Rafael I. Pardo

Biography

Rafael Pardo is an Associate Professor at Seattle University School of Law, which he joined in 2006 after having been an Associate Professor of Law at Tulane Law School from 2003 to 2006. Professor Pardo teaches in the fields of bankruptcy, commercial law, and contracts. Much of his research explores the relationship between educational debt and financial distress, particularly within the bankruptcy system. His recent research has also analyzed bankruptcy courts and their institutional role within the federal judicial system. Professor Pardo is a frequent presenter at conferences and has participated in educational programs organized by the Federal Judicial Center for bankruptcy judges and other bankruptcy court officials.

Professor Pardo received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor of the New York University Law Review and was a recipient of the Judge John J. Galgay Fellowship in Bankruptcy and Reorganization Law. Upon graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Prudence Carter Beatty of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and subsequently worked as an associate in the business reorganization and restructuring group at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York. Professor Pardo is currently the Secretary and Treasurer for the AALS Section on Creditor's and Debtor's Rights. He serves as a volunteer attorney for the King County Bar Association Debt Clinic, and he sits on the board of trustees of the Consumer Education and Training Services (CENTS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a variety of resources to the Seattle community on matters of money management, consumer credit personal finances, and financial literacy.

Articles

An Empirical Examination of Access to Chapter 7 Relief by Pro Se Debtors, 26 Emory Bankr. Dev. J. (forthcoming 2009)

Setting the Record Straight: A Sur-Reply to Professors Lawless et al., 33 Seattle U. L. Rev. 93 (2009)

Failing to Answer Whether Bankruptcy Reform Failed: A Critique of the First Report from the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project, 83 Am. Bankr. L.J. 27 (2009)

The Real Student-Loan Scandal: Undue Hardship Discharge Litigation, 83 Am. Bankr. L.J. 179 (2009) (with Michelle R. Lacey)

The Utility of Opacity in Judicial Selection, 64 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 633 (2009) (symposium issue)

An Empirical Investigation into Appellate Structure and the Perceived Quality of Appellate Review, 61 Vand. L. Rev. 1745 (2008) (with Jonathan R. Nash).

Illness and Inability to Repay: The Role of Debtor Health in the Discharge of Educational Debt, 35 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 505 (2008).

Eliminating the Judicial Function in Consumer Bankruptcy, 81 Am. Bankr. L.J. 471 (2007).

Undue Hardship in the Bankruptcy Courts: An Empirical Assessment of the Discharge of Educational Debt, 74 U. Cin. L. Rev. 405 (2005) (with Michelle R. Lacey).

On Proof of Preferential Effect, 55 Ala. L. Rev. 281 (2004), reprinted in 13 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 95 (2004).

Comment

Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction and Agency Action: Resolving the NextWave of Conflict, 76 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 945 (2001).

Note

Beyond the Limits of Equity Jurisprudence: No-Fault Equitable Subordination, 75 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1489 (2000).

Other Legal Writing

Examining the Perceived Quality of Appellate Review in the Bankruptcy System, Norton Bankr. L. Adviser, Aug. 2008, at 1 (with Jonathan R. Nash).

Analyzing Chapter 7 Abuse Dismissal Motions Post-BAPCPA: A Reply on Cortez, Am. Bankr. Inst. J., December/January 2007, at 16.