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David Arthur Skeel
S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law

David Arthur Skeel
S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law

Tel: 215.573.9859
Fax: 215.573.2025
Email: dskeel@law.upenn.edu

Expertise

  • Bankruptcy
  • Corporate Labor Law

Bio

David Skeel is the author of Icarus in the Boardroom (Oxford University Press, 2005) and Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America (Princeton University Press, 2001), as well as numerous articles and other publications. [More]

David Skeel is the author of Icarus in the Boardroom (Oxford University Press, 2005) and Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America (Princeton University Press, 2001), as well as numerous articles and other publications. He has been interviewed on Nightline, Chris Matthews’ Hardball (MS-NBC), National Public Radio, and Marketplace, among others, and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and many other publications. Skeel has twice received the Harvey Levin award for outstanding teaching, as selected by a vote of the graduating class as well as the University's Lindback Award for distinguished teaching. In addition to corporate law and bankruptcy, Skeel also writes on sovereign debt, law and religion, and poetry and the law, and is an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

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Representative Professional Positions

Penn Law - S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law (2004 -); Professor of Law (1999-2004)

Temple - Associate Professor of Law (1993-98); Assistant Professor (1990-93)

Visiting Professor - Georgetown; University of Pennsylvania; University of Virginia; University of Wisconsin

Representative Publications

Odious Debts or Odious Regimes?, J.L. & CONTEMP. PROB. (forthcoming 2007) (with Patrick Bolton).
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Christianity of the (Modest) Rule of Law, 8 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 809 (2006) (with William Stuntz).
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An Efficiency-Based Explanation for Current Corporate Reorganization Practice, 73 U. CHI. L. REV. 425 (2006) (with Ken Ayotte) (reviewing LYNN LOPUCKI, COURTING FAILURE (2005)).

ICARUS IN THE BOARDROOM: THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS IN CORPORATE AMERICA AND WHERE THEY CAME FROM (Oxford Univ. Press 2005).
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Redesigning the International Lender of Last Resort, U. 6 CHI. J. INT'L L. 177 (2005) (with Patrick Bolton).

"Sovereignty" Issues and the Church Bankruptcy Cases, 29 SETON HALL LEGIS. J. 345 (2005).

The Past, Present and Future of Debtor-in-Possession Financing, 25 CARD. L. REV. 1905 (2004).
[View Document]

Inside the Black Box: How Should a Sovereign Bankruptcy Regime be Structured?, 53 EMORY L.J. 763 (2004) (with Patrick Bolton).
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Corporate Anatomy Lessons, 113 YALE L.J. 1519 (2004).
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Reinier Kraakman's The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach, 113 YALE L.J. 1519, 1519-1576 (2004) (book review).
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Creditors Ball: The "New" New Corporate Governance in Chapter 11, 152 U. PA. L. REV. 917 (2003).
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Can Majority Voting Provisions Do it All?, 52 EMORY L.J. 417 (2003).
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Avoiding Moral Bankruptcy, 44 B.C. L. REV. 1181 (2003).
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Corporate Ownership Structure and the Evolution of Bankruptcy Law: Lessons Learned From the United Kingdom 55 VAND. L. REV. 1699 (2002) (with John Armour and Brian Cheffins).
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DEBT'S DOMINION: A HISTORY OF BANKRUPTCY LAW IN AMERICA (Princeton University Press 2001).

The Lawyer as Confidence-Man, 101 COLUM. L. REV. 1750 (2001).
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Shaming in Corporate Law, 149 U. PA. L. REV. 1811 (2001).
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What's So Bad About Delaware?, 54 VAND L. REV. 309 (2001).
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Vern Countryman and the Path of Progressive Legal Scholarship, 113 HARV. L. REV. 1075 (2000).

The Law and Finance of Bank and Insurance Insolvency Regulation, 76 TEX. L. REV. 723 (1998).
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An Evolutionary Theory of Corporate Law and Corporate Bankruptcy, 51 VAND. L. REV. 1325 (1998) (selected as one of ten best corporate and securities articles of year and reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator (vol. 41, 1999-2000).

The Unanimity Norm in Delaware Corporate Law, 83 VA. L. REV. 127 (1997) (selected in survey by Corporate Practice Commentator as one of ten best corporate and securities articles of year).

For additional publications, please consult
Current & Recent Research

Current Working Papers

Why Do Distressed Companies Choose Delaware? An Empirical Analysis of Venue Choice in Bankruptcy, (U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 03-29, October 2004) (with Kenneth Ayotte).

 
David Skeel

Curriculum Vitae

Related Links

Education

  • J.D. - University of Virginia - '87
  • B.A. - University of North Carolina - '83

Courses Taught

  • Corporations
  • Bankruptcy
  • Debt Relief and Sovereign Debt Restructuring
  • Law, Literature, and Interpretation
  • Christian Perspectives on Law
  • Contracts I & II
  • Corporate Governance Seminar
  • Secured Transactions

Research Areas

  • Corporate Law
  • Bankruptcy
  • Debt Relief and Sovereign Bankruptcy
  • Law and Religion
  • Law and Poetry

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