Celebrating the Life of Chief Bankruptcy Judge Theodor Charles Albert, Jr.

On May 5, 2025, we lost a compassionate, brilliant and generous pillar of the Orange County legal community.  The Honorable Theodor C. Albert, chief judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the United States District Court for the Central District of California, succumbed to cancer surrounded by friends and family.

Judge Albert was born at Fort Sill Army base in Oklahoma on April 2, 1953.  After spending time in Massachusetts, Judge Albert moved with his family to Walnut, California.  Judge Albert graduated from Stanford University in 1975 with a history degree, and UCLA in 1978 with a law degree.

Likely because he was destined to a life in bankruptcy, Judge Albert’s graduation from law school coincided with the enactment of the Bankruptcy Reform Act in 1978.   Judge Albert’s foray into bankruptcy law occurred during the infancy and formative stages of the Bankruptcy Code.  Given his early ties to the Bankruptcy Code, it is fitting that Judge Albert’s jurisprudence added meat to the bones of the Bankruptcy Code.

In 1978, Judge Albert accepted an associate position at Corbett, Steelman & Davidson in Los Angeles after law school.  Four years later, Judge Albert moved his practice to Buchalter’s Orange County office in Newport Beach.

Judge Albert was appointed as a chapter 7 panel trustee in 1998 for the Santa Ana Division of the Bankruptcy Court.  He served as a chapter 7 trustee until 2005.

In 1995, Judge Albert convinced his friends and colleagues Michael Weiland and Jeff Golden to form a new law firm in Orange County.  During the formation stage of the new law firm, Michael Weiland was asked to draft a partnership agreement for a law firm.  The names of the law firm were, however, omitted from the partnership agreement.  Michael learned Judge Albert wanted Michael to join the firm as a partner when the name of the firm was unveiled at an impromptu event.

Albert, Weiland & Golden was launched in Costa Mesa in 1995 with a focus on insolvency and bankruptcy law.  In a few short years, the firm blossomed into a mid-size boutique bankruptcy firm with several prominent partners and associates joining the team.  Over its 30 years of existence, the firm has spawned three judges – one of which is Judge Albert.

In 2000, Judge Albert received the Honorable Peter M. Elliott Award from the Orange County Bankruptcy Forum.  The Peter M. Elliott Award is given to members of the Orange County bankruptcy community that demonstrate the same standards of ethics and scholarship as the late Hon. Peter M. Elliott.  The Hon. Peter M. Elliott Award is the pinnacle of honors given to Orange County bankruptcy community.

While at Albert, Weiland & Golden, Judge Albert informed his partners that he was taking a sabbatical.  Rather than embarking on a vacation to rest, Judge Albert studied ancient Roman insolvency law in Rome, Italy.  When Judge Albert returned from his sabbatical, he published The Insolvency Law of Ancient Rome, 28 Cal. Bankr. J., Volume 3, at 365, in the California Bankruptcy Journal.  Judge Albert’s article explores, among other things, Roman law governing insolvency.  The article explains in depth the transition from potential bodily dismemberment of a debtor as a punishment for an unpaid debt to a more forgiving, civilized form of debt relief that loosely resembles a bankruptcy discharge provided under the United States Bankruptcy Code.   

On June 1, 2005, Judge Albert was appointed as a bankruptcy judge by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with chambers located in Los Angeles.  After approximately 1 year of service to the Los Angeles community, Judge Albert was relocated to Santa Ana.

Judge Albert was also known as “Professor Albert.”   As a professor of Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law for 14 years, Judge Albert taught bankruptcy law to hundreds of law students.

In 2022, Judge Albert was elected by his peers to serve as the Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.  Even though Judge Albert’s assumption of chief judge duties occurred three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, Judge Albert was tasked with pivoting the bankruptcy court towards remote hearings and devising rules and guidelines to assist his fellow judges with new technology.

For nearly 20 years, Judge Albert presided over bankruptcy cases and related litigation.  Judge Albert was universally known as a fair, practical judge that served the Orange County community with kindness and wisdom through an “authoritative voice.”  He was considerate of the interests of debtors and creditors alike. He was truly dedicated to a fair and intellectual application of the bankruptcy code to all involved. The OCBF and the Orange County community will miss Judge Albert greatly.

There will be a celebration of his life:

Sunday, June 8, 2025
2:00-4:30 p.m.

The Richland
137 E. Maple Avenue
Orange, CA 92866

Contributions in memory of Chief Judge Albert can be sent to the Stanford Cancer Institute, and to the City of Hope which has established a dedicated donation page in tribute to Judge Albert.

City of Hope Online Donations
Donations may also be mailed to the following address: City of Hope, Attn: Annual Giving, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010. Please add “Hon. Theodor C. Albert” to the memo line of the check.

Stanford Cancer Institute Online Donations
Donations can also be mailed to the following address along with the donation form: Stanford Medical Center Development, 485 Broadway, 4th Floor, Redwood City, CA 94063.