Peter A. Alces

Rita Anne Rollins Professor of Law

paalce|at|wm.edu

Degrees

J.D., Illinois
A.B., Lafayette

Areas of Specialization

Commercial Law; Contracts; Jurisprudence; Payment Systems; Products Liability; Sales.

Representative Professional Activities & Achievements

Joined the faculty in 1991. Cabell Professor of Law from 1997-1998. Practiced law in Chicago and taught at the University of Texas Graduate School of Business and the University of Alabama School of Law. Has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, Washington & Lee University, Washington University, and University of Texas law schools.

Author of Commercial Contracting; The Law of Suretyship and Guaranty; Bankruptcy: Cases and Materials; Cases, Problems and Materials on Payment Systems; The Commercial Law of Intellectual Property; Sales, Leases and Bulk Transfers; The Law of Fraudulent Transactions; and Uniform Commercial Code Transactions Guide. Author of articles in the Northwestern, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, North Carolina, Fordham, California, Texas, and William and Mary Law Reviews, and the Emory, Ohio State and Georgetown Law Journals.

Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 1991-2005. Member of the American Law Institute and Association of American Law Schools' Section on Commercial and Related Consumer Law; Advisor to Restatement (Third) of the Law of Suretyship and Guaranty.

Notes

Prof. Alces's teaching evaluations are available by clicking here (PDF format).

Professor Alces's publications

Books

Monograph, Contract Theory and the Canon (working title) (Oxford University Press 2010) (under contract).
Co-author, Casebook, Commercial Contracting (Lexis 2004) (with David Frisch and Francis J. Mootz III).
Treatise, Annual Supplement, The Law of Suretyship and Guaranty (Warren, Gorham & Lamont 1996).
Co-author, Casebook, Cases and Materials on Bankruptcy (West 1995) (with Margaret Howard).
Co-author, Treatise, Annual Supplement, The Commercial Law of Intellectual Property (Little, Brown & Co. 1994) (with Harold F. See) (ann. supp. co-authors David Frisch, Jay Kesan, & Harold F. See).
Co-author, Casebook, Payment Systems (West 1993) (with Marion Benfield).
Uniform Commercial Code Transaction Guide, four volumes (Callaghan 1988) (Commercial Paper, Bank Collections, and Letters of Credit Volume) (and 1990 supplement to treatise).
Co-author, Casebook, Sales, Leases, and Bulk Transfers (Matthew Bender 1989) (with Nathaniel Hansford).
Treatise, Semi-Annual Supplement, The Law of Fraudulent Transactions (Warren, Gorham & Lamont 1989).
Co-author, Casebook, Commercial Paper and Alternative Payment Systems (Mathew Bender 1987) (with Marion Benfield).

Book Revisions and Supplements

Co-author, Casebook, Commercial Contracting (Lexis 2d ed. forthcoming 2008) (with David Frisch and Francis J. Mootz III).
Co-author, Casebook, Cases and Materials on Bankruptcy (West 2d ed. 2001) (with Margaret Howard).

