Jean Braucher, Roger C. Henderson Professor of Law in the UA's James E. Rogers College of Law, died on Nov. 25 after a battle with cancer. She was 64 years old.

Braucher's insightful and cutting-edge scholarship earned the deep respect of colleagues at the UA and across the country. Her knowledge and passion for teaching earned the esteem of the thousands of students whose lives she influenced. 

In the days since her passing, tributes have poured in to the College of Law and have appeared online among the academic communities in Braucher's fields of contracts, bankruptcy and commercial law. One tribute from a contracts professor described her as "a giant in our field."

Braucher co-authored Contracts: Law in Action, Volume I and Volume II with Wisconsin law professors Stewart Macaulay, William C. Whitford and John Kidwell. She wrote more than 50 law review articles and contributed chapters to the seminal books in her field.

Braucher joined the UA College of Law in 1998 and established herself as an academic professional committed to the success of her students.

"Jean Braucher was a truly unique and remarkable woman in so many ways. One of those ways was her inspiring dedication to her students' success," said 2013 UA law graduate Kaitlin Shaw, who now works as a law clerk. "I feel blessed to have known her for even so brief a time; she was an extraordinarily kind, funny and supportive professor, mentor and friend, and I, for one, will miss her dearly."

Braucher was a leader at the College of Law. Over the years, she chaired the college's executive, faculty development, appointments and admissions committees.

She also was the founding director of the college's Mortgage Clinic, and she partnered with Southern Arizona Legal Aid to offer the resources of law students in mortgage restructuring and, if needed, in bankruptcy. This clinic offered students a direct application of bankruptcy and loan modification principles. 

Braucher believed in the power of information to advance academic debate, and that academic discourse could push the legal community forward.

Her scholarly work reached the human dimensions of business transactions, contracts and bankruptcy. As just one example, her recent co-authored article, titled "Race, Attorney Influence, and Bankruptcy Chapter Choice," analyzed important new dimensions of race in the bankruptcy process. 

She also prepared one of the most concise examinations of Arizona contract law in her article "Cowboy Contracts: The Arizona Supreme Court's Grand Tradition of Transactional Fairness." You can read more of Braucher's scholarly work on her faculty profile page. 

Long active in legal reform efforts, Braucher was a vice president and board member for the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center. She also was a member of, and adviser to, the American Law Institute, serving on committees, working groups and as a delegate to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. For more than five years she served on the American Bar Association Committee on the Law of Cyberspace and co-chaired a subgroup charged with developing sound strategies for electronic consumer protection disclosures. 

In 2013, she was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy, and she was the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, where she served on the board of directors.

Before coming to Arizona, Braucher served a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and the University of Puget Sound — now Seattle University — School of Law. She also had been a visiting faculty member at Cornell University Law School, the University of Texas School of Law, Boston College Law School and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She taught internationally in summer law programs in Portugal and Greece.

Around the country, Braucher's colleagues are remembering her in online tributes on the website Credit Slips: A Discussion on Credit, Finance, and Bankruptcy. You can also read more in this tribute from the UA College of Law.

Braucher is survived by her husband, David Wohl, and the couple's two grown children, Rob and Emma.

The College of Law is coordinating with Braucher's family and national colleagues about a time to honor her life's work. In the meantime, notes of condolence can be sent to her family at:

The Family of Jean Braucher
c/o Arizona Law
P.O. Box 210176
Tucson, AZ 85721