Governing Debt’s Dominion: Then and Now, Here and Abroad

Widely regarded as a landmark in bankruptcy scholarship, Professor David Skeel’s Debt’s Dominion charts the evolution of American corporate bankruptcy law and the forces that have governed it.1 In this seminal work, Skeel traces federal bankruptcy laws from their roots in the U.S. Constitution through their development over the twentieth century, detailing the political dynamics that shaped their scope and administration. Among those dynamics, he identifies the emergence of a specialized bankruptcy bar as one of the most influential forces shaping the law. As he explains, “bankruptcy professionals have spearheaded a relentless expansion of both the scope of the bankruptcy laws and their own prominence.”2 Skeel’s work thus offers an account of how lawyers and judges came to govern debt’s dominion in the United States. The BYU Law Review’s 2024 Symposium, titled “Who Governs Debt’s Dominion?” celebrated Skeel’s foundational contribution to bankruptcy scholarship. Nearly twenty-five years after his influential book was published, scholars came from across the nation to consider the role of bankruptcy professionals in shaping corporate reorganization and the extent to which Skeel’s observations remain compelling. As the articles and essays contained in this symposium issue demonstrate, bankruptcy professionals still contribute to the evolution of bankruptcy law in an outsized way. Furthermore, the significance of bankruptcy professionals—then and now, here and abroad—remains a fertile ground for new insights and scholarship.