John C. Coffee Jr. (born November 15, 1944) is the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law and director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.

Education

Coffee grew up in Manhasset,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He is of Irish descent. He attended Manhasset High School where he was in the ''

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic ach ...

''. After graduation, he attended

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educat ...

with his high school friend and classmate, actor

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Whit ...

. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

in 1966, his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1969 and later an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mo ...

(in taxation) from

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...

Career

Following graduation from law school, Coffee was a

Reginald Heber Smith Reginald is a masculine given name in the English language. Etymology and history The meaning of Reginald is “King". The name is derived from the Latin ''Reginaldus'', which has been influenced by the Latin word ''regina'', meaning " queen" ...

fellow for one year, doing poverty law litigation in New York City. He entered private practice as an attorney at

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath) is an American white-shoe law firm with its headquarters in New York City, and an additional office in London. The firm is known for its complex and high profile litigation and mergers & acquisiti ...

from 1970-76. He has also served as Reporter for the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

for its Model Standards on Sentencing Alternatives and Procedures and for the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social nee ...

's Principles of Corporate Governance. From 1976-1980, he was a professor at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

before coming to Columbia. He was also a visiting professor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

(2001),

Stanford University Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford ...

(1988), the University of Virginia Law School (1978), and the University of Michigan Law School (1979). Coffee has been listed by the ''

National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...

'' as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States." He is often quoted by '' The New York Times'', '' The Wall Street Journal'' and other major media outlets, such as Fox News and

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, in their corporate and securities reporting. He has also written one of the best known

casebook A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools.Wayne L. Anderson and Marilyn J. Headrick, The Legal Profession: Is it for you?' (Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996), 83. Rather than simply laying out the legal do ...

s on U.S. securities regulation, as well as another on

corporations A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

. He is considered one of the foremost

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

s in that area of

securities law Securities regulation in the United States is the field of U.S. law that covers transactions and other dealings with securities. The term is usually understood to include both federal and state-level regulation by governmental regulatory agencies, ...

. Professor Coffee is the most cited law professor in law reviews in the combined corporate, commercial, and business law field.

Personal

Coffee lives in New Jersey. His wife, Jane, who was a professor of Mathematics at the College of Staten Island, died in 2022. They have one daughter, who is a physician. On August 10, 2011, Coffee was a guest on

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

.List of Daily Show guests
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Publications

;Books *1988 (with Lowenstein and Rose-Ackerman). ''Knights, Raiders and Targets: The Impact of the Hostile Takeover''. *2004 (with Klein). ''Business Organization and Finance: Legal and Economic Principles'', 9th ed. *2008 (with Choper and Gilson). ''Cases and Materials on Corporations'', 7th ed. *2012 (with Hillary A. Sale). ''Securities Regulation: Cases and Materials'', 12th ed. *2020. ''Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Crisis of Underenforcement'', Berrett-Koehler Publishers, . ;Articles *'Rescuing the Private Attorney General: Why the Model of the Lawyer as Bounty Hunter is Not Working' (1983) vol. 42 Issue 2 Michigan Law Review 21
Maryland Law Review
*'Shareholders Versus Managers: The Strain in the Corporate Web' (1986) 85 Michigan Law Review 1 . . *'Hail Britannia?: Institutional Investor Behavior Under Limited Regulation' (1994) 92(7) ''Michigan Law Review'' 1997-2087 (with Bernard S. Black) . . . *'The Future as History: The Prospects for Global Convergence in Corporate Governance and its Implications', (1999) 93

Northwestern University Law Review The ''Northwestern University Law Review'' is a law review and student organization at Northwestern University School of Law. The ''Law Review''s primary purpose is to publish a journal of broad legal scholarship. The ''Law Review'' publishes six ...

643. . *2000 'The Rise of Dispersed Ownership: The Role of Law in the Separation of Ownership and Control' Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 182. . . *2001 'Do Norms Matter?: A Cross-Country Examination of the Private Benefits of Control' Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 183. . . . *2002 'Understanding Enron: It's About the Gatekeepers, Stupid' ''Columbia Law & Economics'' 56(4) Working Paper No. 207. . . *2006 'Reforming the Securities Class Action: An Essay on Deterrence and its Implementation' Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 293. 106(7). . . . *2008 'Redesigning the SEC: Does the Treasury Have a Better Idea?' Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 342. (with Hillary A. Sale). . *2010 'Dispersed Ownership: The Theories, the Evidence, and the Enduring Tension Between 'Lumpers' and 'Splitters'' Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 363. . .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffee, John C. 1944 births Living people People from Manhasset, New York New York (state) lawyers Manhasset High School alumni New York University School of Law alumni Amherst College alumni Yale Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty University of Virginia School of Law faculty Columbia Law School faculty Scholars of securities law Cravath, Swaine & Moore people