Marie T. Reilly

Professor of Law

Marie T. Reilly is an expert in bankruptcy and commercial law. She joined the Penn State Law faculty when the University Park campus opened in 2006. She served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2008 to 2015. From 1991 to 2006, Professor Reilly was a member of the law faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Law. Before becoming a law professor, she practiced law with Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Schiff Hardin, now ArentFox Schiff, in Chicago, Illinois. Professor Reilly’s legal scholarship addresses a wide variety of commercial law and bankruptcy issues. She studies and writes about Catholic organization sexual abuse bankruptcy cases. She is a frequent media commentator on legal issues in these cases and maintains a comprehensive online archive of scholarly analysis, data, and key case documents. She teaches contracts, bankruptcy, sales, and secured transactions. She developed and co-taught an intensive mini course on business fundamentals for law students. Professor Reilly holds a B.A. (economics) and J.D. from the University of Illinois. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a member of the bars of Illinois, District of Columbia, and South Carolina.

Marie T. Reilly

Location: University Park

Email  mtr12@psu.edu

Phone  814-863-7033

SSRN

Prof. Reilly in the Media

Faculty Impact


Education
J.D., University of Illinois, College of Law

B.A., Economics, University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences


Current Courses
Bankruptcy

Contracts

Sales

Secured Transactions

Reilly’s Publications

The Unconscionably Short Warranty, forthcoming 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 2024.

Now and At the Hour of Our Debt: Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy, Canon Law Society of America, Proceedings 2023. Boy Scouts of America can now create $2.4 billion fund to pay claims for Scouts who survived abuse-a bankruptcy expert explains what’s next, The Conversation, April 21, 2023.

Retribution Against Catholic Dioceses by Revival: The Evolution and Legacy of the New York Child Victims Act Claims Revival Window, 86 Alb. L. Rev. 735 (2022).

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy, 49 Seton Hall L. Rev. 871 (2019).

Penn State Law E-Library Project, Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy.

Due Process in Public University Discipline Cases, 120 Penn. State L. Rev. 1001 (2016), reprinted in IHELG Research Monograph No. 17-09 (2017).

Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code and International Commerce with Louis Del Duca, Fred H. Miller, Edwin E. Smith & Peter Winship (2d ed. 2011).

The Case for the Tax Collector, 18 Bankr. L. & Prac. 6 (2009).

In Good Times and in Debt: The Evolution of Marital Agency and the Meaning of Marriage, 87 Nebraska L. Rev. 1001 (2008).

You and Me Against the World: Marriage and Divorce from Creditors’ Perspective in Reconceiving the Family: Critical Reflections on the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution (Robin Fretwell Wilson ed., Cambridge University Press 2006).

A Search for Reason in “Reasonably Equivalent Value” After BFP v. Resolution Trust Corp., 13 Am. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 261 (2005).

What Goes Up Must Come Down: Check Kiting, the UCC, and the Trustee’s Avoiding Powers, 77 Am. Bankr. L. J. 333 (2004).

Making Sense of Successor Liability, 31 Hofstra L. Rev. 745 (2003).

The Federal Interest in the Transfer of Patent Licenses in Bankruptcy, 10 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 3 (2000).

The Wasted Sacrifice of Lessors’ Lost Profit Claims in Bankruptcy, 60 Louisiana L. Rev. 233 (1999).

The Latent Efficiency of Fraudulent Transfer Law, 57 Louisiana L. Rev. 1213 (1997).

Sex and Reason by Richard Posner, 25 Archives of Sexual Behavior (book review) (1996).

A Paradigm for Sexual Harassment: Toward the Optimal Level of Loss, 47 Vand. L. Rev. 427 (1994).

The FDIC as Holder in Due Course: Some Law and Economics, 2 Columbia Bus. L. Rev. 165 (1992).


Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law are reunifying to operate as Penn State University’s single law school, which will be known as Penn State Dickinson Law. While ABA approval for the reunification is pending, both schools are currently fully accredited. We submitted an application for acquiescence to operate as a single law school in July 2024 and plan to enroll a unified class in Fall 2025. Once reunification is complete, the separate faculties of each school will be members of the reunified Penn State Dickinson Law faculty.