Articles

Unintelligent Design in Contract, 2008 U. Ill. L. Rev. 505.
Law and Morality Symposium Issue, The Moral Impossibility of Contract, 48 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1647 (2007).
Guerilla Terms, 56 Emory L.J. 1511 (2007).
Co-author, U.C.C. Article 3 & 4 Symposium Issue, Carrying a Good Joke Too Far, 82 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2008) (with Hopkins)(solicited).
On Discovering Doctrine: "Justice" in Contract Agreement, 83 Wash. U. L.Q. 471 (2005)
Review Essay, The Unruliness of Rules, 101 Mich. L. Rev. 2037 (2003) (reviewing Larry Alexander & Emily Sherwin, The Rule of Rules: Morality, Rules, and the Dilemmas of Law).
Contract Reconceived, 96 Nw. U. L. Rev. 39 (2001).
Essay, Regret and Contract "Science," 89 Geo. L.J. 143 (2000).
W(h)ither Warranty: The B(l)oom of Products Liability Theory in Cases of Deficient Software Design, 87 Cal. L. Rev. 269 (1999).
Co-author, When Y2K Causes "Economic Loss" to "Other Property," 84 Minn. L. Rev. 1 (1999) (with Book).
Co-author, Commercial Codification as Negotiation, 32 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 17 (1999) (with Frisch).
Co-author, Review Essay, Defending Truth, 78 Tex. L. Rev. 493 (1999) (with Ward) (reviewing Daniel A. Farber & Suzanna Sherry, Beyond All Reason).
Book Essay, If You Don't Have Anything Good To Say . . ., 15 Bankr. Dev. J. 383 (1999) (reviewing Karen Gross, Failure and Forgiveness)(solicited).
Co-author, Commenting on "Purpose" in the Uniform Commercial Code, 58 Ohio St. L.J. 419 (1997) (with Frisch).
Co-author, On the U.C.C. Revision Process: A Reply to Dean Scott, 37 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1217 (1996) (with Frisch).
U.C.C. Article 9 Filing Symposium Issue, Abolish the Article 9 Filing System, 79 Minn. L. Rev. 679 (1995)(solicited).
U.C.C. Article 2 Revision Symposium Issue, The Revision of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, 35 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1299 (1994).
Review Essay, Toil of the Firestarters, 92 Mich. L. Rev. 1707 (1994) (reviewing Julius G. Getman, In the Company of Scholars).
Clearer Conceptions of Insider Preferences, 71 Wash. U. L.Q. 1107 (1993), excerpted in Charles Tabb, A Bankruptcy Law Anthology (Anderson 2001).
Suretyship Symposium Issue, Reconsidering Consideration in the Restatement (Third) of Suretyship, 34 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1053 (1993).
Uniform Commercial Law Symposium Issue, Roll Over, Llewellyn?, 26 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 543 (1993)(solicited).
Rethinking Professor Westbrook's Two Thoughts About Insider Preferences, 77 Minn. L. Rev. 605 (1993).
Essay, Independence, Interpendence, and the Suretyship Principle, 1993 U. Ill. L. Rev. 447.
Co-author, U.C.C. Articles 3, 4, and 4A Symposium, Bank Liability for Fiduciary Fraud, 42 Ala. L. Rev. 475 (1991), excerpted in Rubin & Cooter, The Payment System: Cases, Materials and Issues (West 2d ed. 1994) (with Benfield).
Co-author, U.C.C. Article 9 Symposium Issue, An Agenda for Reform of the U.C.C. Article 9 Filing System, 44 Okla. L. Rev. 99 (1991)(solicited), excerpted in Jordan, Warren & Walt, Secured Transactions in Personal Property (Foundation Press 2000) and Jordan & Warren, Commercial Law (Foundation Press 1992) (with Lloyd).
Co-author, Statutory Personal Property Lease Law in Alabama, 42 Ala. L. Rev. 101 (1990) (with Newman).
Fraud Bases of Bulk Transferee Liability, 63 Temp. L. Rev. 679 (1990), excerpted in Dolan & Ponoroff, Basic Concepts in Commercial Law: Cases and Materials (West 1998).
U.C.C. Article 6 Symposium Issue, The Confluence of Bulk Transfer and Fraudulent Disposition Law, 41 Ala. L. Rev. 821 (1990), reprinted as modified in Callaghan's Commercial Law Annual (1991), excerpted in Harris & Miller, The Emerging New Uniform Commercial Code (ALI-ABA Course of Study Materials, 1990).
U.C.C. Article 2A Symposium Issue, Surreptitious and Not-So-Surreptitious Adjustment of the U.C.C.: An Introductory Essay, 39 Ala. L. Rev. 559 (1988).
U.F.T.A. Symposium Issue, Generic Fraud and the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, 9 Cardozo L. Rev. 743 (1987)(solicited).
Toward a Jurisprudence of Bank-Customer Relations, 32 Wayne L. Rev. 1279 (1986), excerpted in Rubin & Cooter, The Payment System: Cases, Materials and Issues (West 1989).
Co-author, A Critical Analysis of the New Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, 1985 U. Ill. L. Rev. 527 (with Dorr).
A Jurisprudential Perspective for the "True" Codification of Payments Law, 53 Fordham L. Rev. 83 (1984).
The Efficacy of Guaranty Contracts in Sophisticated Commercial Transactions, 61 N.C. L. Rev. 655 (1983).
Unexpired Leases in Bankruptcy: Rights of the Affected Mortgagee, 35 U. Fla. L. Rev. 656 (1983).

Book Chapters

Personal Property Leasing: Article 2A of the U.C.C., in New York Practice Guide: Business and Commercial Law (Matthew Bender, 1987).

Resources