Douglas Baird's research and teaching interests focus on bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations. Currently a director of the American College of Bankruptcy, Baird was vice chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference from 1997 until 2004. Baird’s one-volume overview of U.S. bankruptcy law, Elements of Bankruptcy, is now in its fourth edition.
Baird received his undergraduate degree from Yale University summa cum laude and his J.D. from Stanford. He joined Chicago’s faculty in 1980, was Director of its law and economics program from 1992 to 1994, and served as its dean from 1994 to 1999. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale.