Rich Hynes

  • John Allan Love Professor of Law
  • Nicholas E. Chimicles Research Professor of Business Law and Regulation

An expert in consumer finance and law and economics, Rich Hynes teaches Bankruptcy, Contracts, Corporate Finance, and Secured Transactions at Virginia.

Hynes received his B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the University of Chicago. He was elected to the Order of the Coif. After graduating from law school, he practiced law with Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles. He joined the faculty at the William and Mary School of Law in 2000, and he joined the Virginia faculty in 2007 after visiting during the 2006-07 academic year.

Scholarship Profile: The Insolvent Consumer and the Legal System (Virginia Journal 2010)

Education

  • J.D.
    University of Chicago Law School
    1997
  • Ph.D.
    University of Pennsylvania
    1998
  • B.S.F.S.
    Georgetown University
    1990

Forthcoming

A Modern Poor Debtor's Oath (with Nathaniel Pattison), Virginia Law Review (2021).

Articles & Reviews

Who Benefits from Bans on Employers’ Credit Checks? (with Leora Friedberg & Nathaniel Pattison), 64 Journal of Law & Economics 675 (2021).
Asymmetric Subsidies and the Bail Crisis (with John F. Duffy), 88 University of Chicago Law Review 1285 (2021).
Protectionist Property Taxes (with Andrew Hayashi), 106 Iowa Law Review 1091-1151 (2021).
Asset Exemptions and Consumer Bankruptcies: Evidence from Individual Filings (with Nathaniel Pattison), 63 Journal of Law & Economics 557-594 (2020).
Revitalizing Involuntary Bankruptcy (with Steven D. Walt), 105 Iowa Law Review 1127-1185 (2020).
Unique Risk and Bankruptcy Valuation, 168 University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online 49-77 (2020).
Inequality and Equity in Bankruptcy Reorganization (with Steven D. Walt), 66 University of Kansas Law Review 875-919 (2018).
The Optimal Evidence Threshold: Balancing the Frequency and Severity of Wrongful Punishment, 26 Supreme Court Economic Review 113-133 (2018).
“Maximum Possible Accuracy” in Credit Reports, 80 Law & Contemporary Problems 87-115 (2017).
Common Law vs. Statutory Bases of Patent Exhaustion (with John F. Duffy), 103 Virginia Law Review Online 1-17 (2017).
National Study of Individual Chapter 11 Bankruptcies (with Margaret Howard & Anne Lawton), 25 American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review 61-175 (2017).
Statutory Domain and the Commercial Law of Intellectual Property (with John F. Duffy), 102 Virginia Law Review 1-77 (2016).
Fair and Unfair Discrimination in Municipal Bankruptcy (with Steven D. Walt), 37 Campbell Law Review 25-69 (2015).
The Social Costs of Credit Reporting Errors, 11 Journal of Law, Economics, & Policy 329-347 (2015).
Pensions and Property Rights in Municipal Bankruptcy (with Steven D. Walt), 33 Review of Banking & Financial Law 609-661 (2014).
Non-Judicial Debt Collection and the Consumer’s Choice Among Repayment, Bankruptcy and Informal Bankruptcy  (with Lawrence M. Ausubel & Amanda E. Dawsey), 87 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 1-26 (2013).
Posted: Notice and the Right to Exclude, 45 Arizona State Law Journal 949-989 (2013).
Taxing Control, 38 Journal of Corporate Law 567-584 (2013).
Payday Lending, Bankruptcy and Insolvency, 69 Washington & Lee Law Review 607-648 (2012).
State Default and Synthetic Bankruptcy, 87 Washington Law Review 657-705 (2012).
Reorganization as Redemption, 6 Virginia Law & Business Review 183-236 (2011).
Why Banks Are Not Allowed in Bankruptcy (with Steven D. Walt), 67 Washington & Lee Law Review 985-1051 (2010).
Securitization, Agency Costs and the Subprime Crisis, 4 Virginia Law & Business Review 231-275 (2009).
Broke but Not Bankrupt: Consumer Debt Collection in State Courts, 60 Florida Law Review 1-62 (2008).
Bankruptcy and State Collections: The Case of the Missing Garnishments, 91 Cornell Law Review 603-652 (2006).
Credit Markets, Exemptions, and Households with Nothing to Exempt, 7 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 493-522 (2006).
Non-Procrustean Bankruptcy, 2004 University of Illinois Law Review 301-362 (2004).
Overoptimism and Overborrowing, 2004 Brigham Young University Law Review 127-168 (2004).
The Political Economy of Property Exemption Laws (with Anup Malani & Eric A. Posner), 47 Journal of Law & Economics 19-43 (2004).
Why (Consumer) Bankruptcy?, 56 Alabama Law Review 121-180 (2004).
Optimal Bankruptcy in a Non-Optimal World, 44 Boston College Law Review 1-78 (2002).
The Law and Economics of Consumer Finance (with Eric A. Posner), 4 American Law & Economics Review 168-207 (2002).
Bankruptcy Exemptions and the Market for Mortgage Loans (with Jeremy Berkowitz), 42 Journal of Law & Economics 809-830 (1999).
Inconsistant Verdicts, Issue Preclusion, and Settlement in the Presence of Judicial Bias, 2 University of Chicago Law School Roundtable 663-688 (1995).

Current Courses

Bankruptcy (Law & Business)
Property

All Courses

Bankruptcy
Contracts
Consumer Bankruptcy
Consumer Law
Secured Transactions

Featured Scholarship