This is a simple, three-paragraph online "document" that provides a concise explanation of bankruptcy and bankruptcy courts. As the opening sentences explain: "A bankruptcy case is a special kind of civil case involving companies or people who can no longer pay their debts. Congress has established special federal courts, called bankruptcy courts, to help decide these cases. Bankruptcy gives these debtors certain protections and sets out steps they must follow to repay creditors." The page hotlinks to other resources of the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) on the left-hand column, and also includes helpful embedded links to glossary terms within the three paragraphs of text. How do you use it?Although this basic resource doesn't have bells and
whistles, its clarity is a boon for the teacher. Routine bankruptcies
(or even famous bankruptcy cases) don't have the pizzazz that criminal
cases and famous regular civil cases have, even if the Playboy Bunny
case that has recently spiced up jurisdictional debates is included. This summary material could be provided to students by a judge as a hard-copy handout, provided in advance of a judge's presentation via the URL link, or adapted by a judge or teacher for use in a PowerPoint or other kind of presentation. The material could be used as the introductory piece for an in-depth segment on bankruptcy or it could become part of a broad overview of the federal courts. The page itself is actually part of an online slideshow (accessed via the forward/back buttons at the bottom of the page). Clicking through the slideshow gives viewers an overview of the federal court structure and so this page would be a solid component of a more general lecture about the courts. Caution: Who is the audience?This resource is best used to teach middle school and older students the basic definition of a bankruptcy case.
What other resources will complement this?
Additional Recommended Resources | Off-Site Links
|