Melissa B. Jacoby
@mbjacoby.bsky.social
UNC-Chapel Hill professor; author of Unjust Debts; pieces in NYTimes, The Nation, etc. I see collateral everywhere. https://www.mbjacoby.org/unjustdebts.
Joe Smith has seen a lot from his experiences with banking and financial crises. I always learn from him, and perhaps you will too.
Credit Slips@creditslipsblog.bsky.social · 4mo agoNew post: Joe Smith’s Life in Banking https://creditslips.org/2026/03/25/joe-smiths-life-in-banking/
A red carpet question: to what extent can the Academy Awards restrict how winners use their Oscar statues via contract? creditslips.org/2026/03/14/o...
An Oscar-Backed Loan? A Quick Academy Awards Special Edition – Credit Slips
creditslips.org
WKNO FM public radio just re-aired this NPR book of the day segment; new Unjust Debts readers welcomed! www.wknofm.org/book-of-the-...
Two nonfiction books take critical views of bankruptcy and microlending systems | Book of the Day
Two nonfiction books question the efficacy of financial systems that are meant to help lift people out of poverty. In Unjust Debts, law professor Melissa Jacoby argues that bankruptcy in the United St...
wknofm.org
Have you watched this yet? 17+ minutes on The Daily Show of substantive conversation about a serious book, The Middle-Class New Deal. Proud to know you, Professor Dickerson!
Credit Slips@creditslipsblog.bsky.social · 5mo agoNew post: Professor A. Mechele Dickerson on The Daily Show https://creditslips.org/2026/02/24/professor-a-mechele-dickerson-on-the-daily-show/
I reviewed "Unjust Debts" by @mbjacoby.bsky.social for the American Journal of Law and Equality. It's a great book, and if you haven't gotten a copy, you really should! direct.mit.edu/ajle/article...
MISSION CREEP OR MISSION FAILURE? A Review of Melissa Jacoby’s Unjust Debts
Bankruptcy law is not an area that most lawyers or law professors, much less the public, usually think about. Like death or taxes, we avoid worrying about such things until they stand at the gate. But...
direct.mit.edu
A Wall Street Journal podcast inspired me to start this blog post. Edgar Allan Poe and FirstBrands inspired me to finish it. creditslips.org/2025/12/02/b...
Bonfire at the Repo Lot – Credit Slips
creditslips.org
A reasonable plea for accuracy in counting corporate bankruptcies from @boblawless.bsky.social www.creditslips.org/creditslips/...
Chapter 11s Did Not Spike in July 2025 - Credit Slips
There were a number of reports that commercial chapter 11 filings jumped dramatically in July 2025. Unfortunately, these headlines appear to be from junk data and from sources that should know better ...
creditslips.org
My contribution to this fantastic @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social symposium is here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... It's both too long (for the symposium) and too short (much more to say), but I think just the beginning.
Dalié Jiménez@dalie.bsky.social · last yr.Very excited to participate in this amazing symposium at @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social organized by @tjanger.bsky.social celebrating/discussing 5 forthcoming books on consumer debt and bankruptcy! check out the all star panels! Registration and full agenda here: www.brooklaw.edu/news-and-eve...
New book alert!
Prof Pamela Foohey@proffoohey.bsky.social · last yr.Official release date for Debt's Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy, from University of California Press!! In it, @boblawless.bsky.social, Deborah Thorne, and I draw on 11 years of court records and surveys from bankruptcy filers to describe what it means to live in financial precarity in the US.
NEW: Anat R. Admati reviews "Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal" (2024) by Melissa B. Jacoby. www.promarket.org/2025/07/23/o...
Is the US Bankruptcy System Morally Bankrupt? - ProMarket
Anat R. Admati reviews Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal (2024) by Melissa B. Jacoby.
promarket.org
Join in livestream - tomorrow, July 15, 2025 at 10am Eastern judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...
Bankruptcy Law: Overview and Legislative Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will hold a hearing on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET.
judiciary.house.gov
Prof. Melissa B. Jacoby argues that the U.S. bankruptcy system doesn’t just reflect inequality—it reinforces it. In Unjust Debts, she shows how bankruptcy law privileges corporations over people. politicsrights.com/making-ameri... #bankruptcy @mbjacoby.bsky.social #politicsandrightsreview
Making Americans Bankrupt Again?
How U.S. bankruptcy law deepens inequality—Melissa Jacoby’s Unjust Debts exposes a system that punishes the vulnerable and protects the powerful.
politicsrights.com
An essay by my friend Stephanie Schantz that offers food for thought for everyone: www.huffpost.com/entry/infert...
