Douglas Baird


Douglas Gordon Baird is an American legal scholar, the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor and a former dean of the University of Chicago Law School. He joined the faculty in 1980 and served as the dean from 1994-1999. He is a leader in the field of bankruptcy law.
His books, including Elements Of Bankruptcy, Cases, Problems, and Materials on Bankruptcy and Contract Stories are used in law schools around the country.

Early life and education

Baird was born in Philadelphia. He grew up in suburban Wynnewood, PA. He grew up with his family on the same street as Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. His older brother Henry and Hickenlooper were childhood friends.
He received his B.A. in English summa cum laude from Yale College in 1975. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. At Stanford, he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review. Before joining the faculty in 1980, he was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Academic work

Baird has written 13 books and 71 articles. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996. In 2008, The Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal awarded Baird with its Distinguished Service Award which honors an individual who makes a sizable impact on the field of bankruptcy. Baird was named a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and served as the Vice-Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference from 1997 until 2005.

Publications

Books