Bankruptcy Hot Topics with Bill Rochelle 2021

Hon. Harlin DeWayne Hale is Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, appointed in November 2002. He previously worked at Strasburger & Price before opening a boutique firm, where he became well versed in bankruptcy law.

Two years before his judicial appointment, Judge Hale was a regional partner in charge of the bankruptcy practice at Baker & McKenzie in Dallas. He is a member of the Texas, Louisiana, American and Dallas Bar Associations, the Dallas Bankruptcy Bar Association, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Judge Hale received his undergraduate degree and J.D. from Louisiana State University, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor of its law review.

Hon. John T. Gregg is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids, appointed on July 17, 2014. Previously, he was a partner with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he focused on corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and other insolvency matters.

Judge Gregg is a frequent writer and speaker on bankruptcy and other commercial issues. He has written and co-edited numerous treatises and articles for various publications, including Collier Guide to Chapter 11, published by LexisNexis; Strategies for Secured Creditors in Workouts and Foreclosures, published by ALI-ABA; Issues for Suppliers and Customers of Financially Troubled Auto Suppliers and Interrupted! Understanding Bankruptcy’s Effects on Manufacturing Supply Chains, both published by ABI; Michigan Security Interests in Personal Property, published by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education; Handling Consumer and Small Business Bankruptcies in Michigan, published by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education; and Receiverships in Michigan, published by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

Judge Gregg received his B.A. in 1996 from the University of Michigan and his J.D. in 2002 from DePaul University College of Law.

Hon. Jeffery P. Hopkins is a Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati, appointed in 1996 and reappointed in 2010.

After graduating from law school, he clerked for Hon. Alan E. Norris on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, then worked as an associate with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, specializing in complex commercial litigation.

In 1990, Judge Hopkins sought appointment as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and advanced to become chief of the Civil Division for the Southern District of Ohio. During his tenure on the bankruptcy court, he has served on several committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States and for bar-related and civic organizations.

In 2002, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist appointed Judge Hopkins to the Federal Judicial Center’s Education Committee for bankruptcy judges. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. appointed him to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, for which he chaired its Business Bankruptcy Subcommittee until 2009.

Judge Hopkins formerly served on the boards of ABI, the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and as chair of the Queen City Foundation. Judge Hopkins is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy law. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

In 2010, Judge Hopkins received the William K. Thomas Distinguished Jurist Award from his alma mater, The Ohio State College of Law. He also is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Judge Hopkins received his A.B. in government and legal studies and anthro-sociology from Bowdoin College in 1982 and his J.D. in 1985 from The Ohio State University’s Michael E. Moritz College of Law.

Mary Jo Heston is a judge on the United States bankruptcy court, Western District of Washington. She was appointed on January 31, 2017, to a term will expire on January 30, 2031.

An insightful writer known for his authoritative take on legal developments affecting bankruptcy practice, Rochelle published for Bloomberg every day from 2007 until this fall.

Prior to his second career in journalism, he practiced bankruptcy law for 35 years, including 17 years as a partner in the New York office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Columbia University, where he won Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar awards in the law school.

Judge Elizabeth S. Stong has served as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of New York since 2003. Before entering on duty, she was a litigation partner and associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York, an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and law clerk to Hon. A. David Mazzone, U.S. District Judge in the District of Massachusetts.

Judge Stong is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council and Membership Committee of the American Law Institute. She is also a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Practising Law Institute, a member of the board of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, an international dispute resolution organization that promotes judicial education in complex financial disputes, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Harvard Law School Association of New York City. She is co-chair of the New York Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, serves on the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, represents the ABA’s National Conference of Federal Trial Judges in the ABA House of Delegates, and is a member of the Council of the ABA Business Law Section. She serves as co-chair of the New York City Bar Council on the Profession, a member of the New York County Lawyers Association Justice Center Advisory Board, and a board member of the New York Law Institute. She is an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School and St. John’s University School of Law.

Judge Stong is active in international judicial capacity building and has trained judges on five continents, including in Central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula, as an expert with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and U.S. Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program. She has also consulted with the Supreme Court of China and People’s High Courts in Beijing and Guangzhou, and has participated in judicial workshops in Cambodia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. She is an elected member of the European Law Institute and an Adviser to the ELI-UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure project.

Judge Stong previously served as President of the Harvard Law School Association, chair of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Vice President of the Federal Bar Council, Vice President of the Board of Directors of New York City Bar Fund Inc. and the City Bar Justice Center, Chair of the New York City Bar’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and Vice Chair of its Judiciary Committee, the Board of Directors of the International Insolvency Institute, and an officer of the ABA Business Law Section. She was also a member of the board of MFY Legal Services, Inc., one of the largest providers of free civil legal services to low-income residents of New York City, and served on the ABA’s Standing Committee on the American Judicial System, Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education, Commission on Women in the Profession, and Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.

Judge Stong received the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Freda Nisnewitz Award for Pro Bono Service, the New York Institute of Credit’s Hon. Cecelia H. Goetz Award, the ABA Business Law Section’s Glass Cutter Award, and the MFY Legal Services Scales of Justice Award, among other recognitions.

Judge Stong received her A.B. magna cum laude and her J.D. from Harvard University.