Law student recognized by American College of Bankruptcy

March 28, 2012 | News, UToday
By Rachel Phipps



UT law student David Paul Mann has been named the 2012 Distinguished Law Student from the Sixth Circuit by the American College of Bankruptcy.

UT law student David Paul Mann ., has been named the 2012 Distinguished Law Student from the Sixth Circuit by the American College of Bankruptcy. He is executive director of the Lucas County Land Reutilization Corp., locally known as the “Land Bank,” and posed for this photo in front of a home recently acquired and sold by the bank in Toledo’s Old West End.

Mann is the only student from the states in the Sixth Circuit — Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee — to receive the award this year.

The American College of Bankruptcy’s Distinguished Law Student program seeks to honor and encourage law students who have demonstrated academic achievement and interest in bankruptcy law.

On March 16 and 17, Mann traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the college’s induction ceremony, where he had the opportunity to meet distinguished practitioners and judges from the bankruptcy bar. The induction ceremony took place at the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a night student at the College of Law, Mann has collected several major accolades, including Best Oralist and a member of the Best Team at Toledo Law’s 39th Annual Intramural Moot Court Competition for his argument before a panel of judges that included two U.S. District Court judges.

He serves as assistant managing editor on The University of Toledo Law Review and his note, “Out of the Penalty Box: Why Supreme Court Precedent Should Have Saved Matching Fund Triggers,” was published in the Law Review’s summer 2011 issue.

Set to graduate this May, Mann plans to join Marshall & Melhorn LLC as an associate in the firm’s business litigation practice.

“David Mann is a superb representative of the College of Law. I have no doubt that he was a hit with the American College of Bankruptcy, and that the connections he has developed as an American College of Bankruptcy Distinguished Law Student will serve him well in his professional career,” said Kara Bruce, UT assistant professor of law.

By day, Mann is the executive director of the Lucas County Land Reutilization Corp., locally known as the “Land Bank,” a nonprofit, government-type entity established by state statute. By strategically acquiring vacant and abandoned properties, the Land Bank works to reduce blight, increase property values and promote economic development in Lucas County. Mann was hired as director a few months after the Land Bank was created in August 2010, and for many months was the Land Bank’s sole employee.

When asked what it has been like to build the new Land Bank by day and attend law school at night, Mann smiled and quipped, “I don’t have a life, but I knew that going in.”

After observing him in her secured transactions and commercial paper classes, Bruce nominated Mann for the Distinguished Law Student honor. His nomination was supported by Judge Mary Ann Whipple of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, a part-time professor of law at the University who teaches bankruptcy course offerings, and Nicole Porter, UT associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law.

The American College of Bankruptcy requires that written materials from the student and letters of recommendation accompany a Distinguished Law Student nomination. All nominated students are considered by the council in their circuit, which selects the winning student.

“I was honored to represent The University of Toledo College of Law at this event,” said Mann after the induction ceremony and his weekend in Washington. “It’s an important recognition of the work that Judge Mary Ann Whipple and Professor Kara Bruce are doing to prepare the next generation of bankruptcy professionals in our community.”

The American College of Bankruptcy is an honorary professional and educational association of bankruptcy and insolvency professionals. College fellows include commercial and consumer bankruptcy attorneys, insolvency accountants, turnaround and workout specialists, law professors, judges, government officials and others involved in the bankruptcy and insolvency community.

Click to access the login or register cheese