History of the ABI/Duberstein National Memorial Moot Court Competetion

The Duberstein Competition is the only national competition devoted to bankruptcy law. The event is co-sponsored each year by St. John’s University School of Law and the American Bankruptcy Institute. It is named in honor of Judge Conrad B. Duberstein, a St. John’s alumnus (Class of 1941) and former ABI Director, who was one of the longest-serving bankruptcy judges in the United States. He was appointed to the bench in 1981 after a long and successful career as a bankruptcy attorney. Judge Duberstein served as the recalled Chief Judge of the Eastern District of New York in his beloved Brooklyn until his death at age 90, on November 18, 2005. This Competition is a fitting tribute to his lasting memory.

The event is supported by the St. John’s Moot Court Honor Society and student editors of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, published at St. John’s. Prof. Robert M. Zinman, a past ABI President and Chairman of the ABI Board of Directors, served as Faculty Advisor to the Competition for many years, now succeeded by Prof. Ray Warner, himself a former ABI Director. The Faculty Advisor works with the students to develop the case problem on a topical and challenging set of issues. The American Bankruptcy Institute provides financial support in the form of cash prizes to student winners and a faculty stipend to St. John’s.

The first Competition was held in 1993 and was won by New York University Law School. The problem involved the issue of classification of claims and the new value exception. Case problems in subsequent years covered lien-stripping of secured claims after the Nobelman decision, valuation of secured claims, abandonment of contaminated property and clean up costs by a bankrupt entity, channeling injunctions in mass tort cases, state sovereign immunity, the constitutionality of bankruptcy courts, religious tithing in personal bankruptcy cases, and issues in airline bankruptcies, among many others.

The final round of the Competition is held each year at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, located in lower Manhattan. The Competition has attracted students from many prominent and first-tier schools over the years. Each year draws about 40-50 teams, with some schools sending more than one team of students. Many students from past competitions are now active in bankruptcy practice.

What distinguishes the Duberstein from other moot court competitions is the quality of the judges. Experienced members of the New York bar judge the early rounds, followed by sitting bankruptcy judges from New York and surrounding districts. The finals have been judged by some of the leading members of the federal appeals courts, including: Thomas Ambro (3d Cir), Richard Arnold (8 th Cir), Jose Cabranes (2d Cir), Guy Cole (6 th Cir), Frank Easterbrook (7 th Cir), David Hansen (8 th Cir), Edith Hollan Jones (5 th Cir), Michael Luttig (4 th Cir), Michael McConnell (10 th Cir), Richard Posner (7 th Cir), Marjorie Rendell (3 rd Cir), Jane Roth (3 rd Cir), Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir), Jeffrey Sutton (6 th Cir), Sidney Thomas (9 th Cir), and Stephen Trott (9 th Cir).

The final night gala awards dinner has been held at some of the most famous banquet venues in Manhattan, including the Marriott Marquis, Chelsea Piers, the Intrepid Battleship and the historic Puck Building. The 2001 gala was held at Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center, just eight months before 9-11.