Circuit and District Court Splits on Important Bankruptcy Issues with Bill Rochelle

Hon. Cynthia A. Norton is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City, sworn in on Feb. 1, 2013. Prior to her appointment, she clerked for Hon. John E. Rees of the Kansas Court of Appeals and Hon. James A. Pusateri, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, and was a partner at Lewis Rice & Fingersh in Kansas City before establishing her own law firm in 1995. As a member of Grimes & Rebein, Judge Norton practiced in bankruptcy and related fields in Kansas and Missouri until being sworn in as a bankruptcy judge in the Western District of Missouri. She is the recipient of the Michael R. Roser Excellence in Bankruptcy Award and the Robert L. Gernon Award for Outstanding Contribution to CLE, as well as a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy.

Judge Norton has authored numerous articles and seminar papers, and spoken at conferences all around the country. She received her B.A. in French and art history Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Kansas University and her J.D. from the Kansas University Law School, where she was associate 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. Ashely M. Chan is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Prior to taking the bench, she was a shareholder at Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller and concentrated her practice in the areas of bankruptcy and corporate restructuring.

From 1996-97, Judge Chan clerked for Hon. Gloria M. Burns of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Before joining HASPS, she was an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in its business and finance section, where she focused on bankruptcy, corporate restructuring and corporate finance.

Judge Chan has received numerous recognitions, including being selected as a Leader in Bankruptcy/Restructuring by Chambers USA, being listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights, and being listed as a Pennsylvania Lawyer on the Fast Track by The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly. She also served as chair of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference and president-elect and board member of the Homeless Advocacy Project.

Judge Chan received her J.D. in 1996 from Rutgers School of Law – Camden, where she received Tax Honors with Distinction and the Rutgers Pro Bono Publico Award.

Hon. Laurel M. Isicoff is Chief Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, initially appointed on Feb. 13, 2006, and named chief judge on Oct. 1, 2016. She also serves on ABI’s Board of Directors. Judge Isicoff is president-elect of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and an ABI Board member. She also is a member of the Pro Bono Committee of the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as chair of its Judicial Outreach Committee.

Judge Isicoff currently serves as judicial chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar and is a member of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Pro Bono.

Prior to becoming a judge, she specialized in commercial bankruptcy, foreclosure and workout matters, both as a transactional attorney and litigator, for 14 years with the law firm of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton after practicing for eight years with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, now known as Squire Patton Boggs. In private practice, she also developed a specialty in SEC receiverships involving Ponzi schemes.

After graduating from law school, Judge Isicoff clerked for Hon. Daniel S. Pearson at the Florida Third District Court of Appeal before entering private practice. She is a past president of the Bankruptcy Bar Association (BBA) of the Southern District of Florida and, until she took the bench, served as the chair of the Pro Bono Task Force for the BBA. Judge Isicoff speaks extensively on bankruptcy around the country, and is committed to increasing pro bono service, diversity in the bankruptcy community and financial literacy.

Judge Isicoff received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982.

Barbara J. Houser is the chief bankruptcy court judge for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Houser was sworn in by Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King as the first female bankruptcy judge in the Northern District on January 20, 2000.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Houser joined Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neeley in Dallas and became a shareholder in 1985. She joined Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay PC in 1988 as the shareholder in charge of the Dallas office and remained there until she was sworn in as a bankruptcy judge on Jan. 20, 2000.

Judge Houser was named President-Elect of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, her term began on Oct. 21, 2009.

Judge Houser was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in 1954 and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1978. She received her B.S. degree with honors in 1975 from the University of Nebraska and her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1978.

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.

Hon. Stacey L. Meisel is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey in Newark and is the first African-American selected for this position in New Jersey. Before joining the bench, she was a founding member of Becker Meisel LLC and co-chaired its bankruptcy, insolvency and creditors’ rights practice.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Meisel served on the New Jersey Panel of Bankruptcy Trustees and thrice served on the committee that recommends candidates to the Third Circuit for New Jersey bankruptcy judgeship vacancies. She also served on the New Jersey Court Registry of Mediators and the Lawyers Advisory Committee to the Board of Judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Judge Meisel previously served as trustee to the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, on the ABI Advisory Board for the Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop, and as chair of the 2011 Workshop Attendance Committee. She helped launch the New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation, volunteered with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and served on the board of directors for Legal Momentum – The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Judge Meisel is a co-author of the Consumer Bankruptcy Manual and the Consumer Bankruptcy Handbook, both Thomson Reuters publications. She is also serving a three-year term on the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ Rules Committee, and she serves on the National Association of Women Judges’ Color of Justice Program Committee and the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey Committee on Court Security.

Judge Meisel received her Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers The State University of New Jersey and her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law.

Christopher S. Sontchi is a judge on the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. He was appointed in 2006 and his current term will expire in 2020.

Sontchi served as a law clerk to Hon. Joseph T. Walsh in the Delaware Supreme Court. He was a member of the law firm of Ashby & Geddes, PA, where he represented a wide variety of nationally-based enterprises with diverse interests in most of the larger chapter 11 reorganization proceedings filed in Delaware.

Judge Sontchi obtained his Bachelor of Arts Phi Beta Kappa with distinction in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Later he earned his J.D. at the University of Chicago. Sontchi is also a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hon. Bruce A. Harwood is Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Hampshire in Manchester, first appointed in March 2013. He also serves on the First Circuit’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Harwood chaired the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Creditors’ Rights Group at Sheehan Phinney Bass Green in Manchester, N.H., representing business debtors, asset-purchasers, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, trustees in bankruptcy, and insurance and banking regulators in connection with the rehabilitation and liquidation of insolvent insurers and trust companies. He was also a chapter 7 panel trustee in the District of New Hampshire and mediated disputes arising in debtor/creditor relations. Judge Harwood was program co-chair of ABI’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference for four years, served on ABI’s Board of Directors (Communication, Information and Technology Committee) and was Northeast Regional Chair of the ABI Endowment Fund’s Development Committee. He is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and was consistently recognized in the bankruptcy law section of The Best Lawyers in America and in New England Super Lawyers, as well as in Chambers USA with a “Band 1” ranking in the field of corporate/commercial bankruptcy.

Judge Harwood received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Washington University School of Law.