Judge Martin R. Barash Appointed to the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel
N E W S R E L E A S E
July 16, 2026
Contact: Katherine Rodriguez
mediarelease@ce9.uscourts.gov
SAN FRANCISCO — Bankruptcy Judge Martin R. Barash, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, has been appointed to serve on the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, or BAP, which hears appeals of decisions made by federal bankruptcy courts in the western states.
Judge Barash will commence his seven-year term on the BAP on August 1. He will succeed Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty III, of the Northern District of California, who has served on the BAP since 2016 and served as its chief judge from 2024 to 2025.
Judge Barash, who maintains chambers in Woodland Hills, California, was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in 2015. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Barash was an associate then a partner at Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP in Los Angeles, from 1999 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2015, respectively.
Earlier in his career, Judge Barash worked as an associate at Stutman, Treister & Glatt P.C. in Los Angeles from 1994 to 1998. He was an adjunct professor of law at California State University, Northridge, from 1998 to 1999. He currently teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, as a member of its part-time faculty.
Born in Los Angeles, Judge Barash earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1989 from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and his Juris Doctor in 1992 from the UCLA School of Law, where he served as member, business manager, symposium editor and editor of the UCLA Law Review. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Procter R. Hug Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, from 1992 to 1993.
The Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit–the governing body for federal courts in the western states and two Pacific island jurisdictions–established the BAP in 1979 as an alternative forum for hearing bankruptcy appeals. The council is responsible for the appointments of judges to the BAP, which is authorized seven bankruptcy judges who serve seven-year terms and may be reappointed for an additional three years. BAP judges are precluded from hearing matters arising from their respective districts.
Headquartered in the Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals Building in Pasadena, California, the BAP has historically handled between 45% and 60% of all bankruptcy appeals in the Ninth Circuit (district courts hear the remainder). In fiscal year 2025, 434 new bankruptcy appeals were filed in the circuit, a 9% increase from FY 2024. The BAP disposed of 227 appeals, up 27% from FY 2024, and handled 47% of all bankruptcy appeals, and the district courts handled 53%.
The Ninth Circuit was the first federal circuit to establish a bankruptcy appellate panel. For more information, visit https://www.bap9.uscourts.gov/.
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