 2022).www
  • Elements of Bankruptcy (7th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2022).
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2019 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2019) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).
  • 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 (2018 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2018) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2017 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2017) (with Theodore Eisenberg).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 (2014 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2014) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Elements of Bankruptcy (6th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2014).cu
  • Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law: Selected Statutes (2013 ed.) (Foundation Press, 2013) (with Theodore Eisenberg & Thomas H. Jackson).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
  • 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
  • Appendix to Contracts, Cases and Comments (Foundation Press, 2008) (with John P. Dawson, William B. Harvey & Stanley D. Henderson).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 (Foundation Press, 2005) (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
  • Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (3rd ed.) (Foundation Press, 2002) (with Randal C. Picker & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (3rd ed.) (Foundation Press, 2002) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems and Materials on Bankruptcy, 1994 Supplement (Little Brown and Company, 1994) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Game Theory and the Law (Harvard University Press, 1994) (with Randal C. Picker & Robert H. Gertner).cu
  • The Elements of Bankruptcy (Revised ed.) (Foundation Press, 1993).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
  • The Elements of Bankruptcy (Foundation Press, 1992).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Bankruptcy (2nd ed.) (Little Brown and Company, 1990) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems and Materials on Bankruptcy, 1989 Supplement, 1989 ed., 1989 Supplement (Little Brown and Company, 1989).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (2nd ed.) (Foundation Press, 1987) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Cases, Problems, and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (Foundation Press, 1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson).cu

Books (Editor)

