Founder, LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program
Professor of Law (Ret.)
Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy
Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
Professor Zinman retired as a full time tenured professor of law
as of July 31, 2007 but remains as an Adjunct Professor of Law,
teaching “Real Estate Workouts and Bankruptcy” in the LL.M. in
Bankruptcy program. During his 19 years as a full-time professor,
he taught courses in bankruptcy, property and real estate
transactions. He was the Founder and first director of the St.
John's Master of Laws Program in Bankruptcy.
Professor Zinman previously served as President and Chairman of the
American Bankruptcy Institute, the largest organization of
insolvency professionals in the world, with over 11000 members. The
American Bankruptcy Institute has named its scholar-in-residence
program in Professor Zinman’s honor. Professor Zinman is a Fellow
of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the American
College of Real Estate Lawyers, where he served for three years as
a Governor. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Real
Property Section of the New York State Bar Association, where he
serves as Co-Chair of the Real Property Workouts and Bankruptcy
Committee and as Chair of the Task Force on Adverse Possession. He
is a member of the American Law Institute and was designated a Life
Member in 2007.
Professor Zinman previously served as a member of the Council of
the Section of Real Property Probate and Trust Law of the American
Bar Association; as Chair of the American Bar Association's Ad Hoc
Committee to Study the Federal Priority in Insolvency; as a member
of the Joint Editorial Board for the Uniform Real Property Acts; as
an Advisor for the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and the
Restatement of Property, Third -- Mortgages; and as Chair of the
Section of Post-Graduate Legal Education of the Association of
American Law Schools.
Author of numerous articles and a frequent speaker in the areas of
real estate and bankruptcy, Professor Zinman is co-author (with
professors Bender, Hammond and Madison) of MODERN REAL ESTATE
FINANCE AND LAND TRANSFER (4th ed. 2008).
Professor Zinman joined the faculty in 1998 after serving at
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as Vice-President and
Investment Counsel. While at MetLife, he served as Chairman of the
life insurance industry's bankruptcy legislation committee and
participated in the drafting of the Bankruptcy Code and its
amendments. He was Chairman of the Investment Section of the
Association of Life Insurance Counsel. While practicing law, he was
an Adjunct Professor at Fordham and New York University Schools of
Law.
At St. John's, Professor Zinman started, and was first Director of
the LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program, the only such program in the
nation, which admitted its first students in 1999. He also served
as a Faculty Advisor for the AMERICAN BANKRUPTCY INSTITUTE LAW
REVIEW, widely regarded as the preeminent bankruptcy scholarly
journal, which is edited by the students at St. John's. He was also
faculty advisor for the Real Property Law Society; the Bankruptcy
Law Society; and the Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National
Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition (hosted annually by St. John's
and the American Bankruptcy Institute). In 2006, a privately
endowed scholarship was established in his honor which provides a
scholarship each year to an LL.M. in Bankruptcy student.
Professor Zinman teaches Real Estate Workouts and
Bankruptcy.