News UMass Law: McDonald Publishes on Bankruptcy Solutions to Homelessness in the Yale Law & Policy Review

Professor McDonald published an article on bankruptcy solutions to homelessness in the Yale Law and Policy Review.

UMass Law Professor Geoffrey McDonald published his latest article, Homelessness in the COVID Era: Utilizing the Bankruptcy Solution, in the Yale Law & Policy Review (YLPR), a biannual publication of the Yale Law School. Past YLPR contributors include Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Clarence Thomas, and President Bill Clinton.

In the article, Professor McDonald addresses the ongoing epidemic of homelessness in the United States, and the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic will likely impact the homelessness crisis, especially in the country’s two largest cities: Los Angeles and New York City. The article outlines how bankruptcy can be used to stop an eviction or foreclosure and how the procedures available under the Bankruptcy Code can help distressed debtors discharge certain debts, restructure other debts, and obtain a “fresh start” in order to better afford their housing costs going forward.

Before coming to UMass Law, Professor McDonald practiced law in New York City for fifteen years, including both private practice and public interest work. He represented creditors, debtors, trustees and other significant parties in interest in some of the largest, most prominent and complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in this country. In the five years immediately prior to joining the UMass Law faculty, he worked as a public interest attorney in the South Bronx, where his practice was focused on preventing homelessness by providing free legal services to people facing eviction or foreclosure. He also worked extensively in the consumer bankruptcy context. Professor McDonald received his B.A. in Philosophy from Wesleyan University, his M.A.R. in Philosophy of Religion from Yale University, where he also studied jurisprudence and legal philosophy at Yale Law School, his Ph.D. in Religion (Ethics & Society) and J.D. from Emory University, and his LL.M. in Bankruptcy from St. John’s University School of Law. Professor McDonald teaches in the areas of contracts, bankruptcy, commercial law, jurisprudence and ethical theory.