Stephen Lubben

Professor Stephen J. Lubben

Harvey Washington Wiley Chair in Corporate Governance & Business Ethics

  • Degrees:

  • LL.M., Harvard Law School | J.D., Boston University | Ph.D., University of Groningen (The Netherlands), Faculty of Law | B.A., University of California, Irvine
  • Contact:

  • [email protected]
  • Tel: 973-642-8857
  • SSRN Site link
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Courses:

  • Business Associations, Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights, Constitutional Law, Financial Institutions, Corporate Finance,Securities Regulation

Stephen J. Lubben, holder of the Harvey Washington Wiley Chair in Corporate Governance & Business Ethics at Seton Hall, is an internationally recognized expert in the field of corporate finance and governance, corporate restructuring, financial distress and debt.

He is the author of a leading corporate finance text and was a contributing author to the Bloomberg Law on Bankruptcy treatise. From 2010 to 2017 he authored the In Debt column for the New York Times' Dealbook page.

Professor Lubben grew up in west Los Angeles and attended the University of California, Irvine, where he majored in History and minored in Political Science. Following graduation from law school, Professor Lubben clerked for Justice John T. Broderick, Jr. of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He then practiced in the New York and Los Angeles offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he represented parties in chapter 11 cases throughout the country.

Since joining Seton Hall, Professor Lubben has presented his papers at academic conferences around the world and frequently provides commentary on chapter 11 and related issues for national and international media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Financial Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and the BBC.

He frequently advises government officials on potential legislative reforms, and has testified before Congress and the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel. He also is a regular contributor to Credit Slips, a blog started by a small group of bankruptcy experts.

Professor Lubben is a member of the New York and California bars. He is also a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and the International Insolvency Institute.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

LAW REVIEW ARTICLES

We Got The Kingdom, We Got The Key: Corporate Bankruptcy And Cryptocurrency, 6 Stan. J. Blockchain L. & Pol'y 221 (2023)

Holdout Panic, 96 Am. Bankr. L.J. 1 (2022)

Protecting Ma And Pa: Bond Workouts And The Trust Indenture Act In The 21st Century, 44 Cardozo L. Rev. 81 (2022)

Good Old Chapter 11 In A Pre-Insolvency World: The Growth Of Global Reorganization Options, 46 N.C. J. Int'l L. 353 (2021) (co-written with O. Couwenberg)

The Impossibility of TLAC, 23 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Pol’y 45 (2021)

Fairness and Flexibility: Understanding Corporate Bankruptcy’s Arc, 23 Penn. J. Bus. L. 132 (2020)

Puerto Rico; Act III, 15 Capital Markets L.J. 1 (Nov. 2020)

Not A Bank, Not a SIFI; Still Too Big to Fail, 35 Emory Bankr. Dev. J. 53 (2019) (co-written with O. Couwenberg)

A Functional Analysis of SIFI Insolvency, 96 Tex. L. Rev. 1377 (2018)

Private Benefits Without Control? Modern Chapter 11 and the Market for Corporate Control, Brook. J. Corp., Fin. & Com. Law (2018) (co-written with O. Couwenberg)

Sovereign Bankruptcy Hydraulics, NYU Annual Survey of American Law F.1. (2018)

Always Crashing in the Same Car—Clearinghouse Rescue in the United States under Dodd–Frank, Journal of Financial Regulation, Volume 3, Issue 2 (2017) (Pages 133–158)

PROMESA And The Bankruptcy Clause:  A Reminder About Uniformity, 12 Brook. J. Corp., Fin. & Com. Law 53 (2017)

Subsidizing Liquidity or Subsidizing Markets? Safe Harbors, Derivatives, and Finance, 91 Am. Bankr. L. J. 3 (2017)

Too Big and Unable to Fail, 69 Fla. L. Rev. 1205 (2017) (co-written with A. Wilmarth, Jr.)

The Overstated Absolute Priority Rule, 21 Fordham J. Corp. & Fin. L. 581 (2016)

Corporate Bankruptcy Tourists, 70 Bus. Law. 719 (2015) (co-authored with O. Couwenberg)

Essential Corporate Bankruptcy, 16 Eur. Bus. Org. L. Rev. 39 (2015) (co-authored with O. Couwenberg)

Failure of the Clearinghouse: Dodd-Frank’s Fatal Flaw?, 10 Va. L. & Bus. Rev. 127 (2015)

The Board’s Duty to Keep Its Options Open, 2015 Ill. L. Rev. 817 (2015)

Puerto Rico and the Bankruptcy Clause, 88 Am. Bankr. L.J. 553 (2014)

Reconceptualizing Lehman, 49 Tex. Int'l L.J. 295 (2014) (co-written with Sarah P. Woo)

A New Understanding of the Bankruptcy Clause, 64 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 319 (2013)

Separation and Dependence:  Explaining Modern Corporate Governance, 43 Seton Hall L. Rev. 893 (2013)

Solving Creditor Problems in the Twilight Zone: Superfluous Law and Inadequate Private Solutions, 34 Intl Rev.  L. & Econ. 61 (2013) (with Oscar Couwenberg)

CDS and the Resolution of Financial Distress, 24 J. Applied Corp. Fin. 129 (2012) (co-written with Rajesh P. Narayanan)

Chapter 11 as Intrigue: A Review of LoPucki and Doherty's Professional Fees in Corporate Bankruptcies, 28 Banking and Fin. L. Rev. (Canada) 171 (2012) (solicited)

Do Empirical Bankruptcy Studies Matter?, 20 ABI L. Rev. 715 ((2012) (solicited))

Involuntary Creditors and Corporate Bankruptcy, 45 U.B.C. L. Rev. 253 (2012) (co-authored with Stephanie Ben-Ishai)

