Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre: The Problem of Potential Conflicts of Interest in Bankruptcy

Nancy B. Rapoport, University of Houston Law Center (moving to Boyd School of Law, Univ of Nevada, Las Vegas, in summer 2007

Abstract

This article is the first in a series of articles discussing the problem of conflicts of interest in bankruptcy cases. It argues that the traditional means for discovering and handling conflicts of interest - based on state-law ethics rules - fundamentally misconceives the problem in a bankruptcy context. State law ethics rules presume that the parties are always in static positions; in bankruptcy law, alliances shift all the time. The article proposes a possible method of handling potential conlicts of interest in bankruptcy cases.