Faculty Focus: Corporate Law
irginia’s business law faculty bring to the law school previous experience working for corporations as well as for law firms specializing in corporate practice. Their experience is reflected in the classes they teach and the articles they write: on topics such as mergers and acquisitions, startups, corporate finance and governance, and other specialties. Articles on corporate law, written by professors such as Michal Barzuza, are often highly ranked and broadly influential. Books, including “Wasting a Crisis: Why Securities Regulation Fails,” by Paul Mahoney, provide in-depth insights. Overarching their work is the John W. Glynn, Jr. Law & Business Program, which is led by Andrew Vollmer ’78, former deputy general counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The program educates students about the needs and goals of commercial and financial services clients, the concepts and skills needed to guide those clients, and the importance of problem-solving. Top practitioners from law firms, business and government also teach students, often in short courses designed to engage students in hands-on exercises such as deal-structuring, negotiating and counseling.
Michal Barzuza
- Received the John M. Olin Prize for outstanding S.J.D. dissertation in law and economics at Harvard Law School.
- Scholarship integrates law and finance. Her article, “Market Segmentation: The Rise of Nevada as a Liability-Free Jurisdiction,” was named among the 10 best corporate and securities law articles published in 2012, in an annual poll of corporate law professors conducted by Corporate Practice Commentator.
- Served on the board of Southern Union Gas, a mid-size New York Stock Exchange company.
- Practiced corporate law at the Israeli law firm Haim Zadok & Co.
Albert Choi
- Holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Co-editor of the American Law and Economics Review and associate editor of the International Review of Law and Economics.
- Has published widely in both peer-review and law review journals, including the American Economic Review, Yale Law Journal, Journal of Industrial Economics, NYU Law Review, Journal of Legal Studies, Virginia Law Review, and Journal of Law, Economics and Organization.
- Was director on the American Law and Economic Association’s board (2011- 14).
- Has taught at several other law schools, including Yale, Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.
George M. Cohen
- Holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
- Clerked for Judge Walter K. Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
- Has served as an ethics consultant and expert for several large law firms.
- Co-authored the books “The Law and Ethics of Lawyering” and “Foundations of the Law and Ethics of Lawyering.”
- Teaching and scholarly interest focused on the professional responsibilities of corporate lawyers and the law and economics of agency and partnership.
Quinn Curtis
- Prior to law school, worked as a software engineer for Microsoft.
- Holds a Ph.D. in finance from the Yale School of Management.
- With research focused on empirical law and finance, teaches courses in corporate law, securities and venture capital.
- Recent scholarship focuses on how law can help reform 401(k) plans and 529 plans.
George S. Geis
- Holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
- Research focuses on problems related to contract theory, business alliances, shareholder litigation and other issues involving the intersection of law and business.
- Spent five years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., where he served clients on corporate strategy, mergers and marketing; also worked with a New York and a Los Angeles law firm.
- Co-author of the book “Digital Deals: Strategies for Selecting and Structuring Partnerships.”
- Taught courses as a visiting professor at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad; the University of Auckland in New Zealand; and the University of Trento in Italy.
Rich Hynes
- Holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
- Practiced law with Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Los Angeles.
- Focuses on parallel systems outside of bankruptcy that handle debtor-creditor relations, including the use of state courts to collect debts.
Edmund W. Kitch
- Was special assistant to the solicitor general of the United States and executive director of the Civil Aeronautics Board Committee on Procedural Reform.
- Was a member of the Committee on Public-Private Sector Interactions in Vaccine Innovation of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (1983-85).
- Co-authored books include “Selected Statutes and International Agreements on Unfair Competition, Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents” and “Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition.”
Kevin A. Kordana
- Clerked for Chief Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
- Scholarly interests include bankruptcy, and law and economics issues.
- Expert on nonprofits.
Julia D. Mahoney
- Practiced law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
- Teaches Corporations, Nonprofit Organizations and the Monetary Constitution.
- Research interests include the political economy of property rights and constitutional claims arising out of the 2007-09 financial crisis.
Paul G. Mahoney
- Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and for Judge Ralph K. Winter Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Former Law School dean, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee.
- Author of “Wasting a Crisis: Why Securities Regulation Fails.”
- Worked on legal reform projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Nepal.
Andrew N. Vollmer ’78
- Served as deputy general counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission (2006-09).
- Was a partner in the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, where his practice concentrated on securities enforcement, private securities litigation and internal investigations.
- Director of the John W. Glynn, Jr. Law & Business Program.
Steven D. Walt
- Ph.D. and M.A. in philosophy from the University of Chicago.
- Co-author of two popular casebooks, “Secured Transactions in Personal Property” and “Payments and Credits.”
- Has been a visiting research scholar at Nuffield College, the University of Oxford; and an Amoco Foundation Term Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the Wharton School.
The study of business law at the Law School prompts students to evaluate the appropriate role of government regulation and mandatory legal rules versus private ordering, default rules and self-regulation. It raises questions about how legislatures and courts address the relationship of the profit motive and other community interests, and it requires consideration of the allocation of risk and responsibilities among private parties, and the conflicting needs and demands of those parties. It gives students an understanding of why businesses behave as they do and prepares students to advise clients about business plans that comply with the law and are socially responsible.
2017-19 Courses
A Beginner’s Guide to Private Equity Fund Formation
Accounting: Understanding and Analyzing Financial Statements
Advanced Corporate Finance
Advanced Topics in Securities Regulation
Advising the Board of Directors in a Mergers and Acquisitions World
Agency and Partnership
Airline Industry and Aviation Law
Antitrust in the Global Economy
Antitrust Practice
Antitrust Review of Mergers in a Global Environment
Banking and Financial Institutions
Bankruptcy (Law & Business)
BigLaw and the Profession (and Business) of Law
Business Reorganization Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code
Class Actions and Complex Litigation
Corporate Finance
Corporate Governance New Paradigm – Shareholder Activism
Corporate Law Policy
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Transactions: Startup to Exit
Corporations
Corporations (Law & Business)
Current Issues in Corporate Law and Governance
Derivatives Markets and Their Regulation
Emerging Growth Companies and Venture Capital Financing: Principles and Practice
Emerging Markets: Principles and Practice
Empirical Methods in Corporate Law and Finance
Employee Benefits Law
Energy and Environmental Products Trading and Commodities Regulation
Energy Businesses and Private Company Acquisitions
European Company Law
Federal Regulation of Investment Companies
Franchise Law
Inside the Board of Directors
Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance
International Business Negotiation
International Finance Investment and Valuation in Financial Markets
Israeli Business Law and Innovation
Law and Business Management in the Health-Care Sector
Law and Economics Colloquium
Law and Finance of Venture Capital-Backed Firms
LawTech
Lawyering for In-House Counsel
Leadership and Team Management
Legal Practice and the Startup Company: An Inside Look
Management of BigLaw Firms: Balancing Culture and Profits
Mergers and Acquisitions (Law & Business)
Quantitative Methods
Real Estate Transactions: Principles and Practice
SEC and Class-Action
Securities Enforcement
Secured Transactions
Securities Litigation and Enforcement
Securities Regulation
Securities Regulation (Law & Business)
Startup of a Medtech Company
The Fed, the Financial Crisis and Its Aftermath
The Firm and Cyberspace
Topics in Banking and Financial Regulation
Topics in Private Company Acquisitions
Transactional Approach to Mergers and Acquisitions
Under Siege: Boards and Private Equity in Financial Distress
Clinics
Entrepreneurial Law
Clinic Nonprofit Clinic