University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Harry Dixon Jr. (1944-2006), a lawyer from Nebraska, wanted to form an organization with the dual purpose of providing Congress with expert and unbiased views on legislation and creating an institution that could keep the bankruptcy community aware of legislative activities affecting them. In February 1982, Dixon incorporated under Nebraska law this new organization which was to be called the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). The records of the American Bankruptcy Institute document two main areas of the organization: the history and operating activities of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the organization's professional activities, publications, and research on bankruptcy related issues. The materials date from 1982-2013, with the bulk from 1985-1996. Materials are largely in paper format, comprising correspondence, memos, facsimiles, resumes/c.v., financial records, by-laws, articles of incorporation, certificates, lease agreement, newsletters, marketing materials, clippings, press releases, scripts, white papers, meeting files which typically include agendas, minutes, and sign-in sheets, committee files, conference and seminar material, Library of Congress reports, information bulletins, Congressional reports, records, and bills, court records, briefs, procedures, Congressional hearing testimonies and remarks, publications, monographs, and other related printed matter. The records also include audiovisual materials such as photographs, VHS tapes, audio cassette tapes, DVDs, and CDs. The strengths of the American Bankruptcy Institute records are the documentation of the Board of Directors files; ABI conference and seminar files; ABI's effort to expand membership; Committee files; and the organization's analysis of bankruptcy legislation from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Extensive areas of analysis by ABI include the U.S. Trustee Program which include numerous oversight hearings; Chapter 7 Substantial Abuse; Chapter 12 Family Farmer Bankruptcy; additional bankruptcy judgeships; the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (BAFJA) including the Bankruptcy Survey Project conducted by the ABI after the law (BAFJA) went into effect; judicial salaries; leveraged buyouts (LBO); pension plans and retirement benefits; proposed amendments to bankruptcy rules and forms; significant Supreme Court cases; S. 1985 National Bankruptcy Review Commission Act, S. 1559 Bankruptcy Technical Corrections Act, and testimonies before various Congressional committees from 1989-1996.

Francis Kirkham (1904-1996) was born in Utah in 1904. After earning his undergraduate and law degrees from George Washington University, Kirkham clerked for two Supreme Court Justices, including former Chief Justice Evan Hughes. During his time as a law clerk, Kirkham drafted a report suggesting revisions to the way people filed for bankruptcy, which was a pertinent issue in the wake of the Great Depression. This report, "Suggested Revisions to the General Orders and Forms of Bankruptcy," was published in 1939. The collection, circa 1935-1939, includes correspondence with Supreme Court Justices, drafts, reports, National Bankruptcy Conference drafts, and related material regarding Kirkham's activity as a Supreme Court law clerk drafting the "General Order and Rules of Bankruptcy," which was published in 1939.

Kenneth N. Klee spent his career analyzing bankruptcy law and advocating for pro-debtor reforms to the Bankruptcy Code. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1974 and joined to the California bar in 1975. He began his career as Associate Counsel for the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, a subunit of the House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary, where he advised Congress and helped draft legislation related to bankruptcy reform in the 1970s. He was also a consultant to the House Judiciary Committee from 1977 to 1982 and the Department of Justice from 1983 to 1985. Klee was a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an association of scholars and practitioners committed to the study of bankruptcy legislation and reform, where he was chair of the Committee on Legislation from 1992 to 1999. He worked at Stutman, Treister and Glatt and was a founding partner of Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff, and Stern, LLP. The collection, 1969-1999, includes papers relating to Klee's work from 1969 to 1995 as a legal assistant to the Committee on the Judiciary, including drafts of bills, handwritten notes, markup copies of legislation, reports, and correspondence; materials related to Klee's legislative activities from 1997 to 1999 as a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference; lectures, presentations, and related material created by Klee for continuing education courses, seminars, and other programs; course materials related to Klee's professorships at UCLA and USC from 1979 to 1984; photocopies and other reference material; and related material.