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Thomas H. Jackson

Co-Chair, Failure Resolution Task Force

Headshot of Thomas H. Jackson

Thomas H. Jackson is the co-chair of BPC’s Failure Resolution Task Force. He is currently a distinguished university professor at the University of Rochester, having served as president of the university from 1994 until 2005.

Previous academic appointments include vice president and provost at the University of Virginia (1991-1994), dean of the University of Virginia School of Law (1988-1991), professor at Harvard Law School (1986-88), and professor at Stanford Law School (1977-1986), where he started his academic career following clerkships with Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist (1976-77) and Marvin E. Frankel of the U.S. district court for the Southern District of New York (1975-76).

He has served as special counsel to law firms in San Francisco and Boston, and was appointed a special master by the Supreme Court to deal with a 50-state dispute involving ownership of unclaimed dividends and other corporate distributions.

Jackson is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School. He is the author of numerous articles and books in bankruptcy, secured transactions, and contracts. Recently, his scholarship has focused on ways of improving bankruptcy law as a mechanism to deal with the failure of systemically important financial institutions.