Chicago Unbound

Scholarship

Douglas G. Baird’s areas of expertise include corporate reorganizations and bankruptcy, contracts, and commercial law. He has authored and co-authored several authoritative texts in these fields, such as: Elements of Bankruptcy (2022, 7th ed.); Contracts: Cases and Comments (2019, 11th ed.); Commercial and Debtor-Creditor Law Selected Statutes (2018); Reconstructing Contracts (2013); Cases, Problems, and Materials on Bankruptcy (2007, 4th ed.); Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (2009, 4th ed.); and Game Theory and the Law (1994).

At UChicago Law, Baird currently teaches Contracts and Transactional Lawyering. He also offers Bankruptcy and Reorganization: The Federal Bankruptcy Code, which covers topics like the rights of creditors in bankruptcy, the relationship between bankruptcy law and state law, and the restructuring of corporations. In the past, he has taught Civil Procedure, Commercial Paper, and Secured Transactions.

One of Baird’s advisees, Stanley Pierre-Louis, ‘95, fondly recalled that Baird, “exemplified the best of the Law School—dedicated to ideas, rigorous in inquiry, tolerant of divergent views, and, most of all, respectful of one’s colleagues.” ["Douglas Baird,"] Baird himself has described his legal career as “very much that of a lawyer who trains lawyers. Teaching law and practicing law are great ways to spend your life.” [“Douglas G. Baird: Tenth Dean of the Law School,”]