Paul T. Geske '15 receives American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence

Paul T. Geske '15 has been awarded a Medal of Excellence from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) for outstanding performance in his bankruptcy course work. In addition to the medal, Geske received a complimentary one-year ABI membership.

The Medal of Excellence program was developed by Christopher F. Graham of the New York law firm of Thatcher Proffitt & Wood and inaugurated by the ABI in 1997. Participating law schools may nominate the student with the highest grade in a bankruptcy course or other area of bankruptcy scholarship for the award.

"Paul is a very deserving recipient of the ABI's Medal of Excellence," said IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Adrian J. Walters, who nominated Geske for the award. "Having excelled in bankruptcy class as a 2L, Paul pursued his interest in the subject as a 3L by writing a first-rate analysis of the sovereign immunity issues raised by section 106 of the Bankruptcy Code for his Seventh Circuit Review Seminar paper."

The seminar paper, Seventh Circuit Holds That Bankruptcy Trustee's 'Strong Arm' Powers Are Not Strong Enough for the IRS, won first place in the 2015 inaugural Judge John D. Schwartz Memorial Student Writing Competition, a bankruptcy specialty writing competition for students at Illinois law schools. A longer version of the winning article was originally published in the fall 2014 issue of the Seventh Circuit Review.

"I'm very grateful to Professor Walters for nominating me for this award," said Geske. "He fostered my interest in bankruptcy law, and I couldn't have earned this medal or written my article without his support."

Geske graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in political science with a minor in economics, and received his J.D. magna cum laude from IIT Chicago Kent in May 2015. While in law school, he was an executive articles editor for the Chicago Kent Law Review and an editor for the Seventh Circuit Review. Geske Paul is currently working as a law clerk at McGuire Law PC, a boutique plaintiffs' class action and complex litigation firm.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law.

The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) is the largest multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency and one of the leading national organizations of the bankruptcy bar.

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