Barbara J. Houser is the Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge in the 

Northern District of Texas. She serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on 

the Administration of the Bankruptcy System and is a member of the Federal 

Judicial Center faculty that teaches new bankruptcy judges. In March 2017, she 

was appointed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., to the Board of Directors of the 

Federal Judicial Center. 

Judge Houser, who lectures and publishes frequently on corporate 

restructuring and insolvency law, is a past chairman of the Dallas Bar Association’s 

Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization, is a member of the 

Dallas and American Bar Associations, and is a fellow of the Texas and American Bar 

Foundations. She has been a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy and has 

taught Creditors’ Rights as a Visiting Professor at the SMU Dedman School of Law. 

Judge Houser has received a variety of awards and honors since taking the bench, including the 

Distinguished Alumni Award for Judicial Service from the SMU Dedman School of Law in February 2011; the 

Judge William Norton Jr. Judicial Excellence Award from the American Bankruptcy Institute in October 2014; 

and the Distinguished Service Award from the Alliance of Bankruptcy Inns of the American Inns of Court in 

October 2016. 

Before becoming a United States Bankruptcy Judge on January 20, 2000, Judge Houser was in private 

practice, where she represented clients in a variety of significant Chapter 11 cases across the country, including 

serving as lead debtor’s counsel for Dow Corning Corporation.

Judge Houser was elected a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in 1994, served as an officer 

and member of its Board of Directors, and remains active in the College. In 1996, she was elected a conferee 

of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an organization of nationally recognized scholars and experts in the 

bankruptcy field, and remains active in the Conference. After becoming a bankruptcy judge, she joined the 

National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, served as its President in 2009-2010, and continues to serve the 

organization in various capacities. Judge Houser currently serves as the Vice President of Research/Grants for 

the American Bankruptcy Institute and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of 

ABI. 

Judge Houser received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska in 1975 with high 

distinction and her doctor of laws in 1978 from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she was an editor of the 

law review. Upon graduation from law school, she joined Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neely in Dallas and 

became a shareholder there in 1985. In 1988 she joined Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay, P.C. as the shareholder-incharge of the Dallas office and remained there until she became a judge.

Locally, Judge Houser is the past chair of the Board of Directors of Legal Hospice of Texas, a nonprofit 

organization that provides legal services to low income, terminally ill clients. She remains a member of the 

Board.

BARBARA J. HOUSER

Chief Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas

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Biographies Page 1 of 5
Thomas L. Ambro is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for 

the Third Circuit. Prior to becoming a Judge in 2000, he was a member of the law 

firm of Richards, Layton & Finger, Wilmington, Delaware, where he was the head of 

its Bankruptcy Group and involved in many of the most significant reorganizations 

in the 1990s. Judge Ambro joined the firm in 1976 after a judicial clerkship with 

Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel L. Herrmann. On the Third Circuit, 

Judge Ambro has authored over 1,000 opinions, many of which relate to bankruptcy 

and reorganization issues.

Judge Ambro is a past Chair of the Section of Business Law of the American 

Bar Association and past Editor of The Business Lawyer. He also is a past member of 

the Board of Trustees of the American Inns of Court Foundation, and in Delaware 

he is a past President of the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court and a former Co-Chair of the Collins J. Seitz 

Bankruptcy Inn of Court. Within the Delaware State Bar Association, Judge Ambro is a former Chair of the 

Commercial Law Section and for 20 years chaired that Section’s Committee on the Uniform Commercial 

Code. He currently is a member of the American Law Institute, the American College of Bankruptcy, and the 

National Bankruptcy Conference, where he served on its Executive Committee.

Judge Ambro is a member of the Third Circuit Judicial Council, the chair of its Budget Committee, 

and a member of several committees, including the Bankruptcy Judges Committee and the Automation and 

Technology Committee. At the national level, he is a member of the Judicial Conference’s Committee on the 

Judicial Branch.

Judge Ambro has published numerous articles and lectured frequently throughout the country, including 

on bankruptcy and reorganization matters. Most recently, Judge Ambro delivered the inaugural King-Seligson 

Lecture on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization, named after two renowned, deceased NYU law 

scholars—Professor Lawrence King, the former Editor-in-Chief of Collier on Bankruptcy (the principal treatise 

on bankruptcy law), and Professor Charles Seligson, a preeminent academic of his era on bankruptcy and 

creditors’ rights. Judge Ambro graduated from Georgetown University’s College in 1971 (Class of 1972) and 

from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1975.

THOMAS L. AMBRO

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

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Biographies Page 2 of 5
Nancy Friedman Atlas was appointed as a United States District Judge 

for the Southern District of Texas in August, 1995. Judge Atlas chaired the Southern 

District of Texas committee that drafted the District’s Local Patent Rules. She also 

was instrumental in drafting the District’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program 

and serves as the Chair of its Standing ADR Panel of Neutrals. 

Before her judicial appointment, Judge Atlas was a Shareholder and Director 

of the Houston law firm of Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay, P.C. from 1982 to 1995, where 

she concentrated on federal litigation and mediation. She mediated more than 400 

court cases and arbitrated various disputes. 

Prior to relocating to Texas, Judge Atlas practiced law in New York, NY, where 

she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New 

York (Civil Division), was an associate with a New York law firm, and served as a law clerk to a United States 

District Judge in the Southern District of New York. 

Judge Atlas was Chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Federal Judicial 

Improvements, a member of the ABA Section of Litigation’s Council, the Council’s Task Force on MultiJurisdictional Practice, and currently co-chairs the Section’s Federal Practice Task Force. She has served as a 

member of the Section’s Task Force on Judicial Independence, and the Task Force on Ethical Guidelines for 

Settlement. She also co-chaired the Section’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and was vice chair of 

the Section’s Bankruptcy Committee. 

