Holger Spamann LL.M. ’01 S.J.D. ’09, the Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been named a fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Spamann joins Harvard Law Professors Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84, John Coates, Reinier Kraakman, Mark Roe ’75, and Robert Sitkoff who are all current fellows and research members of ECGI.
The Institute awards the title Fellow of ECGI to individuals who have demonstrated scientific excellence or other outstanding achievements in the area of corporate governance and stewardship.
Spamann was appointed this year alongside seven other fellows, all of whom were drawn from academia in Europe and the United States and elected by their peers, the existing fellows of ECGI.
An expert on corporate law and corporate finance, Spamann focuses his research on the law and economics of corporate governance and financial markets, judicial behavior, and comparative law. Spamann, who joined the Harvard Law faculty in 2011, also served as executive director of the school’s Program on Corporate Governance from 2008 to 2010. He has produced influential research in corporate law and governance in a number of journals and his work has been featured prominently on Social Science Research Network’s (SSRN) list of the 100 most-cited law professors.
In 2022, he commemorated his appointment as Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law with a chair lecture examining the myths and reality of common and civil law, the two most widely used legal systems in the world.
Before embarking on his academic career, he practiced with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and clerked for two years in Europe. He holds law degrees from France, Germany, and the U.S., and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
This year’s ECJI fellows are: Alon Brav, Bratton Family Distinguished Professor, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; Jill Fisch, Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School; Mariassunta Giannetti, Katarina Martinson Professor of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics; Wei Jiang, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Finance, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School; Ulrike Malmendier, Professor of Economics and Finance, University of California, Berkeley; Curtis Milhaupt, William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law, Stanford Law School; Holger Spamann, Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; and Laura Starks, George Kozmetsky Centennial University Distinguished Chair, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.
Previously appointed fellows include Nobel Laureates Jean Tirole, Oliver Hart, Bengt Holmström, and Douglas Diamond.
Collectively, the new appointees have published their research in the top academic journals worldwide and have consulted for government institutions, business and numerous other respected bodies while maintaining an impressive range of international credentials and appointments. Their work is commonly cited and has inspired new research in the field of corporate governance and stewardship.
Professor Julian Franks, a professor of finance at London Business School who chaired this year’s ECGI fellowship committee, said “ECGI has a tradition of recognizing the top academics around the world for their work on corporate governance and stewardship. The award of Fellow of the Institute is a significant honor collectively bestowed by the most recognized and accomplished scholars in the field. This year’s appointees are long-deserving and representative of the best-in-class scholarship that ECGI is renowned for.”
The research work of ECGI fellows and research members, relating to corporate governance and stewardship, is published in the ECGI Working Paper Series which is accessible on the ECGI website. A full list of ECGI Fellows is also available on the website.
Want to stay up to date with Harvard Law Today? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.