The Class of 1997 has selected bankruptcy specialist Elizabeth Warren, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, to be the recipient of the 1997 Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence, an honor that is given to one professor each year by vote of the graduating class.

Students will present the award during Class Day ceremonies on Wednesday, June 4, at 2:30 p.m., on Holmes Field in front of Langdell Hall, 1545 Massachusetts Ave.

The award recognizes teaching ability, attentiveness to student concerns, and general contribution to student life at the Law School. Established in 1992, the award is named in honor of the late Professor Albert Sacks and the late Professor Paul Freund.

Warren's research examines the impact of creditor-debtor law on different social groups, including women, ethnic and racial minorities, small businesses, and the elderly. She has studied the demographics of debtors in bankruptcy and the correlations among education and training, job loss, and the debtors' financial collapse. Some of her other studies have involved the impact of Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the economy, and the financial vulnerability of households headed by women and middle-class households experiencing medical problems.

Warren's books include Secured Credit: A Systems Approach (Little, Brown, 1995) (with L. LoPucki) and As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America (Oxford University Press, 1989). The first demographic study of its kind, As We Forgive Our Debtors empirically analyzes how bankruptcy law affects society.

Warren received a J.D. in 1976 from Rutgers University and a B.S. in communication disorders in 1970 from the University of Houston.