Christopher M. Bruner

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 he 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). Bruner’s scholarship has been cited by federal and state tribunals, including the Delaware Supreme Court, and has appeared in numerous law and policy journals, including the Cambridge Law Journal and the Yale Law Journal. In recognition of his work he has received the School of Law’s Faculty Research Award in Private Law and the Association of American Law Schools Scholarly Papers Award.

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 the 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.