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Vice Chancellor Zurn holds a J.D., cum laude, and a master’s degree in bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a B.A., with distinction, from the University of Virginia. She has been admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Vice Chancellor Zurn is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association and the Richard S. Rodney American Inn of Court.
After having served as a Master in Chancery since March 2016, Governor John Carney nominated Zurn to a new vice-chancellor position on the Delaware Court of Chancery in September 2018. Carney praised her “breadth of knowledge, devotion to public service and passion for her work.” She was confirmed by the Delaware Senate on October 3 and was sworn in on October 4. Before joining the Court, she was first a patent litigator and then a Deputy Attorney General at the Delaware Department of Justice. Vice Chancellor Zurn served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Richard G. Andrews of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
In September 2021, Vice Chancellor Zurn denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss a stockholder derivative complaint based on the Boeing 737 MAX crashes that occurred in 2019. Two months later, the defendants—members of Boeing’s board of directors—settled the litigation for $237.5 million. The settlement agreement obligated Boeing to “add another director to its 12-member board with aviation, engineering or product-safety oversight experience” and to amend its bylaws to “memorialize the separation of the CEO and board chairmanship” roles that the company adopted in 2019 in response to the crashes.
Judge Daniel P. Collins received both his B.S. in finance and accounting in 1980 and his J.D. in 1983 from the University of Arizona. He is Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona in Phoenix, appointed as bankruptcy judge on Jan. 18, 2013, and as chief judge on March 17, 2014. Previously, he was a shareholder with the law firm of Collins, May, Potenza, Baran & Gillespie, P.C., in downtown Phoenix, practicing primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial litigation and commercial transactions.
Judge Collins served on the State Bar of Arizona’s Subcommittee on the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. He also chaired the Bankruptcy Section of the State of Arizona from 1995-96 and was a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He was granted the St. Thomas More Award in 2017.
Collins is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, ABI, Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, Federal Bar Association, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, State Bar of Arizona and the Maricopa County Bar. He currently serves on ABI’s Board of Directors and on the board of the Federal Bar Association’s Phoenix Chapter. He is also a member of the University of Arizona Law School Board of Visitors and was one of the founders of the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court.
Judge Collins is a frequent speaker on such topics as professionalism and civility, fraudulent transfers, discharge litigation, trial practice, reaffirmation agreements, the intersection of bankruptcy and marital dissolution, receiverships, bankruptcy sales, bankruptcy claims classification, trustee representation, pensions in bankruptcy, bankruptcy appeals and debtor/creditor law.
Judge Stacey G.C. Jernigan earned her Bachelor of Business Administration, magna cum laude, from Southern Methodist University and received her Juris Doctor from University of Texas School of Law.
Judge Jernigan practiced law for 17 years in the Business Reorganization and Bankruptcy Practice Group of the international law firm of Haynes and Boone, LLP, from 1989 to 2006 as an associate, partner, and head of the bankruptcy practice group. Judge Jernigan represented mostly debtors, committees, and purchasers in large, complex Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court workouts. In 2001, she also served as an adviser to the California Legislature Speaker of the Assembly Robert Hertzberg in Sacramento, California, in connection with the California utility financial crisis involving PG&E. There, Jernigan provided advice and input on possible bankruptcy and legislative solutions that might be utilized to deal with the problems that had stemmed from failed deregulation and inadequate power supply in that state.
On May 12, 2006, she was appointed to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. She was reappointed for a second 14-year term beginning May 12, 2020.
Martin Glenn is an American jurist who serves as the chief judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in 1968. Glenn then attended Rutgers Law School, where he was the articles editor of the Rutgers Law Review, and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1971. He later gained admission to the bar of California and New York.
Glenn was a law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1971 to 1972. He was in private practice with O’Melveny & Myers, first in Los Angeles, California, then in New York, before being sworn in as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on November 30, 2006. On January 31, 2022, it was announced by the Manhattan federal district court that Glenn would serve as the chief bankruptcy judge. He assumed his position as chief judge on March 1, 2022. Glenn is an adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School. He is a life member of the American Law Institute.
Judge Craig T. Goldblatt earned his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1990 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1993. He is an experienced bankruptcy litigator, with a focus on complex bankruptcy disputes and bankruptcy appeals. The core of his practice has been protecting the interests of secured creditors, financial institutions and insurance companies in bankruptcy-related disputes, though he has also represented leading technology, transportation and communications industry clients in bankruptcy matters. Judge Goldblatt, who joined the firm in 1994, was a member of the WilmerHale’s Management Committee.
