Kara Bruce
Professor of Law
Office: LC 2006C
Campus Phone: 419.530.2763; Fax Number: 419.530.4447
Email: Kara.Bruce@utoledo.edu
Professor Kara J. Bruce joined the College of Law in 2010. She teaches Contracts, Creditor/Debtor Law, Business Bankruptcy, Secured Transactions, and Commercial Paper (Payment Systems). Her research focuses on bankruptcy law and procedure, with particular emphasis on enforcement issues in consumer bankruptcy cases.
In the fall of 2013, Professor Bruce served as the Robert M. Zinman Scholar in Residence at the American Bankruptcy Institute in Arlington, Virginia. She is a contributing editor to the Bankruptcy Law Letter and coauthor of the Fifth Edition on Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions.
Professor Bruce is a dedicated classroom teacher. She has won The University of Toledo’s Outstanding Teacher Award, the College of Law’s Outstanding Professor Award for Dedication to Legal Education (selected by the graduating class), and the Beth Eisler First Year Teaching Award.
Before joining the faculty, Professor Bruce worked as an attorney in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP in Chicago, Illinois.
Professor Bruce is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.) and Tulane Law School (J.D.). Professor Bruce has been active in a number of professional and civic organizations including the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, the Chicago Community Trust, the Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center, and Lucas County Court Appointed Special Advocates.
Select Publications
Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions (5th Ed. West), forthcoming 2021 (with S. Sepinuck).
Adjusting Lease Obligations in Pandemic Bankruptcies, 40 No. 10. Bankr. L. Ltr. NL 1 (2020).
Detangling Discovery and Tolling Doctrines: The Educational Value of Rotkiske v. Klemm, 40 No. 4. Bankr. L. Ltr. 1 (2020).
Bankruptcy’s Adjunct Regulator, 72 Florida L. Rev. 159 (2020) (with Alexandra Sickler).
Prudential Standing in Bankruptcy Appeals: Recent Developments and Unanswered Questions, 39 No. 6 Bankr. L. Ltr. NL 1 (2019).
Recent Developments in Student Loan Non-Dischargeability: Aggregating Discharge Violation Claims, 39 No. 1 Bankr. L. Ltr. NL 1 (2019).
Recent Developments in Educational-Benefit Discharge Litigation, 38 No. 10 Bankr. L. Ltr NL 1 (2018).
Channeling Punitive Damage Awards Under 362(k), 38 No. 4 Bankr. L. Ltr. NL 1 (2018).
Midland Funding and the Pernicious Problem of Stale-Debt Claims, 49 Loyola L.A. L. Rev. 435 (2018).
Private Remedies and Access to Justice in a Post-Midland World, 34 Emory Bankr. Dev. J. 365 (2018) (with Alexandra Sickler).
The Supreme Court’s 2017 FDCPA Rundown, 37 No. 9 Bankr. L. Ltr. NL 1 (2017).
Closing Consumer Bankruptcy’s Enforcement Gap, Baylor Law Review (2017).
Non-Debtor Substantive Consolidation—A Remedy Built on Rock or Sand?, 37 No. 3 Bankruptcy Law Letter (2017).
Debt Buyers Beware: FDCPA Liability for Time-Barred Debts in the Eleventh Circuit and Beyond, 36 No. 6 Bankruptcy Law Letter 1 (2016).
Vindicating Bankruptcy Rights, 75 Maryland Law Review 443 (2016).
The Debtor Class, 88 Tulane Law Review 21 (2013).
Best of ABI 2013: The Year in Business Bankruptcy (2013).
Rehabilitating Bankruptcy Reform, 13 Nevada Law Journal 101 (2012).
The Creditor That is Always There - The Insurance Company, 17 Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice (2008).