Douglas G. Baird is Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has served as a director and scholar-in-residence at the American College of Bankruptcy and is a past president of the American Law and Economics Association. His book Elements of Bankruptcy (7th edn., 2022) is regularly cited by the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

'When the leading bankruptcy scholar of the past generation writes his magnum opus, The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations is what we get. Reaching back through the centuries, with an especially acute lens on the period from the late nineteenth century to today, Douglas Baird flips the conventional wisdom about corporate reorganization on its head, demonstrating that the solution to financial distress has not been technical legal rules; it has been the unwritten practices of generations of bankruptcy insiders. Baird tells the story in a way no other legal scholar can, with remarkable historical discoveries, vivid anecdotes, subtle analysis, and a prose style that makes The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations the most unlikely of page turners. It is destined to be a classic not just of bankruptcy, but of American business history.' David A. Skeel, S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School

• 1. Badges of fraud; 2. A seat at the table; 3. The credit men; 4. A new deal; 5. Priority matters; 6. A thumb on the scale; 7. Bargaining after the fall; 8. Looking for runway; Afterword.

Douglas G. Baird is Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has served as a director and scholar-in-residence at the American College of Bankruptcy and is a past president of the American Law and Economics Association. His book Elements of Bankruptcy (7th edn., 2022) is regularly cited by the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

'When the leading bankruptcy scholar of the past generation writes his magnum opus, The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations is what we get. Reaching back through the centuries, with an especially acute lens on the period from the late nineteenth century to today, Douglas Baird flips the conventional wisdom about corporate reorganization on its head, demonstrating that the solution to financial distress has not been technical legal rules; it has been the unwritten practices of generations of bankruptcy insiders. Baird tells the story in a way no other legal scholar can, with remarkable historical discoveries, vivid anecdotes, subtle analysis, and a prose style that makes The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations the most unlikely of page turners. It is destined to be a classic not just of bankruptcy, but of American business history.' David A. Skeel, S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School

• 1. Badges of fraud; 2. A seat at the table; 3. The credit men; 4. A new deal; 5. Priority matters; 6. A thumb on the scale; 7. Bargaining after the fall; 8. Looking for runway; Afterword.

Douglas G. Baird is Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has served as a director and scholar-in-residence at the American College of Bankruptcy and is a past president of the American Law and Economics Association. His book Elements of Bankruptcy (7th edn., 2022) is regularly cited by the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

'When the leading bankruptcy scholar of the past generation writes his magnum opus, The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations is what we get. Reaching back through the centuries, with an especially acute lens on the period from the late nineteenth century to today, Douglas Baird flips the conventional wisdom about corporate reorganization on its head, demonstrating that the solution to financial distress has not been technical legal rules; it has been the unwritten practices of generations of bankruptcy insiders. Baird tells the story in a way no other legal scholar can, with remarkable historical discoveries, vivid anecdotes, subtle analysis, and a prose style that makes The Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations the most unlikely of page turners. It is destined to be a classic not just of bankruptcy, but of American business history.' David A. Skeel, S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School

• 1. Badges of fraud; 2. A seat at the table; 3. The credit men; 4. A new deal; 5. Priority matters; 6. A thumb on the scale; 7. Bargaining after the fall; 8. Looking for runway; Afterword.