Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Co-Founder & Partner, Watts Guerra LLP
Born July 17, 1967, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Mikal C. Watts earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1987, receiving a Bachelor of Arts with high honors after just two years of study. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989 at the age of twenty-one.
In 1989-1990, Mr. Watts worked as a briefing attorney for Hon. Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In September 1990, he became an associate at David L. Perry & Associates in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was named a partner in December 1991. Until March 31, 1997, he served as a partner in the law firm of Perry & Haas, L.L.P. On April 1, 1997, Mr. Watts formed his own firm, Harris & Watts, P.C. After 4 highly successful years, the law firm reorganized, with Mr. Watts and Denman H. Heard joining together to form Watts & Heard, L.L.P. in March of 2001. During that time, Mr. Watts expanded the law firm to 29 lawyers, with offices in 5 Texas cities and a support staff of over 100.
In August of 2002, Mikal Watts formed Watts Law Firm, L.L.P. In 2009, Mikal Watts joined forces with Francisco Guerra IV to form Watts Guerra LLP which handles catastrophic personal injury, toxic torts, product liability, automotive defects, refinery negligence, commercial trucking negligence, medical device, pharmaceutical, and commercial litigation.
Mr. Watts has been admitted to practice pro hoc vice in New, York, Alabama, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Mississippi, and California. Mr. Watts has defended punitive damages obtained in federal court by oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Mr. Watts’ litigation against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company resulted in resolving the most significant product liability case in the country. The terms of the settlement in the Bailey case were unprecedented in American history for a case of this type; not only monetarily, but by virtue of what the companies agreed to do with respect to the disclosure of information relating to their own investigations into the alleged defects with their products and their corporate safety policies and practices.
Watts Guerra LLP is nationally recognized as one of two firms leading in the pursuit of hundreds of claims brought nationwide against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company.
Mr. Watts was instrumental in bringing to light Ford’s quiet efforts to recall these defective tires in foreign countries while consumers in the United States continued to be injured or killed riding on the same tires. This litigation and settlement has been chronicled on the ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, Dateline NBC, and CNBC, and in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Associated Press, and all other major news sources in this country and around the world.
Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Co-Founder & Partner, Watts Guerra LLP
Born July 17, 1967, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Mikal C. Watts earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1987, receiving a Bachelor of Arts with high honors after just two years of study. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989 at the age of twenty-one.
In 1989-1990, Mr. Watts worked as a briefing attorney for Hon. Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In September 1990, he became an associate at David L. Perry & Associates in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was named a partner in December 1991. Until March 31, 1997, he served as a partner in the law firm of Perry & Haas, L.L.P. On April 1, 1997, Mr. Watts formed his own firm, Harris & Watts, P.C. After 4 highly successful years, the law firm reorganized, with Mr. Watts and Denman H. Heard joining together to form Watts & Heard, L.L.P. in March of 2001. During that time, Mr. Watts expanded the law firm to 29 lawyers, with offices in 5 Texas cities and a support staff of over 100.
In August of 2002, Mikal Watts formed Watts Law Firm, L.L.P. In 2009, Mikal Watts joined forces with Francisco Guerra IV to form Watts Guerra LLP which handles catastrophic personal injury, toxic torts, product liability, automotive defects, refinery negligence, commercial trucking negligence, medical device, pharmaceutical, and commercial litigation.
Mr. Watts has been admitted to practice pro hoc vice in New, York, Alabama, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Mississippi, and California. Mr. Watts has defended punitive damages obtained in federal court by oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Mr. Watts’ litigation against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company resulted in resolving the most significant product liability case in the country. The terms of the settlement in the Bailey case were unprecedented in American history for a case of this type; not only monetarily, but by virtue of what the companies agreed to do with respect to the disclosure of information relating to their own investigations into the alleged defects with their products and their corporate safety policies and practices.
Watts Guerra LLP is nationally recognized as one of two firms leading in the pursuit of hundreds of claims brought nationwide against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company.
Mr. Watts was instrumental in bringing to light Ford’s quiet efforts to recall these defective tires in foreign countries while consumers in the United States continued to be injured or killed riding on the same tires. This litigation and settlement has been chronicled on the ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, Dateline NBC, and CNBC, and in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Associated Press, and all other major news sources in this country and around the world.
Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
Professor Plank joined the UT faculty in 1994 and became the Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law in 2004. His scholarly interests include the nature of property, the relationship between bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy law, and the historical development and comparison of commercial law and property law systems. He is a nationally recognized expert on mortgage backed and asset backed securities. Before joining the UT faculty, he was a partner with Kutak Rock LLP specializing in real estate finance, commercial finance, bankruptcy, and securities, in particular serving as issuer’s counsel and bankruptcy counsel in securitization transactions. Since joining the UT faculty he has served as an expert witness on securitization and other bankruptcy and commercial law matters, and as a consultant for securitization law firms, providing advice on bankruptcy, commercial law, and real estate issues in connection with securitizations and other transactions. During the 2002-2003 academic year, Professor Plank was a visiting Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School.