I've Spent The Last 20 Years Trying To Become A Mom. Today I Have Big News To Share.
"Parenthood wasn’t just something I wanted — it became the definition of who I thought I was supposed to be."
huffpost.com
Debtor-creditor relationships are everywhere, including and especially in health care. Glad to see new journalistic coverage of these medical credit products and their implications in the @prospect.org @mirya.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Managing Medical Bills on the Brink of Bankruptcy
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 aims to expand coverage for the uninsured and regulate out-of-pocket expenses to some extent. Yet, this
papers.ssrn.com
Bryce Covert@brycecovert.bsky.social · last yr.Medical credit cards are growing rapidly, a way for healthcare providers to get paid upfront without going through insurance. But the terms are horrendous and most consumers don't even know what they're being signed up for. Some are signed up while under anesthesia. prospect.org/health/2025-...
A new book: Sharing Risk, by Professor Pat McCoy, came out yesterday. I'll be reading it for sure. www.ucpress.edu/books/sharin...
Sharing Risk by Patricia McCoy - Hardcover
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
ucpress.edu
More on the bankrupt 23andMe, this time in the British Medical Journal
Were I in the DC area you would find me here. Book events at public libraries are a special thing. And opportunity to hear from a journalist with extensive experience reporting on student loans.
Jillian Berman@jillianberman.bsky.social · last yr.DC-area! I'll be talking about student debt tonight at the Shepherd Park library. Excited to share insights from my book SUNK COST at a local public library! Details here:
As bankruptcy filings rise, here's a conversation with Greg LaBlanc(recorded in April, released today, May 9). @thenewpress.bsky.social podfollow.com/unsiloed-wit...
unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc: 538. Bankruptcy, Inequality, and the Quest for Fairness feat. Melissa B. Jacoby
What are the broader implications of specialized bankruptcy courts on the U.S. legal system? How are bankruptcies being used and misused by debtors and creditors today?Melissa B. Jacoby is a profes...
podfollow.com
Unjust Debts heading back to a bookstore on May 9 - Scuppernong Books, Greensboro, NC, in conversation with a former NC Supreme Court justice. Details below. scuppernongbooks.com/event/2025-0...
Melissa Jacoby, Unjust Debts
scuppernongbooks.com
When 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, the fate of its vast genetic database became unclear. In today’s episode, we look at what might happen to the genetic data of 15 million 23andMe customers as the bankruptcy process unfolds.
How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank : Planet Money
Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more about the genetic makeup of her ancestors. Vovi was one of over 15 million 23andMe customers who…
buff.ly
23andMe bankruptcy currently has more active oversight than the federal government in the last 3 months. If members of Congress want to protect Americans' data privacy, they could hold DOGE accountable for its risky business.
Los Angeles Times@latimes.com · last yr.Congressmen sound alarm over data privacy following 23andMe bankruptcy
Whether intentional or mere indifference, effect is the same... www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
Smallest Businesses Are Biggest Losers in Global Tariff War
Uncertainty about President Trump’s tariffs is leading many small businesses to interrupt or halt production because they can’t absorb price hikes and lack leverage to negotiate.
wsj.com
Johnson & Johnson tried 3 times to resolve talc suits in bankruptcy court. It didn’t work. We get into it.👇
Why Johnson & Johnson is in bankruptcy court over its talc powder - Marketplace
A federal bankruptcy judge has rejected Johnson & Johnson’s latest attempt to settle lawsuits that allege its talc baby powder caused cancer.
marketplace.org
Inflicting too many outrages, in too many illegal ways, to fit on a sign was the strategy...and I'm on my way to a march in NC.
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸@gtconway.bsky.social · last yr.If you’re upset about the chaos and corruption Trump is inflicting on your country—whether your focus is the nihilistic dismantling of government, the economy, our foreign relations, or his threats to the rule of law—please join the nationwide marches on April 5. Learn more here 👉 handsoff2025.com
Having reread, want to emphasize that decision below is important read on lawyers' professional responsibility (and role of claims agent businesses) when firms represent large numbers of claimants.
Melissa B. Jacoby@mbjacoby.bsky.social · last yr.Bankruptcy court in Texas says J&J's third bankruptcy to cap liability for talc harm must be dismissed. Here is decision: document.epiq11.com/document/get...
Bankruptcy court in Texas says J&J's third bankruptcy to cap liability for talc harm must be dismissed. Here is decision: document.epiq11.com/document/get...
document.epiq11.com