Samir D. Parikh

Professor

Current Position

Professor
Lewis & Clark Law School
10101 S. Terwilliger Blvd
Portland, OR 97219
USA

Tel: 503-768-6979
Email: sparikh@lclark.edu

Class: XXXIV (2023)Circuit: Ninth

Scholarship:

Professor Parikh’s research and writing focus on a variety of business law and bankruptcy issues, including mass tort restructurings, fraudulent transfer law, forum shopping, and municipal distress.

Professor Parikh is a nationally recognized expert on mass tort restructurings and business reorganizations. His new essay, Opaque Capital and Mass Tort Financing, is the first to spotlight the ways litigation finance companies are distorting resolution in mass tort bankruptcies and is forthcoming in The Yale Law Journal Forum. His new article, Financial Disequilibrium, explores the often-times ruthless world of distressed debt investing and is forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. The law review also selected Professor Parikh to be a co-organizer of its Fall 2022 Symposium, “Debt Market Complexity: Shadowed Practices and Financial Injustice.” His new essay, Creditors Strike Back: The Return of the Cooperation Agreement, further unpacks issues raised in his financial restructuring scholarship and is forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal Online.

His article, Scarlet-Lettered Bankruptcy: A Public Benefit Proposal for Mass Tort Villains, is the first to propose a public benefit alternative to traditional resolution mechanisms for mass tort debtors. The article is forthcoming in the Northwestern University Law Review. His essay, Mass Exploitation, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online and identifies new practices in mass restructuring cases like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson. The essay builds on his articles, The New Mass Torts Bargain and Due Process Alignment in Mass Restructurings (with Sergio Campos), which are forthcoming in the Fordham Law Review. These articles’ novel treatment and recommendations served as the basis for the law review’s Spring 2022 Symposium, “Mass Torts Evolve: The Intersection of Aggregate Litigation and Bankruptcy.”

Professor Parikh was recently invited to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights. On February 8, 2022, he provided a Written Congressional Statement on the hearing topic, “Corporate Efforts to Side-Step Accountability Through Bankruptcy.” He frequently provides expert commentary for national media, including The Wall Street Journal, 60 Minutes (on background), The New York Times, Bloomberg News, NBC News, Law360, The Financial Times, and The Deal.

Professor Parikh’s 2020 article, Bankruptcy Tourism and the European Union’s Corporate Restructuring Quandary: The Cathedral in Another Light, was published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law and is the culmination of his work as a Fulbright Schuman Scholar at Oxford University. The article was one of eight articles selected to be part of the Oxford Business Law Workshop Series (Trinity Term). His 2017 article, Failing Cities and the Red Queen Phenomenon, 58 B.C. L. Rev. 599 (2017), offers an unprecedented empirical analysis of municipal bond offerings in order to disprove the argument that debt restructuring options increase borrowing costs for cities and counties. A New Fulcrum Point for City Survival, 57 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 221 (2015), was the winner of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools’ 2015 Call for Papers Competition.

In recognition of Professor Parikh’s innovative scholarship, the Fulbright Commission awarded him a 2018-19 Fulbright Schuman Grant. During the first half of 2019, Professor Parikh was a visiting professor at various institutions researching the new EU restructuring framework and its impact on corporations and sovereign nations. Most notably, he was a visiting professor of law at Oxford University. On November 6, 2019, Professor Parikh returned to Oxford to present his work to Oxford’s business law faculty and graduate students.

Professor Parikh is the Editor-in-Chief and an original contributing author for Bloomberg Law Bankruptcy Treatise. He wrote the chapters addressing sections 323, 324, 325, 541, 542, 543, 549, 550, 551, and 552, among others. Further, he is a co-author of the seventh edition of the Examples & Explanations (Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor) study guide.

In 2012, Professor Parikh was the sole recipient of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to an outstanding bankruptcy scholar as selected by a panel of federal judges, academics, and attorneys.

Professor Parikh has served as a peer reviewer for various law reviews, most recently for the Yale Law Journal and the Harvard Law Review. He currently serves on the Peer Review Board for the Northwestern University Law Review.

Pro Bono Service and Academic Events:

Professor Parikh serves on the Fulbright Commission’s Peer Review Selection Committee and plays an integral role in awarding grants through the Fulbright program.

Professor Parikh worked with the Association of Oregon Counties on a pro bono basis to draft a municipal bankruptcy bill and petition for passage by the state legislature. The bill had two primary facets: (1) provide a structure for an out-of-court restructuring; and (2) allow local governments to file for chapter 9 bankruptcy in the event of an emergency. The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (“PERS”) has unfunded pension liability of over $22 billion. In Oregon, vested pension payments are protected by the state constitution. Consequently, government employers are mandated to make contributions to pension accounts and the contributions are decimating their budgets. The resource drain effects school districts and leads to service-delivery insolvency.

Professor Parikh has also worked on a pro bono basis with the Bankruptcy Venue Reform PAC to draft and pass legislation that will limit forum shopping in chapter 11 corporate bankruptcy cases. Professor Parikh’s 2013 article Modern Forum Shopping in Bankruptcy, 46 Conn. L. Rev. 159 (2013), served as a template for initial versions of the legislation.

Along with Professors Robert Rasmussen and Michael Simkovic, Professor Parikh is a founding member of the Financial Restructuring Roundtable hosted by the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law, USC Gould School of Law, and Lewis & Clark Law School. The annual, invitation-only event brings together recognized business law scholars and practitioners to explore varied perspectives on financial restructuring issues.

Background:

Before joining the faculty at Lewis & Clark Law School, Professor Parikh practiced complex financial restructuring at Latham & Watkins and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in Los Angeles, California and Baker Botts in Houston, Texas. While in private practice, Professor Parikh’s representations included the following engagements:

In re Lehman Brothers Holdings (counsel to official committee of unsecured creditors)
In re Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts (counsel to debtors)
In re Aloha Airlines (counsel to acquirer of assets)
In re Station Casinos (counsel to debtors)
In re Adelphia Communications Corp. (counsel to financial advisor)
Virgin Airlines (bankruptcy advisor)
In re Kmart (counsel to primary landlord)

Professor Parikh holds a JD from the University of Michigan Law School. After graduation, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Alan M. Ahart of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.