BAP Judges - All Five Circuits

Section 01About the BAP System

Congress authorized Bankruptcy Appellate Panels in the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 and refined the framework in the 1994 Bankruptcy Reform Act. A panel exists only by judicial-council order under 28 U.S.C. § 158(b)(1) and only if the council determines that there are insufficient judicial resources in the district courts to handle bankruptcy appeals. Where a panel exists, every appeal from a bankruptcy-court final order is automatically routed to the panel unless a party elects to have the appeal heard by the district court under 28 U.S.C. § 158(c)(1).

Panels are composed of Article I bankruptcy judges drawn from the constituent districts of the circuit. Under 28 U.S.C. § 158(b)(5), a sitting member cannot hear an appeal from his or her own home district. Each appeal is decided by a panel of three judges drawn ad hoc from the available pool of designated members.

Section 02The Five Active BAPs

Section 03BAP vs. District Court Appeal

An appeal from a bankruptcy-court final order may be heard either by a three-judge BAP (where a panel exists and no party elects out) or by a single district judge sitting as an appellate court. The principal substantive considerations:

• Bench expertise. BAP judges are full-time bankruptcy judges with concentrated subject-matter exposure. District judges hear bankruptcy appeals as one part of a general civil and criminal docket.
• Panel deliberation. Three judges reviewing the same record introduces a deliberative element that single-judge appeals lack. Concurrences and dissents are common in BAP decisions.
• Precedential weight. BAP decisions bind the parties to the appeal but, under the prevailing view, do not formally bind bankruptcy courts in the circuit. Court of appeals decisions bind both forums.
• Calendar. BAP calendars tend to be more predictable than the bankruptcy-appeal queue of a busy district court.

Section 04Official Resources