Expert on bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

This week, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with multiple lawsuits over clergy sex abuse cases.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Jonathan C. Lipson, a professor in the University of Wisconsin Law School and an expert on bankruptcies in the Roman Catholic church, is available to answer questions about the implications of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy. Lipson is the author of the leading scholarly paper on Catholic church bankruptcies, “When Churches Fail: The Diocesan Debtor Dilemmas” and is frequently interviewed and quoted on these cases.

Lipson says it’s likely that the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ claims about the reason for the bankruptcy — to hide assets and records — are wrong, as bankruptcy usually leads to greater judicial and public scrutiny of a debtor. Nevertheless, he said, “these cases present many difficult choices for bankruptcy courts, because it is hard to balance sensitivity to the religious mission of the churches with the need to assure creditors that they receive payment.”

Lipson can be reached at 608-890-3749 or jlipson@wisc.edu. Click here to access Lipson’s work.