Judge Goldblatt represents parties in all stages of bankruptcy proceedings. The focus of his practice involves bankruptcy and insolvency related trial-level matters and appeals—particularly the representation of financial institutions and other commercial creditors in bankruptcy litigation. He has argued three bankruptcy cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and one before the en banc Third Circuit. He has also developed a particular expertise on consumer bankruptcy matters, representing several major mortgage servicers, holders of credit card and other unsecured debt, and bankruptcy trustees in a variety of regulatory investigations, bankruptcy disputes and appeals.
Outside of his bankruptcy practice, Judge Goldblatt participated in WilmerHale’s representation of the University of Michigan, from the district court to the Supreme Court, in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 US 306 (2003). The Supreme Court’s decision in that case held that institutions of higher education may consider race as a factor in admissions decisions. He has also represented an array of pro bono clients in civil rights, criminal and constitutional litigation.
Judge Goldblatt was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court bench in 2021.
Judge Meredith Grabill received her B.A. in Political Science and History from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She earned her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 2006, where she served as Editor In Chief of the Tulane Law Review from 2005-2006. The faculty honored her with the John Minor Wisdom Award for Academic Excellence and Legal Scholarship that is awarded annually to an outstanding student of the graduating class. Prior to entering the private practice of law, she served as a judicial clerk to Judge Edith Brown Clement, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, from 2007-2008; and Judge Martin L.C. Feldman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, from 2006-2007.
Judge Grabill has practiced law primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial, and oil and gas litigation in Louisiana and New York. In 2019, she was appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Prior to her appointment, Judge Grabill was a shareholder at Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard and focused her practice in the areas of bankruptcy, corporate law and commercial litigation. She is the first Lugenbuhl attorney to transition to a judge.
While in practice, Judge Grabill served on bankruptcy teams representing a commercial real estate finance firm in bankruptcy, an insurance company in a demutualization and acquisition process, and the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in an E&P company’s bankruptcy proceedings. She also represented a multinational high-tech corporation in antitrust proceedings in multiple countries, a professional players’ association in labor and contract disputes, insurance and reinsurance companies in contract disputes, and both individuals and corporations in fraudulent transfer and other commercial and oil-and-gas disputes. She served as the clerk to the Special Master appointed by the United States Supreme Court to preside over an interstate water-rights dispute.
Chief Judge Michael Kaplan received his A.B. degree from Georgetown University and his J.D. Degree from Fordham University School of Law. Kaplan was appointed as a bankruptcy judge on October 3, 2006, for the District of New Jersey and designated Chief Judge on May 1, 2020. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Kaplan served as a Standing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee, as well as a member of the Chapter 7 panel of bankruptcy trustees, where he received case appointments as both a Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 trustee. His private practice included the representation of institutional lenders, consumer debtors (under both Chapters 7 & 13), business debtors and individuals undergoing reorganization pursuant to Chapter 11.
Over the past thirty years, Judge Kaplan has spoken to numerous bar associations and business organizations, and authored several articles relating to bankruptcy issues. Judge Kaplan serves on the Editorial Board and as Business Manager for the American Bankruptcy Law Journal and teaches as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law.
Judge Kaplan has been appointed by the Director of Administrative Office of the Courts (“AO”) to a term as the Third Circuit representative to the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group, in addition to appointments as the Bankruptcy Judge representative on both the Human Resources Advisory Council and Budget & Finance Advisory Council to the AO. He is an officer of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and member of the Turnaround Management Association, American Bankruptcy Institute and the Commercial Law League of America.
Prior to taking the bench, Judge Kaplan served as Mayor and Councilman for the Borough of Norwood, NJ, and as a member of the Norwood Planning Board.
Judge Christopher M. Lopez earned a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston, where he was a proud member of the Track and Field Team. He later earned a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. Judge Lopez was appointed to serve as a bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of Texas in August 2019.
Before his appointment, Judge Lopez was a member of the Business, Finance & Restructuring Group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP. While in private practice, Judge Lopez focused on representations ranging from top global corporations in mega-restructurings to middle-market debtors and creditor representations. He also was an active member of the Houston civic community, serving on the boards of charitable organizations.
Judge Lopez lectures across the country on bankruptcy issues. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
Judge Lisa G. Beckerman received an A.B. from University of Chicago in 1984, an M.B.A. from University of Texas in 1986 and a J.D. from Boston University in 1989. From May 1999 until she was appointed to the bench, she was a partner in the financial restructuring group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. From September 1989 until May 1999, she was an associate and then a partner in the bankruptcy group at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Prior to her appointment, she served as a co-chair of the Executive Committee of UJA-Federation of New York’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group, a co-chair and as a member of the Advisory Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute from 2013 through 2019.
Judge Beckerman is a Member of the Board of Directors and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) and was a member of the 2021 NCBJ Education Committee. She is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for Boston University School of Law and on the Board of Directors of Tina’s Wish. Judge Beckerman was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on February 26, 2021.