Resolution, Orderly and Otherwise: B of A in OLA, 81 U. Cin. L. Rev. 485 (2012)

The Chapter 11 Attorneys, 86 Am. Bankr. L. J. 447 (2012)

Transaction Simplicity, 112 Colum. L. Rev. Sidebar 194 (2012) (solicited)

What We "Know" About Chapter 11 Cost is Wrong, 17 Fordham J. of Corp. & Fin. L. 1 (2012)

A Comparative Study of Bankruptcy as Bailout, 6 Brook. J. Corp., Fin. & Com. Law 1 (2011) (co-authored with Stephanie Ben-Ishai)

Chapter 11 in Context: American and Dutch Business Bankruptcy, 85 Am. Bankr. L.J. 63 (2011) (Co-authored with O. Couwenberg)

Financial Institutions in Bankruptcy, 34 Seattle L. Rev. 1259 (2011) (solicited)

Sales or Plans:  A Comparative Account of the “New” Corporate Reorganization, 56 McGill L.J. 591 (2011) (Co-authored with Stephanie Ben-Ishai)

The Chapter 11 Financial Advisors, 28 Emory Bankr. Dev. J. 1 (2011)

Repeal the Safe Harbors, 18 A.B.I. L. Rev. 319 (2010)

The Bankruptcy Code Without Safe Harbors, 84 Am. Bankr. L.J. 123 (2010)

The Types of Chapter 11 Cases, 84 Am. Bankr. L.J. 233 (2010)

Accidental Convergence: Corporate Reorganization in Two Federal Systems, 26 Emory Bankr. Dev. J. 33 (2009)

Chapter 11 and Systemic Risk, 82 Temp. L. Rev. 433 (2009) (solicited)

Derivatives and Bankruptcy: The Flawed Case for Special Treatment, 12 U. Pa. J. Bus. L. 61 (2009)

No Big Deal: The GM and Chrysler Cases in Context, 83 Am. Bankr. L.J. 531 (2009)

Corporate Reorganization & Professional Fees, 82 Amer. Bankr. L.J. 77 (2008)

Delaware's Irrelevance, 16 Am. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 267 (2008)

Business Liquidation, 81 Am. Bankr. L. J. 65 (2007)

Credit Derivatives & The Future of Chapter 11, 81 Am. Bankr. L.J. 405 (2007)

Choosing Corporate Bankruptcy Counsel, 14 Am. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 391 (2006)

Delaware's Duty of Care, 31 Del. J. Corp. L. 589 (2006) (co-written with Alana J. Darnell)

The "New and Improved" Chapter 11, 93 Ky. L.J. 839 (2005) (special, peer-reviewed AALS Section on Creditors' and Debtors' Rights issues)

Beyond True Sales - Securitization and Chapter 11, 1 N.Y.U. J.L. & Bus. 89 (2004)

Out of the Past: Railroads & Sovereign Debt Restructuring, 35 Geo. J. Int'l L. 845 (2004) (written by invitation for Georgetown symposium on sovereign debt restructuring)

Railroad Receiverships and Modern Bankruptcy Theory, 89 Cornell L. Rev. 1420 (2004)

Some Realism About Reorganization: Explaining the Failure of Chapter 11 Theory, 106 Dick. L. Rev. 267 (2001)

BOOKS

American Business Bankruptcy - A Primer, (2d ed. 2021)

Corporate Finance, (Aspen 3d ed. 2021)

American Business Bankruptcy: A Primer, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited (2019)

The Law of Failure: A Tour Through the Wilds of American Business Insolvency Law, Cambridge University Press (2018)

Corporate Finance, Aspen/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business 2nd ed. (2017)

Credit Derivatives and the Resolution Of Financial Distress, in THE CREDIT DERIVATIVES HANDBOOK, McGraw-Hill (2008) (Greg N. Gregoriou and Paul U. Ali eds.)

BOOK CHAPTERS

The Costs Of Corporate Bankruptcy:  How Little We Know, in Research Handbook on Corporate Bankruptcy Law, (Barry Adler ed.) (2020)

Lehman’s Derivative Portfolio, in Bank Failure: Lessons from Lehman Brothers, Oxford Univ. Press (Dennis Faber & Niels Vermunt eds.) (2017)

Financial Distress in Emerging Markets, in Emerging Markets: Performance, Analysis And Innovation (Greg N. Gregoriou ed.  Chapman-Hall /Taylor and Francis) (2009)

OTHER JOURNAL ARTICLES

The Microeconomics of Chapter 11, Part 1, 4 Int'l. Corp. Rescue 31 (2007)

The Microeconomics of Chapter 11, Part 2, 4 Int'l. Corp. Rescue 87 (2007)

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Central Counterparties and Orderly Liquidation Authority, 36 Futures & Derivatives L. Rep. (October 2016)

The Sale of the Century and Its Impact on Asset Securitization: Lehman Brothers, 27 Am. Bankr. Inst. Journal Vol. 10, page 1 (2009) (co-written with Chip Bowles)

The Truth About Detroit's Bankruptcies, Forbes (July 2009) (Op-ed piece)

ABI Chapter 11 Professional Fee Study, (2007)

LLM Thesis: The Direct Costs of Corporate Reorganization: An Empirical Examination of Professional Fees in Large Chapter 11 Cases, 74 Am. Bankr. L.J. 509 (2000)

JD Student Note: Chief Justice Traynor's Contract Jurisprudence and the Free Law Dilemma: Nazism, the Judiciary, and California's Contract Law, 7 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 81 (1998) (unpublished by B.U. L. Rev.)

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Chapter 11 "Failure"