Ronald Mann

Ronald Mann

  • Albert E. Cinelli Enterprise Professor of Law
Education

J.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1985
B.A., Rice University, 1982

Areas of Specialty

Bankruptcy Law
Commercial Finance
Payment Transactions
Secured Transactions
Intellectual Property

The co-director of the Charles Evans Gerber Transactional Studies Center at Columbia Law School, Ronald Mann is a nationally recognized scholar in the areas of commercial finance, bankruptcy law, secured credit, payment systems, intellectual property, and transactional bankruptcy. He has written groundbreaking casebooks on commercial finance, payment systems, and economic commerce. 

Mann’s experience spans the public and private sectors. After clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and on the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., Mann practiced real estate and commercial law at Dow, Cogburn & Friedman in Houston. He subsequently served as assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, where he specialized in appellate litigation.

Before joining the Columbia Law faculty, in 2007, Mann held tenured professorships at the University of Michigan, the University of Texas, and the Washington University School of Law. Outside the academy, he is a member of the American Law Institute and a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He is a frequent visiting scholar at Federal Reserve banks and a regular commentator on intellectual property and banking law for the influential SCOTUSblog. Mann reads a variety of ancient languages, including Greek, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Old English.

Publications

Selected Books and Chapters

Selected Articles

View an extended list of Professor Mann’s publications.  

Activities and Affiliations

  • American Law Institute, Member
  • National Bankruptcy Conference, Conferee
  • SCOTUSBlog, IP and Banking Law Commentator
  • ULC Drafting Committee on Mortgage Registries, ALI Adviser (2016)
  • ALI Advisory Group on UCC and Holder in Due Course Policy, Member (2014)
  • Amendments to UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A, Reporter (2000–2003)

Professional Experience

  • Office of the Independent Counsel (1998–2000)
  • Assistant to the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (1991–1994) (argued eight Supreme Court cases and wrote briefs on the merits in 40 Supreme Court cases)
  • Dow, Cogburn & Friedman (1987–1991) (real estate and commercial law)
  • Law Clerk to Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., United States Supreme Court, Washington, D.C. (1986–1987)
  • Law Clerk to Judge Joseph T. Sneed, United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, San Francisco, California (1985–1986)