Robert D’Agostino

Dean Emeritus

Education

B.A., Columbia University
M.A., Columbia University
J.D., Emory University

Courses Taught

Agency; Bankruptcy; Business Organizations; Finance & Fraud; Payment Systems; Professional Responsibility; Sales & Secured Transactions

Career Highlights

Professor Robert D’Agostino practiced bankruptcy and commercial law for 20 years between careers in academia. Prior to joining John Marshall in 1995 and after practicing law for some 15 years, Professor D’Agostino was a tenured professor at what is now Widener Law School in Delaware. In 1981–1982, he took a two year leave of absence from Widener to serve as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan, where he served as an Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights. Professor D’Agostino also served as Dean from 1996 to 2000. His publications deal with topics related to bankruptcy, civil rights, and constitutional law. An avid bicyclist, “Dag” is also a political activist.

Over the course of his career, D’Agostino has also participated in several U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs dealing with bankruptcy issues. Sampling of briefs: January 21, 2015; March 5, 2012; November 15, 2010; October 16, 2009; November 18, 2005

Publications

The Limits of Avoidance of Fraudulent Transfers in Bankruptcy, Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law (2018)

Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions (Course Book), Second Edition, Carolina Press (2015)

The UCC and Perfection Issues Related to Farm Products, 35 N. Ill U.L. Rev 169 (2014), co-authored with Prof. Bruce Luna.

Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions (Course Book), Carolina Academic Press (2013)

State Contractual Liabilities and the Contract Clause: What Now? VI. John Marshall L.J 1 (2012)

Substantive Consolidation After In re Cyberco, Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law (2012)

The UCC and Perfection Issues Relating to Farm Products, Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia (2012)

Bullying in Public Schools: The Intersection Between the Free Speech Rights of the Student and the Duty of the School to Protect, co-authored with Prof. Elizabeth Jaffe, 62 Mercer Law Review 407 (2011) .

The Business Trust and Bankruptcy Remoteness, The Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law (West 2011)

Paloian, the Indenture Trustee and Securitization: Much Smoke, No Fire. 20 J. Bankr. L. and Prac. 129 (Jan. 2011)

Selman and Kitzmiller and The Imposition of Darwinian Orthodoxy, 2010 Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal 1 (2010)

The Religious Rights of Incarcerated Persons. 1. John Marshall Law Journal 91 (2008)

DARWINISM IN THE CLASSROOM – Critiquing Orthodoxy and Surviving in the Current Environment (Vandeplas Publishing, 2006)

Individual Retirement Accounts and the Bankruptcy Exemption, 14 Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice 69 (2005).

Dischargeability After Archer v. Warner, Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law (West 2004).

Archer v. Warner: a Clarification, Norton Law Advisor, Recent Developments in Bankruptcy Law (2003).

Selling False Dreams, 14 Del. Law 30 (Fall 1996).

“State Intervention in the Family and Parental Rights: A Legal Assessment”, published inParental Rights: The Contemporary Assault on Traditional Liberties (Stephen M. Krason, ed., Christendom College Press, 1988).

Of Operative Facts and Other Facts: A New Rationale for the Imposition of a Constructive Trust or Just a Garbled Texas Supreme Court Opinion?, BENCHMARK (Oct. 1986).

GARLAND BANKRUPTCY HANDBOOK (First Ed. 1986).

Politics, Sentiment, Disinvestment, and South Africa, 4 Del. Law 52 (Fall, 1985).

The Systematic Killing of Handicapped Newborns, 2 Del. Law 16 (Summer 1983).

Deposition Strategy, Law and Forms (Matthew Bender, 1981).

COLLIER ON BANKRUPTCY (15th ed. 1979-1985) – contributing author.

Debtors and Creditors Rights (with James William Moore and Walter Ray Phillips, 1979).

Delaware’s Sequestration Statue: Another Look, 2 Del. J. Corp. L 78 (1977).

COLLIER BANKRUPTCY MANUAL (2d. ed. 1975-1976) – revision author.

Outside the Classroom

Professor D’Agostino is currently the Legal Advisor to America’s Web Radio, which streams on-line. Additionally, he serves as an advisor to Citizens for Objective Public Education (COPE) on issues related to the teaching of evolution. Professor D’Agostino also prioritizes making financial contributions to conservative Republicans running for office. He also has served as an advisor to a start-up company which includes roles of three AJMLS graduates.