Judge Ralph Winter Lectureship on Corporate Law
The Judge Ralph Winter Lectureship on Corporate Law and Governance was established by former law clerks and students of Judge Winter to support lectures on corporate law and governance and related topics.
Judge Winter ‘60 (In Memoriam) was a Senior Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. He was the William K. Townsend Professor of Law at the Law School at the time of his appointment to the bench in 1982, and continued to teach at the Law School part-time through 2014. The lectureship commemorates Judge Winter’s foundational corporate law scholarship and distinguished career as a jurist. His 1977 article, “State Law, Shareholder Protection, and the Theory of the Corporation,” changed the terms of debate about the federal system of corporate law. Judge Frank Easterbrook has called the article “the single most important contribution to the economic analysis of corporate law since Ronald Coase published “The Nature of the Firm” in 1937.” In short, contemporary corporate law scholarship is unintelligible without referencing Judge Winter’s contribution.