Melissa B. Jacoby
Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Law
Areas of Expertise
- Bankruptcy Law
- Commercial Law
- Contracts
- Law and Social Sciences
- Secured Transactions
Biography
Melissa B. Jacoby is the Graham Kenan Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches commercial and bankruptcy law. From 2021-2024, Jacoby was appointed by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts to assist the Federal Judicial Center on educational programming for bankruptcy judges. Jacoby’s book Unjust Debts was published by The New Press on June 11, 2024. It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was named one of the Financial Times’ best summer economics books for 2024
Jacoby has been elected to the American Law Institute, the National Bankruptcy Conference, the American College of Bankruptcy, and the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, and has served as the Robert M. Zinman Scholar for the American Bankruptcy Institute. She is a recipient of the Grant Gilmore Award for scholarship from the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers and the Byrd Award for teaching, among other honors.
Jacoby held judicial clerkships with the Honorable Robert E. Ginsberg of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and was a staff attorney for the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. Before joining the faculty at UNC, she taught for four years at Temple University in Philadelphia. Jacoby graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, as well as from Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences, where she was a history major.
Selected Publications
Fake and Real People in Bankruptcy, 39 EMORY BANKR. DEV. J. 497 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Sorting Bugs and Features of Mass Tort Bankruptcy, 101 TEX. L. REV. 1745 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein
Unbundling Business Bankruptcy Law, 101 N.C. L. REV. 1703 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Other Judges' Cases, 78 NYU ANN. SURV. AM. L. 39 (2022).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Shocking Business Bankruptcy Law, 131 YALE L.J. FORUM 409 (2021).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress | Document Link
Consumer Protection After a Global Financial Crisis (with E. Balleisen), 107 GEO. L.J. 813 (2019).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Corporate Bankruptcy Hybridity, 166 U. PA. L. REV. 1715 (2018).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress | Document Link
Tracing Equity: Realizing and Allocating Value in Chapter 11 (with E.J. Janger), 96 TEX. L. REV. 673 (2018).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Federalism Form and Function in the Detroit Bankruptcy, 33 YALE J. ON REG. 55 (2016).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Ice Cube Bonds: Allocating the Price of Process in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (with E. J. Janger), 123 YALE L. J. 862 (2014).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
In the Media
- American Bankruptcy Law Already Undercuts Accountability for Police Misconduct (The Nation)
- Best summer books of 2024: Economics (Financial Times)
- A judge orders Alex Jones to sell personal assets, but Infowars can continue for now (NPR)
- The case for reining in the perks of corporate bankruptcy (Marketplace)
- 'Unjust Debts' author on bankruptcy and the injustice baked in (Charlotte Talks)
- The Moral Limits of Bankruptcy Law (The New York Times)
- Fake People, Real Obligations: PW Talks with Melissa B. Jacoby (Publishers Weekly)
- Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal Review (Publisher's Weekly)
- Rite Aid Advisers Rake in Millions Through Bankruptcy. Opioid Victims Brace For Nothing (Bloomberg)
- Maryland’s prison health care provider could be in big trouble (The Baltimore Banner)
- Test case looms for companies seeking US bankruptcy protection (Financial Times)
- Moral Bankruptcy (The American Prospect)
- Giuliani Joins Alex Jones in Defamation-to-Bankruptcy Pipeline (Bloomberg)
- The largest freight bankruptcy in history punched a $5 billion hole in the economy, cost 30,000 jobs, and left the taxpayer holding the bag for a COVID bailout (Fortune)
- Baltimore archdiocese declares bankruptcy ahead of Child Victims Act becoming law (The Baltimore Sun)
- Why the Sacklers are shielded from future opioids lawsuits (Marketplace Morning Report)
- Sacklers Can Be Shielded From Opioid Liability, Appeals Court Rules (The New York Times)
- Civil rights on hold? Chester’s bankruptcy freezes all litigation against the city (WHYY)
- Insurers Prepare for Appeal on Boy Scouts Sex-Abuse Settlement Plan
- Insight: Corporate lawsuit dodge imperiled after court rejects J&J bankruptcy tactic (Reuters)
- U.S. court rejects Johnson & Johnson’s bankruptcy petition over talc lawsuits (Marketplace)
- 3M’s Bankruptcy Setback Deepens Earplug Litigation Troubles (The Wall Street Journal)
- Prof. Jacoby on Mass Torts & Bankruptcy, Distressed's Slow Climb: State of Distressed Debt (Bloomberg Intelligence)
- Infowars’ Alex Jones Seeks to Leverage Small-Business Bankruptcy Law (The Wall Street Journal)
- Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy trial advances, but ‘long road ahead’ for sexual abuse survivors awaiting payouts (Texas Standard)
- Gunmaker Remington to pay $73M to settle lawsuit with Sandy Hook families, Jacoby quoted (Axios)
- North Carolina communities await at least $850 million from national opioid settlements, Jacoby quoted (WFAE)
- Special Report: Inside J&J's secret plan to cap litigation payouts to cancer victims, Jacoby quoted (Reuters)
- Did you get gift cards in your Christmas stocking? How to check card balances and other tips, Jacoby quoted (USA Today)
- Boy Scouts Abuse Victims Caught Up in Chapter 11 Lobbying, Jacoby quoted (Wall Street Journal)
- Melissa Jacoby on Shocking Business Bankruptcy (Business Scholarship Podcast)
- Purdue's bankruptcy deal shields sackler family owners from opioid liability; Jacoby quoted (Financial Times)
- Jacoby Talks abut Bankruptcy, Wave of Addiction from Sackler Family's Fortune (KQED)
- The Sackler Family's Bankruptcy Scheme; Jacoby quoted (The American Prospect)
- Jacoby Comments on NRA Bankruptcy Filing (USA Today)
- Would a Purdue Bankruptcy Protect the Sacklers? Jacoby Quoted (New York Times)
- PG&E Files for Bankruptcy Following California Wildfires, Jacoby Quoted (Wall Street Journal)
- Jacoby Comments on Sears Bankruptcy and the Need for Transparency (Fox Business)
- Vallejo Man Can Collect Damages Awarded in Lawsuit Against Police, Court Rules (Wall Street Journal)
- Jacoby Cited in 'Why Are We Colonizing Puerto Rico' (The New Republic)
- Puerto Rico Takes Restructuring Law to U.S. High Court, Jacoby Quoted (New York Times)
- Supreme Court Weighs Power of Bankruptcy Judges, Jacoby Quoted (Wall Street Journal)
- Jacoby Quoted: New Rules to Limit Tactics on Hospitals' Fee Collections (New York Times)
- Jacoby: The Costs of Detroit's Rise from Bankruptcy (The Conversation)
- Judge To Rule Friday On Detroit's Bankruptcy Exit, Jacoby Quoted (National Public Radio)
- Detroit's Bankruptcy Battle Begins, Jacoby Comments (USA Today)