By
Kathy Bazoian Phelps
and
Hon. Steven Rhodes (Ret.)
Published by
LexisNexis®
Hon. Steven Rhodes (Ret.)
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, United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 2002-2009
Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit, 1997-2004 and 2008-2011
Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, 2002-2004
Positions
Bankruptcy Judges Representative, Judicial Council of Sixth Circuit, 2011-2014
Sixth Circuit Representative, Board of Governors, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, 1999-2002; 2011-2014
Chair, Advisory Board, American Bankruptcy Institute Consumer Fee Study, 2009-2011
Distinguished Service Award, American Bankruptcy Institute, 2009
Chair, American Bankruptcy Institute Consumer Task Force, 2009
Judicial Chair, American Bankruptcy Institute, Consumer Bankruptcy Association Veterans Day Consumer Conference, 2006-2012
Judicial Advisor, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees Ethics Committee, 2005-2013
Vice President for Research, American Bankruptcy Institute, 2005-2009
Chair, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Endowment for Education, 2002-2004
Member, Advisory Board, American Bankruptcy Institute Central States Conference, 1997-2014; Judicial Chair, 1997-2005
Associate Editor, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, published by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, 1994-1996
Honors
Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation, 2015 Dennis Archer Community Service Award, November 19, 2015
The Detroit News, A 2015 Michiganian of the Year, November, 11, 2015
Commercial Law League of America, Lawrence P. King Award for Excellence in the Field of Bankruptcy, September 29, 2015
Goodwill Industries Barbara R. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, May 18, 2015
Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2015 Michigan Lawyer of the Year, March 26, 2015
Crain's Detroit Business 2014 Newsmaker of the Year Award, February 25, 2015
Walsh College, Honorary Doctor of Laws, January 10, 2015
Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, Life Member, 2015
National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Dedication and Contribution to the Chapter 7 Community and to the NABT, 2014
Distinguished Service Award, American Bankruptcy Institute, 2009
Michigan Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2000
American College of Bankruptcy, Fellow, 1995
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 Ethical 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
Other Employment
Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School, teaching bankruptcy law, 1992-2003; 2013
Adjunct Professor, University of Detroit Law School, teaching ethics, 1986
United States Magistrate, Eastern District of Michigan, 1981-1985
Private Practice, 1977-1981
Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of Michigan, 1974-1977
Law Clerk, Honorable John Feikens, United States District Judge, the Eastern District of Michigan, 1973-1974
Bar Admissions
State Bar of Michigan, 1973
United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 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
© 2024 Kathy Bazoian Phelps and Steven Rhodes