Prof. John A.E. Pottow

Prof. John A.E. Pottow is the John Philip Dawson Collegiate Professor of Law at the University ofMichigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is an internationally recognized expert in the field of bankruptcy and commercial law. His award-winning scholarship concentrates on the issues involved in the regulation of cross-border insolvencies, as well as consumer financial distress, and his extensive public service work focuses on international trade and the pro bono representation of bankrupt debt-ors. On behalf of the U.S., Prof. Pottow serves on the delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and serves on the State Department?s Advisory Committee on Private International Law. In addition, he co-authors one of the leading bankruptcy textbooks in the country: The Law of Debtors and Creditors. Prof. Pottow has published in prominent legal journals in the U.S. and Canada and testified before both Houses of Congress. A frequent lecturer, he has presented his works at academic conferences around the world and frequently provides commentary for national and international media outlets, such as NPR, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera America and the BBC.His pro bono representations have ranged from bankruptcy court to the Supreme Court, where he successfully argued on behalf of the respondent in Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison (2014).Prior to joining the Michigan Law faculty in 2003, Prof. Pottow worked at several prominent firms in private practice, including Weil, Gotshal and Manges in New York and Hill & Barlow in Boston, where his practice focused on debtor representation in complex chapter 11 restructurings. He also was an active litigator whose trial work included representing a gender-based asylum-seeker from Afghanistan in U.S. Immigration Court. Prof. Pottow is a licensed barrister and solicitor in Ontario and attorney inMassachusetts and Michigan. In 2005, he was presented the L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence inTeaching and, in 2012, received a pro bono award from the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District ofMichigan. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, American College of Bankruptcy andInternational Insolvency Institute. Prof. Pottow received his A.B. in psychology summa cum laude fromHarvard College and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as treasurer of the Harvard Law Review.