Call for Papers--Debtor-Creditor Law Broadly Understood

Call for Papers—AALS Section on Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights

The Future of Debtor-Creditor Scholarship

Both domestically and internationally, for both well-known businesses and anonymous consumers, world events lately have thrust issues of debt, creditor rights, and debtor protection into the spotlight. The field of debtor-creditor scholarship has perhaps never been as fertile as it is today. Its future will ultimately become the responsibility of those having entered the academy during this most robust period. This year’s program is designed to highlight the contributions of those who have just begun to toil in this field, to reveal for the section the newest ideas from recent newcomers, to give these developing scholars an opportunity to present their thoughts and receive feedback in a friendly and receptive forum, and to give more experienced section members a chance to mold and inspire these developing producers—and the future of our section—with constructive questions and comments.

The Section on Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights thus issues a call for papers on the topic of debtor-creditor scholarship, most broadly understood, for presentation at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans in January 2010. Proposals are welcome from a wide array of perspectives with a connection to creditors’ rights and debtor protection. Proposals may be in any stage of production, from early-stage idea to mid-stage working draft to polished paper, though work that will not be published by January 2010 will be strongly preferred. The section does not plan to publish the papers in a symposium, so presenters are free to seek publication elsewhere. Strong preference will be given to proposals from those who will not yet have been awarded tenure by January 2010 and to those whose work is not already well known within the section. We would anticipate three presentations of 15-20 minutes, each followed by 10-15 minutes of questions and comments from the audience. The Section’s brief business meeting will conclude the program.

Deadline for submission is Monday, August 31, 2009. Please email proposals to section chair, Jason Kilborn, at jkilborn-at-jmls-dot-edu. Selections will be made by late September by the Executive Committee of the Section (chair Jason Kilborn, chair-elect Katie Porter, secretary/treasurer Rafael Pardo, executive committee members Michelle Arnopol Cecil and Alan White, and immediate past chair Jean Braucher). Pursuant to AALS policy, presenters will have to cover their own travel expenses and registration fee for the annual meeting (typically with support from their home institutions), as the Section is prohibited from reimbursing for such expenses.