Professor Plank graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in history and a Certificate of Proficiency in Russian Area Studies and then served three years in the United States Marine Corps, including eight months in Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander. He graduated 5th in his class from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Maryland Law Review. He was a law clerk for the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, an associate with Piper & Marbury in Baltimore, MD, and an assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland. Initially, his practice included a wide variety of transactions and litigation, including a four month trial on the constitutionality of the Maryland public school finance system and oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts. He then concentrated his practice in real estate, commercial finance, public finance and securities transactions.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
Professor Plank joined the UT faculty in 1994 and became the Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law in 2004. His scholarly interests include the nature of property, the relationship between bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy law, and the historical development and comparison of commercial law and property law systems. He is a nationally recognized expert on mortgage backed and asset backed securities. Before joining the UT faculty, he was a partner with Kutak Rock LLP specializing in real estate finance, commercial finance, bankruptcy, and securities, in particular serving as issuer’s counsel and bankruptcy counsel in securitization transactions. Since joining the UT faculty he has served as an expert witness on securitization and other bankruptcy and commercial law matters, and as a consultant for securitization law firms, providing advice on bankruptcy, commercial law, and real estate issues in connection with securitizations and other transactions. During the 2002-2003 academic year, Professor Plank was a visiting Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School.
Professor Plank graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in history and a Certificate of Proficiency in Russian Area Studies and then served three years in the United States Marine Corps, including eight months in Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander. He graduated 5th in his class from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Maryland Law Review. He was a law clerk for the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, an associate with Piper & Marbury in Baltimore, MD, and an assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland. Initially, his practice included a wide variety of transactions and litigation, including a four month trial on the constitutionality of the Maryland public school finance system and oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts. He then concentrated his practice in real estate, commercial finance, public finance and securities transactions.
Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Co-Founder & Partner, Watts Guerra LLP
Born July 17, 1967, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Mikal C. Watts earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1987, receiving a Bachelor of Arts with high honors after just two years of study. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989 at the age of twenty-one.
In 1989-1990, Mr. Watts worked as a briefing attorney for Hon. Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In September 1990, he became an associate at David L. Perry & Associates in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was named a partner in December 1991. Until March 31, 1997, he served as a partner in the law firm of Perry & Haas, L.L.P. On April 1, 1997, Mr. Watts formed his own firm, Harris & Watts, P.C. After 4 highly successful years, the law firm reorganized, with Mr. Watts and Denman H. Heard joining together to form Watts & Heard, L.L.P. in March of 2001. During that time, Mr. Watts expanded the law firm to 29 lawyers, with offices in 5 Texas cities and a support staff of over 100.
In August of 2002, Mikal Watts formed Watts Law Firm, L.L.P. In 2009, Mikal Watts joined forces with Francisco Guerra IV to form Watts Guerra LLP which handles catastrophic personal injury, toxic torts, product liability, automotive defects, refinery negligence, commercial trucking negligence, medical device, pharmaceutical, and commercial litigation.
Mr. Watts has been admitted to practice pro hoc vice in New, York, Alabama, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Mississippi, and California. Mr. Watts has defended punitive damages obtained in federal court by oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Mr. Watts’ litigation against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company resulted in resolving the most significant product liability case in the country. The terms of the settlement in the Bailey case were unprecedented in American history for a case of this type; not only monetarily, but by virtue of what the companies agreed to do with respect to the disclosure of information relating to their own investigations into the alleged defects with their products and their corporate safety policies and practices.
Watts Guerra LLP is nationally recognized as one of two firms leading in the pursuit of hundreds of claims brought nationwide against Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and Ford Motor Company.
Mr. Watts was instrumental in bringing to light Ford’s quiet efforts to recall these defective tires in foreign countries while consumers in the United States continued to be injured or killed riding on the same tires. This litigation and settlement has been chronicled on the ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, Dateline NBC, and CNBC, and in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Associated Press, and all other major news sources in this country and around the world.
Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Law School
Tony Casey is an expert on business law, finance, and corporate bankruptcy. His research—which has been published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Supreme Court Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review—examines the intersection of finance and law. He has also written about the role of intellectual property law in the organization and financing of creative projects and about how technological innovation is changing the foundations of our legal system more generally.
Before entering academics, Professor Casey was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP. Before joining Kirkland & Ellis, he was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His legal practice focused on corporate bankruptcy, merger litigation, white-collar investigations, securities litigation, and complex class actions. Casey also served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Joel M. Flaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Professor Casey received his JD with High Honors in 2002 from the University of Chicago Law School. He received the John M. Olin Prize for the outstanding student of law and economics.
Professor Casey teaches courses and seminars in corporate governance, business law, bankruptcy and reorganization, finance, litigation strategy, civil procedure, and law and technology.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Litigation Update: LTL Management’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Anthony J. Casey, Lindsey Simon, Mikal C. Watts
LTL Management LLC (LTL) is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that was established...
Litigation Update: LTL Management’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Anthony J. Casey, Lindsey Simon, Mikal C. Watts
LTL Management LLC (LTL) is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that was established...
Litigation Update: LTL Management’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
TeleforumChapter 11 Bankruptcy & Mass Torts: A Review of the Third Circuit’s LTL Opinion
Anthony J. Casey, Lindsey Simon
In 2021, LTL Management LLC (LTL), a newly created and separate subsidiary of Johnson &...
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy & Mass Torts: A Review of the Third Circuit’s LTL Opinion
Anthony J. Casey, Lindsey Simon
In 2021, LTL Management LLC (LTL), a newly created and separate subsidiary of Johnson &...
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy & Mass Torts: A Review of the Third Circuit’s LTL Opinion
TeleforumU.S. Bank National Association v. Village at Lakeridge
Thomas Eldridge Plank
On March 5, 2018, the Supreme Court decided U.S. Bank National Association v. Village at...
The Supreme Court Tackles Patent Reform: Why the Supreme Court Should End Inter Partes Review in Oil States
Richard A. Epstein
Note from the Editor: This article argues that the Supreme Court should find unconstitutional the...
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The Supreme Court Tackles Patent Reform
Click here to download a PDF version of this blog post. Oil States Energy Services,...
Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corporation - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Thomas Eldridge Plank
On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court decided Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corporation. Jevic Transportation,...