Bankruptcy, National Edition -- Author Information

Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald is a Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She was appointed in 1987, after serving nearly 12 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She sits by designation in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and formerly sat by designation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of the Virgin Islands. She is an elected member of The American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, an Honorary Master of the American Inns of Court Pittsburgh Chapter, and a member of the Bankruptcy Section Executive Council of the Commercial Law League of America, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association and the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation. Judge Fitzgerald teaches Bankruptcy and Advanced Bankruptcy Law as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She is a past President of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. She publishes and lectures nationally on bankruptcy, evidence and litigation topics..

Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez is Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He was appointed in 1995 and reappointed to another 14-year term in 2009. He became Chief Judge in 2010. Before taking the bench, he was Assistant United States Trustee in the Southern District of New York (appointed in 1991) and then United States Trustee for Region 2 (Second Circuit). Judge Gonzalez received an undergraduate degree from Fordham University, his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law. He was an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, earning the Chief Counsel's Special Achievement Award for three consecutive years. Thereafter, he practiced with the firms of Pollner, Mezan, Stolzberg, Berger & Glass, P.C. and Gaston & Snow in New York City until 1991. Judge Gonzalez also serves as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law.

Judge Mary F. Walrath is a United States Bankruptcy Court Judge for the District of Delaware. She was appointed in 1998 and served as Chief Bankruptcy Judge from 2003 to 2008. Judge Walrath graduated from Princeton University and earned her J.D., cum laude, from Villanova University. After clerking for the Honorable Emil F. Goldhaber, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Walrath spent the majority of her 17-year legal career as an attorney at the Philadelphia firm of Clark Ladner Fortenbaugh & Young, concentrating in the areas of debtor/creditor rights and commercial litigation. In addition to speaking at numerous bankruptcy educational programs throughout the country, Judge Walrath is a founding member and co-president of the Delaware Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, a member of the Delaware Chapter of the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. She is active in the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, having served on the Board of Governors and as an Associate Editor of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. Judge Walrath is also an adjunct professor at St. John's Law School.

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