Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) announces that Bankruptcy Judge Janet S. Baer (N.D. Ill.; Chicago) has been elected to ABI’s Board of Directors. An ABI member since 2010, Judge Baer is the judicial chair of ABI’s Seventh Circuit Eugene Wedoff Consumer Bankruptcy Conference and a member of ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation, Business Reorganization, Commercial Fraud, Young and New Members Committees. She will serve a term of three years on the 60-member ABI Board of Directors.

Judge Baer was appointed to the bench in March 2012. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was a restructuring lawyer for over 25 years and involved in some of the most significant chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the country. The majority of her practice focused on the representation of large publicly held debtors in both restructuring and chapter 11 matters. She also represented companies in commercial litigation matters including lender liability, fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. Prior to forming her own firm in 2009, Judge Baer was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Winston & Strawn and Schwartz, Cooper, Greenberger & Krauss, all in Chicago. Judge Baer earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and her J.D. from DePaul College of Law.

Judge Baer is a frequent speaker for the ABI, ABA, Chicago Bar Association, IWIRC and the Turnaround Management Association. She also acts on a regular basis as the Presiding Judge in the Northern District of Illinois for Naturalization ceremonies.

The complete list of directors and officers is available at http://www.abi.org/about-us/board-directors.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 11,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.