Holiday Reading

The holidays are approaching, so why not treat yourself to an education in the history of American bankruptcy law?  Last Christmas, my wife Laura gave me a copy of David A. Skeel, Jr.'s Debt's Dominion:  A History of Bankruptcy Law in America (Princeton University Press, 2001).  Skeel's book explores the development of bankruptcy law from the 1800's to the reforms proposed in the early 2000's, some of which were incorporated in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.  Debt's Domion gives a particularly enlightening treatment of railroad receiverships, which ultimately developed into modern Chapter 11 practice, and William Douglas' mid-century crack-down on the Wall Street reorganization bar.  We had the honor of hearing the author give a lecture as the keynote speaker at the California Bankruptcy Forum last May, and his insights into contemporary bankruptcy law and his preductions for the future were fascinating. - Reno Fernandez