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

Journal Articles

  • "Guest editorial: The uncertain future of corporate reorganisation," __ International Insolvency Review __ (2025) (forthcoming). www
  • "Bankruptcy Minimalism," 98 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 493 (2024). www
  • "Three Faces of Creditor-on-Creditor Aggression," 97 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 213 (2023). www
  • "A Cause for Distress? Ways the Federal Income Tax Pushes Taxpayers into Bankruptcy," 99 Taxes - The Tax Magazine 63 (2021).
  • "Bankruptcy - Past, Present, and Future," 94 Advocate 13 (2021) (with Marvin Isgur).
  • "Absolute Priority and Its Discontents," 2020/6 Revue de Droit Commercial Belge/ Tijdschrift voor Belgisch Handelsrecht 717 (2020).
  • "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
  • "Making Sense of Make-Wholes," 94 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 567 (2020).
  • "Common Law Judging in an Age of Statutes," 87 University of Chicago Law Review 2321 (2020). www
  • "Unlikely Resurrection: Richard Posner, Promissory Estoppel, and The Death of Contract," 86 University of Chicago Law Review 1037 (2019).
  • "The Bankruptcy Partition," 166 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1675 (2018) (with Anthony J. Casey & Randal C. Picker). ssrn cu
  • "Pari Passu Clauses and the Skeuomorph Problem in Contract Law," 67 Duke Law Journal Online 84 (2017). cu www
  • "Bankruptcy's Quiet Revolution," 91 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 593 (2017). cu
  • "Priority Matters: Absolute Priority, Relative Priority, And The Costs Of Bankruptcy," 165 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 785 (2017). cu
  • "In Memoriam: Abner J. Mikva (1926-2016)", 83 University of Chicago Law Review 1723 (2016). cu
  • "Chapter 11's Expanding Universe," 87 Temple Law Review 975 (2015). cu
  • "The Rights of Secured Creditors after ResCap," 2015 University of Illinois Law Review 849 (2015). cu
  • "One-and-a-Half Badges of Fraud," 60 Practical Lawyer 41 (2014). cu
  • "Bankruptcy Step Zero," 2012 Supreme Court Review 203 (2013) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn cu
  • "Precontractual Disclosure Duties under the Common European Sales Law," 50 Common Market Law Review 297 (2013). cu
  • "No Exit? Withdrawal Rights and the Law of Corporate Reorganizations," 113 Columbia Law Review 1 (2013) (with Anthony J. Casey). ssrn cu
  • "Blue Collar Constitutional Law," 86 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 3 (2012). cu
  • "Dodd-Frank for Bankruptcy Lawyers," 19 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 287 (2011) (with Edward Morrison). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy from Olympus," 77 University of Chicago Law Review 959 (2010). cu
  • "Present at the Creation: The SEC and the Origins of the Absolute Priority Rule," 18 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 591 (2010). cu
  • "Antibankruptcy," 119 Yale Law Journal 648 (2010) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "The Bankruptcy Exchange," 4 Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law 23 (2009). ssrn cu
  • "The Holmesian Bad Man's First Critic," 44 Tulsa Law Review 739 (2008). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy's Undiscovered Country," 25 Emory Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal 1 (2008). cu
  • "Other People's Money," 60 Stanford Law Review 1309 (2008) (with M. Todd Henderson). ssrn cu
  • "In Memoriam: Bernard D. Meltzer (1914-2007)," 74 University of Chicago Law Review 417 (2007). cu
  • "Technology, Information, and Bankruptcy," 2007 University of Illinois Law Review 305 (2007). cu
  • "The Young Astronomers," 74 University of Chicago Law Review 1641 (2007). cu
  • "Discharge, Waiver, and the Behavioral Undercurrents of Debtor-Creditor Law," 73 University of Chicago Law Review 17 (2006). cu
  • "Beyond Recidivism," 54 Buffalo Law Review 343 (2006). 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
  • "Legal Approaches to Restricting Distributions to Shareholders: The Role of Fraudulent Transfer Law," 7 European Business Organization Law Review 199 (2006). ssrn cu
  • "The Prime Directive," 75 University of Cincinnati Law Review 921 (2006) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). cu
  • "Absolute Priority, Valuation Uncertainty, and the Reorganization Bargain," 115 Yale Law Journal 1930 (2006) (with Donald S. Bernstein). ssrn cu
  • "Serial Entrepreneurs and Small Business Bankruptcies," 105 Columbia Law Review 2310 (2005) (with Edward Morrison). cu
  • "The Boilerplate Puzzle," 104 Michigan Law Review 933 (2005). cu
  • "Adversary Proceedings in Bankruptcy: A Sideshow," 79 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 951 (2005) (with Edward Morrison). ssrn cu
  • "Substantive Consolidation Today," 47 Boston College Law Review 5 (2005). cu
  • "¿Bogart permanece en boga?: Rights of publicity en la era digital," 14 ius et veritas 179 (2005). cu
  • "Secured Lending and Its Uncertain Future," 25 Cardozo Law Review 1789 (2004). cu
  • "Remembering Pine Gate," 38 John Marshall Law Review 5 (2004). cu
  • "The New Face of Chapter 11," 12 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 69 (2004). cu
  • "In Coase's Footsteps," 70 University of Chicago Law Review 23 (2003). cu
  • "Remembrances of Adolf Sprudzs," 95 Law Library Journal 331 (2003). cu
