Hon. Steven Rhodes (Ret.) - The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes

Experience

Attorney, Steven Rhodes Consulting, LLC, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 2015-Present

Mediator & Arbitrator, JAMS Detroit Office, February 2017-April 2020

Transition Manager, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools Community District, March 2016-December 2016, appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder

United States Bankruptcy Judge, Eastern District of Michigan-Detroit, appointed 1985, reappointed 1999 and 2013; retired February 2015

Chief Judge, 2002-2009
Concurrent service on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit, 1997-2004 and 2008-2011
Chief Judge, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, 2002-2004
Judicial Council of Sixth Circuit, Bankruptcy Judges' Representative, 2011-2014

United States Magistrate, Eastern District of Michigan-Detroit, 1981-1985

Partner, Kelley and Rhodes, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1977-1981

Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of Michigan-Detroit, 1974-1977

Law Clerk for Hon. John Feikens, United States District Judge, Eastern District of Michigan-Detroit, 1973-1974

Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School, teaching Bankruptcy Law, 1992-2003; 2013

Adjunct Professor, University of Detroit Law School, teaching Legal Ethics, 1986

Professional Association Positions

American Bankruptcy Institute

Chair, Advisory Board, Consumer Fee Study, 2009-2011
Chair, Consumer Task Force, 2009
Judicial Chair, Detroit Veterans Day Consumer Conference, 2006-2012
Vice President for Research, 2005-2009
Member, Central States Conference Advisory Board, 1997-2014; Judicial Chair, 1997-2005

American Bar Association

White Collar Crime, Asset Forfeiture and Business Bankruptcy Subcommittee focused on parallel insolvency and criminal proceedings, 2012 to 2018

National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees

Judicial Advisor, Ethics Committee, 2005-2013

National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges

Sixth Circuit Representative, Board of Governors, 1999-2002; 2011-2014
Chair, Endowment for Education, 2002-2004
Associate Editor, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, 1994-1996, 2002-2004

Honors

American College of Bankruptcy, Fellow, 1995

Michigan Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2000

Distinguished Service Award, American Bankruptcy Institute, 2009

National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Award for Dedication and Contribution to the Chapter 7 Community and to the NABT, 2014

Walsh College, Honorary Doctor of Laws, January 10, 2015

Crain's Detroit Business 2014 Newsmaker of the Year Award, February 25, 2015

Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2015 Michigan Lawyer of the Year, March 26, 2015

Commercial Law League of America, Lawrence P. King Award for Excellence in the Field of Bankruptcy, September 29, 2015

The Detroit News, A 2015 Michiganian of the Year, November, 11, 2015

Goodwill Industries Barbara R. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, May 18, 2015

Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation, 2015 Dennis Archer Community Service Award, November 19, 2015

Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, Life Member, 2015

Publications

Chapter, In Pari Delicto: Solutions to an Inequity Plaguing Bankruptcy Trustees and Innocent Creditors, Norton Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law (West 2015), co-author

Chapter, Effective Expert Testimony, Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case (American Bankruptcy Institute 2015)

Equity Receivers and the In Pari Delicto Defense, 69 Bus.Law. 699 (American Bar Association May 2014), co-author

Obtaining the Release of Grand Jury Evidence in Ponzi Cases, 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 657 (2012)

Coordination Agreements in Parallel Forfeiture and Bankruptcy Proceedings, American Bar Association Business Law Section's Online Resource, Business Law Today, June 21, 2012

Supplementing the Tools in the Trustee's Toolbox, NABTalk, The Journal of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Trustees, Spring 2012, co-author

The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes, LexisNexis (2012), co-author

The Fiduciary and Institutional Obligations of a Chapter 7 Trustee, 80 Am. Bankr. L.J. 147 (2006)

A Preview of "Demonstrating a Serious Problem with Undisclosed Assets in Chapters 7 Cases," May 2002 Norton Bankr. L. Advisor 1

An Empirical Study of Consumer Bankruptcy Papers, 73 Am. Bankr. L.J. 653 (1999)

Eight Statutory Causes of Delay and Expense in Chapter 11 Cases, 67 Am. Bankr. L.J. 287 (1993)

Speaking at Conferences and Seminars

American Bankruptcy Institute

American Bar Association

Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Accountants

Byrne Judicial Clerkship Institute at Pepperdine Law School

Commercial Law League of America

Consumer Bankruptcy Association

Federal Bar Association

Federal Judicial Center

International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation

Michigan Institute for Continuing Legal Education

National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees

National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees

National Association of Federal Equity Receivers

National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges

Turnaround Management Association

United States District Court Eastern District of Michigan Historical Society

United States Trustee Program

Western District of Michigan Federal Bar Association Bankruptcy Section

Several state and local bar organizations in California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin

Bar Admissions

State Bar of Michigan, admitted 1973

United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, admitted 1973

Education

Juris Doctor, cum laude, University of Michigan Law School, 1972; Associate Editor, Michigan Law Review

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, 1970; Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society; Pi Tau Sigma International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society