CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL 
CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY   SYLLABUS 
PROF. FERRIELL - SPRING 2008

Welcome to Consumer Bankruptcy, previously known as Debtor's & Creditors' Rights and sometimes known to members of the law school administration as "Creditors' Rights". Nevertheless, during the semester, you will have to decide for yourself whether creditors still have any "rights."

In this course you will study two main subjects: I) state debt collection law and II) federal bankruptcy law, with an emphasis on consumer bankruptcy.   

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Elizabeth Warren & Jay Lawrence Westbrook, The Law of Debtors and Creditors (5d ed. 2006).

A copy of the Bankruptcy Code with the 2005 amendments included in it.  A copy of Selected Commercial Statutes purchased earlier this fall for Secured Transactions should do the job. It will also have a copy of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and several other statutes and regulations that you may wish to consult during the semester.

OPTIONAL  MATERIALS

• Jeff Ferriell & Edward J. Janger, Understanding Bankruptcy (2d ed. 2007) (it explains the material exactly as I would);
• Brian A. Blum, Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor, Examples and Explanations (4^th ed.);
• David Epstein, Bankruptcy Nutshell
• Collier on Bankruptcy (all 15 volumes) - always a valuable and authoritative resource; at over $4000, probably too expensive for this course, but available on Lexis

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Course requirements will include: 1) class preparation, attendance, and participation; 2) a final exam - probably a take-home.

Attendance: This is a small enough class that it's not much more than a large study group, with Prof. Ferriell as the designated leader.  Still, everyone must pull his or her weight.

You are expected be in class on time every day unless you have a compelling reason to be absent.  If you attend for the full time & participate in 13 of 14 class sessions, you will receive a 5% bonus on your score on the final exam.  If you miss miss a meaningful portion of 4 classes (nearly 1/3 of the semester), I will seek to have you dropped from the class - you're too busy to be in this course.

Preparation. It's a small class - I expect you to prepare for every class and participate in class discussions on a volunteer basis and when called upon.  With only a few students in the class you should expect to participate actively in every class session.  Failure to adequately prepare will be treated as an absence.

Final Exam. Subject to the requirements of attendance, and preparation, your grade will depend on your performance on a final exam given at the end of the semester.  You may bring with you and use, during the exam, your copy of any assigned materials and any notes or outlines prepared by you personally or by a study group of which you are a member.  Copies of commercial materials are not permitted.  There's a good chance that it will be a take-home exam.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

These assignments include any relevant statutory provisions mentioned in the textual material, including annotations associated with those statutory provisions and contained in the statutory supplement.