  • "Reply: Chapter 11 at Twilight," 56 Stanford Law Review 673 (2003) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "The End of Bankruptcy," 55 Stanford Law Review 751 (2002) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Four (Or Five) Easy Lessons from Enron," 55 Vanderbilt Law Review 1787 (2002) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Llewellyn's Heirs," 62 Louisiana Law Review 1287 (2002). cu
  • "Control Rights, Priority Rights, and the Conceptual Foundations of Corporate Reorganizations," 87 Virginia Law Review 921 (2001) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). cu
  • "Does Bogart Still Get Scale? Rights of Publicity in the Digital Age," 4 Green Bag 357 (2001). cu
  • "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
  • "Boyd's Legacy and Blackstone's Ghost," 1999 Supreme Court Review 393 (1999) (with Robert K. Rasmussen). ssrn cu
  • "Bankruptcy's Uncontested Axioms," 108 Yale Law Journal 573 (1998). cu
  • "The Future of Law and Economics: Looking Forward," 64 University of Chicago Law Review 1129 (1997). cu
  • "Importance of Priority," 82 Cornell Law Review 1420 (1996). cu
  • "Remembering Walter", 62 University of Chicago Law Review 1339 (1995). cu
  • "The Reorganization of Closely Held Firms and the 'Opt Out' Problem," 72 Washington University Law Quarterly 913 (1994). cu
  • "Security Interests Reconsidered," 80 University of Virginia Law Review 2249 (1994). cu
  • "Revisiting Auctions in Chapter 11," 36 Journal of Law and Economics 633 (1993). cu
  • "Introduction: Taking Stock," 36 Journal of Law and Economics 237 (1993). cu
  • "The Dark Side of Chapter 11: A Comment on Professor Triantis' Article," 20 Canadian Business Law Journal 261 (1992). 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
  • "Fraudulent Conveyances, Agency Costs, and Leveraged Buyouts," 20 Journal of Legal Studies 1 (1991). cu
  • "Jury Trials after Granfinanciera," 65 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 1 (1991). cu
  • "A Simple Noncooperative Bargaining Model of Corporate Reorganizations," 20 Journal of Legal Studies 311 (1991) (with Randal C. Picker). cu
  • "The Initiation Problem in Bankruptcy," 11 International Review of Law and Economics 223 (1991). cu
  • "Avoiding Powers under the Bankruptcy Code," Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Reorganization __ (1990). cu
  • "Self-Interest and Cooperation in Long-Term Contracts," 19 Journal of Legal Studies 583 (1990). cu
  • "The Seventh Amendment and Jury Trials in Bankruptcy," 1989 Supreme Court Review 261 (1989). 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
  • "World without Bankruptcy, A Bankruptcy Revisited," 50 Law and Contemporary Problems 173 (1987). cu
  • "Loss Distribution, Forum Shopping, and Bankruptcy: A Reply to Warren," 54 University of Chicago Law Review 815 (1987). cu
  • "The Uneasy Case for Corporate Reorganizations," 15 Journal of Legal Studies 127 (1986). cu
  • "Fraudulent Conveyance Law and Its Proper Domain," 38 Vanderbilt Law Review 829 (1985) (with Thomas H. Jackson). 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
  • "Changing Technology and Unchanging Doctrine: Sony Corporation v. Universal Studios, Inc.," 1984 Supreme Court Review 237 (1984). cu
  • "Kovacs and Toxic Wastes in Bankruptcy," 36 Stanford Law Review 1199 (1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Information, Uncertainty, and the Transfer of Property," 13 Journal of Legal Studies 299 (1984) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Common Law Intellectual Property and the Legacy of International News Service v. Associated Press," 50 University of Chicago Law Review 411 (1983). cu
  • "Notice Filing and the Problem of Ostensible Ownership," 12 Journal of Legal Studies 53 (1983). cu
  • "Possession and Ownership: An Examination of the Scope of Article 9," 35 Stanford Law Review 175 (1983) (with Thomas H. Jackson). cu
  • "Rules, Standards, and the Battle of the Forms: A Reassessment of §2-207," 68 Virginia Law Review 1217 (1982) (with Robert Weisberg). cu
  • "Standby Letters of Credit in Bankruptcy," 49 University of Chicago Law Review 130 (1982). cu
  • "Bankruptcy Procedure and State-Created Rights: The Lessons of Gibbons and Marathon," 1982 Supreme Court Review 25 (1982). cu
  • Note, "Human Cannonballs and the First Amendment: Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.", 30 Stanford Law Review 1185 (1978). cu

Book Sections

  • "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).
  • "Foreword: The Creditors' Bargain—Past, Present, and Future," in Research Handbook on Corporate Bankruptcy Law, Barry E. Adler ed. (Edgar Publishing, 2020). www
  • "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).
  • "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
  • "American Stoic," in American Guy: Masculinity in American Law and Literature, Saul Levmore & Martha C. Nussbaum eds. (Oxford University Press, 2014). cu
  • "Coase's Journey," in Ronald H. Coase (University of Chicago Law School, 2014). 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
  • "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
  • "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
  • "The Law and Economics of Contract Damages," in Chicago Lectures in Law and Economics, Eric A. Posner ed. (Foundation Press, 2000). cu
  • "Game Theory and the Law," in 2 The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law 192., Peter Newman ed. 1998). 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
  • "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

Working Papers

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

Other Publications

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