Fordham Law alumnus Kyu Young (Mike) Paek ’08 has been confirmed as a United States bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of New York and will sit in the Poughkeepsie divisional courthouse.
In her announcement of Paek’s appointment, Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stated, “We are excited to welcome Mike Paek to the Southern District bankruptcy bench. Mr. Paek has already served the Southern District Bankruptcy Court for many years as a law clerk and court executive, and he will be an excellent addition to the bench of that distinguished court. We look forward to working with Mr. Paek for many years to come.”
Prior to his judicial appointment, Paek was the chief deputy clerk for the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court, where he managed the operation and administrative activities of the court. Paek previously served as a law clerk to Bankruptcy Judges Stuart M. Bernstein and James M. Peck, and he was the lead law clerk on the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Before joining the court as a law clerk, Paek was in private practice in the Business Reorganization Group of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. In this role, he assisted the firm’s representation of interested parties in bankruptcy proceedings, including debtors, secured lenders, unsecured creditors, and investors. Paek has authored articles on a wide range of bankruptcy topics and co-authored a chapter in the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide. He also serves as a coordinating editor for the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Journal. Paek was the co-chair of the Commercial Bankruptcy and Restructuring Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York
Paek graduated from Fordham Law School in the class of 2008, where he served on the editorial board of the Fordham Urban Law Journal and was a member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. As an adjunct professor at the Law School, Paek has taught an Advanced Business Bankruptcy course.