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 Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

Education

Coffee grew up in

Manhasset Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 ...

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

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

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

''. After graduation, he attended

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

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'' (1972) and as high school basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the televisi ...

. He received his B.A. from

in 1966. He then received his LL.B. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1969 and later an LL.M. (in taxation) from

New York University School of Law The 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 was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

Career

Following graduation from law school, Coffee was a

Reginald Heber Smith Reginald Heber Smith (21 December 1889-23 October 1966), also known as Reg Smith, was an American lawyer. His book Justice and the Poor inspired the creation of legal aid programmes throughout the United States. He was awarded the American Bar Asso ...

fellow for one year, doing poverty law litigation in New York City. He entered private practice as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1970 to 1976. He has also served as Reporter for the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

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 limited to 3,000 elected members and established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and i ...

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

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

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

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

(2001), Stanford University Law School (1988), the University of Virginia Law School (1978), and the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

(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 new ...

'' as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States." He has been quoted by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' and other major media outlets, such as

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, in their corporate and securities reporting. He has also written a casebook on U.S. securities regulation, as well as another on corporations. Coffee is the most cited law professor in law reviews in the combined corporate, commercial, and business law field.

Personal life

Coffee lives in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. 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 nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

.List of Daily Show guests
/ref>

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