All Judge Ralph K. Winter Lectures on Corporate Law and Governance
February 26, 2024
Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard University, Department of Economics and former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers (2013-17), “Clear Thinking About Economic Policy: Overcoming the Liberal and Conservative Vices.”
October 3, 2022
Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University, “Inflation Risks for America and the Global Economy.”
April 18, 2022
Sir Paul Tucker, Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, former Chair of the Systemic Risk Council, and author, Unelected Power, “Regulating for International Economic Resilience During Fractured Geopolitics.”
January 27, 2020
Ray Dalio, Founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Co-Chairman, Bridgewater Associates, “Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises.”
September 17, 2018
Lord Mervyn King, Alan Greenspan Professor of Economics, New York University Stern School of Business and former Governor, Bank of England, “Uncertainty, Probability and the Law.”
March 5, 2018
David S. Scharfstein, Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking and Chair of Doctoral Programs, Harvard Business School, “Pension Policy and the Financial System.”
April 17, 2017
Marianne Bertrand, Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Board Quotas in Norway.”
October 13, 2015
Hon. Leo E. Strine, Jr., Chief Justice, Delaware Supreme Court, “Corporate Power Ratchet: The Courts’ Role in Eroding ‘We the People’s’ Ability To Constrain Our Corporate Creations.”
April 23, 2015
Jeremy Stein, Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics, Harvard University, “The Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet and its Financial Stability Objectives.”
September 23, 2013
Daron Acemoglu, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, MIT, “The Value of Political Connections in Turbulent Times: Evidence from the United States.”
December 3, 2012
Jean Tirole, Scientific Director, The Institut d’Economie Industrielle and Chairman, Toulouse School of Economics, “The Future of Eurozone Regulatory Institutions.”
February 27, 2012
Stephen A. Ross, Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics, MIT Economics Department and MIT Sloan School of Management, “Regression to the Max: The Use and Abuse of Financial Theory in Legal Disputes and Regulation.”
February 14, 2011
Kenneth S. Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Department of Economics, Harvard University, “Sovereign Bankruptcy: Is This Time Different?”
November 5, 2009
Kenneth R. French, The Carl E. and Catherine M. Heidt Professor of Finance, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, “Perspectives on Financial Regulation.”
March 2, 2009
Steven N. Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “Are U.S. CEOs Overpaid?”
April 21, 2008
Reinier Kraakman ’79, Ezra Ripley Thayer Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, “Exit, Voice, and Liability: Legal Dimensions of Organizational Structure.”
April 23, 2007
Daniel Fischel, Professor of Law and Business, Northwestern University School of Law, “Markets and Scandals: Enron and Beyond.” A grant from the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation provided additional financial support for the lecture.
February 20, 2006
Paul Mahoney ’84, Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law and Albert C. BeVier Research Professor, University of Virginia School of Law, “Did the SEC Improve Corporate Disclosure? Evidence from the 1930s.” A grant from the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation provided additional financial support for the lecture.
December 5, 2005
The Inaugural Winter Lecture took place at the Law School on December 5, 2005, when the Hon. Frank H. Easterbrook, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and formerly Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, delivered a lecture entitled “The Race for the Bottom in Corporate Governance.”
As Judge Easterbrook summarized his Lecture, it is a tribute to Judge Winter’s famous essay in the late 1970s demolishing William Cary’s thesis that state law would produce a “race to the bottom” in enabling managers to exploit investors. Judge Winter observed that states compete for corporations (and corporations for capital); and in competition Adam Smith’s invisible hand produces benefits for all. The race is to the top. Recent developments in corporate law, however, are designed to eliminate competition by federalizing the rule of decision and by hampering international efforts to reallocate capital. Will this less-competitive regime, exemplified by Sarbanes-Oxley, lead a real race for the bottom? What is the public-choice dynamic of national corporate law?
The Hon. Ralph Winter '60 and the Hon. Frank H. Easterbrook
The Hon. Ralph Winter '60 with Kate Winter and law clerks (from left): Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. '87, Steven Thomas, Todd Geremia, Minor Myers '03, Andrew Hruska '93, Margaret Little '84, Christopher DeLong '93, Marc Arkin '82, Barbara Cox, Christopher Mann, George Conway '87, Pamela Carter '05, Alison Gregory, Amanda Flug '03, Henry Smith '96, Anthony Colangelo, and Alejandro Longoria '05
YLS Prof. Anthony Kronman '75, Ambassador John Bolton '74, and the Hon. Ralph Winter '60
Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. '87, the Hon. Ralph Winter '60, and George Conway '87
Ambassador John Bolton '74, YLS Dean Harold Koh, and the Hon. Ralph Winter '60
Ambassador John Bolton '74
Gandolfo V. DiBiasi '78, Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. '87, and George Conway '87
YLS Profs. Anthony Kronman '75 and Peter Schuck and YLS Dean Harold Koh
YLS Prof. Al Klevorick
YLS Prof. & Ctr. Dir. Roberta Romano '80 and Alison Gregory
Harvard Law Prof. Henry Smith '96
YLS Prof. Kate Stith
The Hon. Ralph Winter '60 and Kate Winter
Celebrants