Judge Atlas served as a Director and Treasurer of the Houston Bar Foundation, a Council Member of 

the State Bar of Texas’s Section of Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Co-Chair of the Committee that drafted 

the Section’s Ethical Guidelines for Mediators. Judge Atlas co-founded and was a Director and Vice President of 

the Association of Attorney-Mediators, Inc. (Houston Chapter). Judge Atlas is a member of the American Law 

Institute.

Judge Atlas is a frequent lecturer and has written extensively on federal litigation and alternative 

dispute resolution topics.

Judge Atlas graduated from Tufts University (1971) magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned 

a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law (NYU) (1974), where she served as Managing 

Editor of NYU’s Annual Survey of American Law, and received the law school’s Vanderbilt Award for outstanding 

service.

NANCY FRIEDMAN ATLAS

Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Texas

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Biographies Page 3 of 5
Judge Christopher M. Klein has been a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in the 

Eastern District of California since February 1988 and was Chief Judge 2008-2015. He 

also served a 10-year term on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit 

(Chief Judge 2007-2008). During that time, he has presided over more than 150,000 

cases and appeals under Bankruptcy Code Chapters 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 15.

Prominent recent cases on his docket include the Chapter 9 case of the City 

of Stockton, California, which culminated in a confirmed Plan for Adjustment of 

Municipal Debt, and the Chapter 11 case of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton, 

which culminated in a confirmed Plan of Reorganization.

His judicial duties have included rules committees of the Judicial Conference of 

the United States. He was a member of Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of 

Bankruptcy Procedure (2000-2007) and was that committee’s liaison member on the Advisory Committee on 

the Federal Rules of Evidence (2001-2007).

Judge Klein co-chairs the American Bar Association’s Chapter 9 Subcommittee, Business Bankruptcy 

Committee, Business Law Section.

As a member of the International Insolvency Institute, Judge Klein heads that organization’s NGO 

delegation to the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law Working Group V on Cross-Border Insolvency 

and has been on the III delegation to the UNCITRAL Working Group VI on Security Interests.

He has been elected to the American College of Bankruptcy and the American Law Institute, as well as 

being a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Admitted to the bars of California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Massachusetts, he was Deputy 

General Counsel-Litigation, National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), Associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, 

Steen & Hamilton, Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, and a Judge Advocate.

Judge Klein’s professional education was at the University of Chicago, where he earned both a Juris 

Doctor and a Master of Business Administration and was Executive Editor of the Law Review. From Brown 

University, he holds degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in History.

Lieutenant Colonel Klein, U.S. Marine Corps (ret.), was an artillery officer in Vietnam before becoming a 

Judge Advocate.

CHRISTOPHER M. KLEIN

Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of California

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Biographies Page 4 of 5
Victor Marrero was appointed as a United States District Judge for 

the Southern District of New York on October 5, 1999, and assumed office on 

December 1, 1999. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico.

Judge Marrero began the practice of law in 1982 as a partner in the firm of 

Tufo & Zuccotti and then of Brown & Wood (by merger). His practice specialty 

was real estate, land use and environmental law, heading Brown & Wood’s practice 

group in these areas in 1991-93. In 1993 he was appointed by President Clinton as 

Ambassador, United States Representative on the Economic and Social Council 

of the United Nations, and later as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the 

United States to the Organization of American States.

Judge Marrero has taught real estate, land use, and environmental law as a 

Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School (1985-87) and Columbia Law School (1990-93). He was the recipient 

of the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award (1993) and of the New York State Bar Association’s 

Root/Stimson Public Service Award (1992). In 1999, he was one of the recipients of the Ellis Island Medal of 

Honor.

Judge Marrero has actively participated in numerous civic and professional organizations. He was 

Founder and first Chairman of the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. He was a 

director or trustee of the New York Public Library; the State University of New York; The Cooper Union for the 

Advancement of Science and Art; Educational Broadcasting Corporation, WNET Channel 13; and the NewYork 

City Partnership. Judge Marrero was actively involved with the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 

as Vice President, a member of the Executive Committee and the Judiciary Committee, Delegate to the New 

York State Bar Association House of Delegates, and as a Board member of the Committee for Modern Courts.

Judge Marrero also has served as Chairman, New York State Chief Judge’s Committee to Improve the 

Availability of Legal Services; Co-Chair, Chief Judge’s Pro Bono Review Committee; and a member of Governor 

Cuomo’s Task Force on Bias-Related Violence; Mayor Koch’s Panel on Parks and the Constitution; Mayor 

Dinkins’s Management Advisory Committee and Commission on the Homeless; and Yale University’s Urban 

Advisory Committee.

Judge Marrero graduated from New York University with a B.A. degree (cum laude, with Honors in 

History) in 1964. He received his law degree in 1968 from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of 

the Yale Law Journal. In 1966-67 Judge Marrero studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sheffield 

(England) School of Law.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Marrero began a public service career in federal, state and 

city governments. He first served as an Assistant to the Mayor under New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay, 

who later appointed him as Assistant Administrator of the Model Cities Administration and then Executive 

Director of the Department of City Planning. He subsequently served as Special Counsel to the New York City 

Comptroller (Harrison J. Goldin); First Assistant Counsel to the Governor (Hugh L. Carey); Chairman, New York 

City Planning Commission; Commissioner, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal; and 

Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, by appointment of President Jimmy 

Carter in 1979.

VICTOR MARRERO

Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of New York

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