Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center
Christopher Bruner photo
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(706) 542-5556

University of Georgia School of Law
Dean Rusk International Law Center
228 Rusk Hall
Athens, GA 30602
United States

Administrative Support

A.B., University of Michigan
M.Phil., University of Oxford
J.D., Harvard University

Courses

Contracts
Corporations
Corporate Finance
Corporate Sustainability
Comparative Corporate Law
Deals
Securities Regulation

Biographical Information

Christopher M. Bruner is the Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law and serves as a faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center. He holds a courtesy appointment at the UGA Terry College of Business. Bruner teaches a range of corporate and transactional subjects and has received the School of Law’s C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Bruner’s scholarship focuses on corporate law, corporate governance, comparative law, and sustainability. His books include The Corporation as Technology: Re-Calibrating Corporate Governance for a Sustainable Future (OUP, 2022), Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World (OUP, 2016), and Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power (CUP, 2013). His edited volumes include A Research Agenda for Corporate Law (Edward Elgar, 2023) (co-edited with M. Moore) and The Cambridge Handbook of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability (CUP, 2019) (co-edited with B. Sjåfjell). In recognition of his scholarship, Bruner has received the School of Law’s Faculty Research Award in Private Law and the Association of American Law Schools Scholarly Papers Award. His scholarship has appeared in numerous law and policy journals, including the Cambridge Law Journal and the Yale Law Journal.

Bruner is a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and has presented his work in numerous countries around the world. He has been a visitor to the law faculties of the University of Cambridge, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Leeds, the University of Sydney, the University of Toronto, the National University of Singapore, the Southwest University of Political Science and Law (Chongqing, China), and the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa). He serves as co-editor (with M. Moore) of the Hart Publishing/Bloomsbury Professional book series Contemporary Studies in Corporate Law.

Prior to his arrival at UGA, Bruner was the Bain Family Professor of Corporate Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he also served as director of the Frances Lewis Law Center – W&L Law’s faculty research and support arm – and twice received the Ethan Allen Faculty Fellowship for scholarly excellence. From 2006 to 2009, he was an assistant professor at Texas Tech University School of Law, where he received the Mahon Research Fellowship and the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award. From 2005 to 2006, he was a visiting assistant professor at the Boston University School of Law. Prior to entering academia, Bruner practiced with Ropes & Gray in Boston, where he worked with public and closely held companies on a range of corporate, transactional and securities matters. He received his A.B., M.Phil. and J.D. from the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford and Harvard Law School, respectively.

Publications & Activities

BOOKS

The Corporation as Technology: Re-Calibrating Corporate Governance for a Sustainable Future (Oxford University Press, 2022). 

The Cambridge Handbook of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability (Cambridge University Press, 2019) (co-edited with B. Sjåfjell).

Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

ARTICLES

Corporate Governance Reform and the Sustainability Imperative131 Yale L.J. 1217 (2022).

Distributed Ledgers, Artificial Intelligence and the Purpose of the Corporation, 79 Cambridge L.J. 431 (2020).

Leveraging Corporate Law: A Broader Account of Delaware's Competition, 80 Maryland L. Rev. 72 (2020).

Corporate Governance Reform in Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions, 60 Ariz. L. Rev. 959 (2018).

Center-Left Politics and Corporate Governance: What Is the "Progressive" Agenda?, 2018 BYU L. Rev. 267 (2018).

The Fiduciary Enterprise of Corporate Law, 74 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 791 (2017).

Is the Corporate Director's Duty of Care a "Fiduciary" Duty? Does It Matter?, 48 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1027 (2013).

Conceptions of Corporate Purpose in Post-Crisis Financial Firms, 36 Seattle U. L. Rev. 527 (2013).

Managing Corporate Federalism: The Least-Bad Approach to the Shareholder Bylaw Debate, 36 Del. J. Corp. L. 1 (2011).

Corporate Governance Reform in a Time of Crisis, 36 J. Corp. L. 309 (2011).

The Changing Face of Money, 30 Rev. of Banking & Fin. L. 383 (2011).

Good Faith in Revlon-Land, 55 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 581 (2010/11).

Power and Purpose in the "Anglo-American" Corporation, 50 Va. J. Int'l L. 579 (2010).

Shareholder Bylaws and the Delaware Corporation, 11 Transactions 67 (2009).

States, Markets, and Gatekeepers: Public-Private Regulatory Regimes in an Era of Economic Globalization, 30 Mich. J. Int'l L. 125 (2008).

The Enduring Ambivalence of Corporate Law, 59 Ala. L. Rev. 1385 (2008).

Culture, Sovereignty, and Hollywood: UNESCO and the Future of Trade in Cultural Products, 40 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 351 (2008).

Good Faith, State of Mind, and the Outer Boundaries of Director Liability in Corporate Law, 41 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1131 (2006). 

To Judge Leviathan: Sovereign Credit Ratings, National Law, and the World Economy, 25 J. Pub. Pol'y 191 (2005).

Hemispheric Integration and the Politics of Regionalism: The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), 33 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 1 (2002).

BOOK CHAPTERS

Methods of Comparative Corporate Governance, in Research Handbook on Comparative Corporate Governance 20 (Afra Afsharipour & Martin Gelter eds., Edward Elgar Publishing 2021).

Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and the Pursuit of Sustainability, in Cambridge Handbook of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability 713 (Beate Sjåfjell& Christopher M. Bruner, eds. Cambridge University Press 2019) (with B. Sjåfjell).

Corporations and Sustainability, in Cambridge Handbook Of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability 3 (Beate Sjåfjell & Christopher M. Bruner , eds. Cambridge University Press 2019) (with B. Sjåfjell).

Leaders or Laggards? Corporate Sustainability in Hong Kong and Singapore, in Cambridge Handbook Of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability 504 (Beate Sjåfjell & Christopher M. Bruner, eds. Cambridge University Press 2019).

How Small Jurisdictions Compete in International Financial Services, in Integration and International Dispute Resolution In Small States 167 (Petra Butler et. al, eds. Springer 2018).

Opting Out of Fiduciary Duties and Liabilities in U.S. and U.K. Business Entities, in Research Handbook on Fiduciary Law 285 (Gordon Smith & Andrew Gold eds., Edward Elgar 2018).

The Corporation's Intrinsic Attributes, in Understanding the Company: Corporate Governance and Theory 60 (Barnali Choudhury & Martin Petrin eds., Cambridge University Press 2017) .

UNESCO, the WTO, and Trade in Cultural Products, in Essays on the Future of the World Trade Organization, vol. 1, 385 (Julien Chaisse & Tiziano Balmelli eds., Editions Interuniversitaires Suisses, 2008).