Professor Branson received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Northwestern University. He has also earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia, specializing in corporate law and securities regulation. Before joining the faculty at Pittsburgh, Professor Branson taught for more than 20 years at Seattle University. He has also been a visiting professor at a number of schools, including the University of Washington as Condon Falknor Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Alabama as Charles Tweedy Distinguished Visiting Professor, the University of Hong Kong as Paul Hastings Distinguished Visiting Professor, Cornell University, Arizona State University, Washington University (St. Louis), and universities in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Belgium, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, and England. He holds a permanent faculty appointment at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in its Masters of Law Program.
Professor Branson has published numerous articles and books, including the treatise, Corporate Governance (Lexis Law Pub. 1993)(with annual supplements), Corporate Governance Problems (1997), Understanding Corporate Law (Matthew Bender,1999)(3rd ed. 2009))(with A. Pinto), Questions and Answers on Business Organizations (2003)(2d ed. 2012), No Seat at the Table - How Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom (NYU Press 2007), Cases and Materials on Business Enterprises (LexisNexis, 2009)(2d ed. 2012)(w. J. Heminway et al), The Last Male Bastion: Gender and the CEO Suite at America’s Public Companies (Routledge 2010), The Russell Sage Handbook of Corporate Governance (forthcoming 2012)(w. T. Clarke), and Tastes of Nuoc Mam The Brown Water Navy and Visits to Vietnam (2012). He also has published approximately 75 law review articles in the fields of corporate law, corporate governance and securities regulation.
As an elected member since 1981, he had an influential role in framing the American Law Institute’s recommendations for corporate governance and is a leading expert on the corporate law aspects of Alaska native corporations. Most recently, he has been a USAID consultant to the Ministries of Justice in Indonesia, Ukraine, and Slovakia advising on corporate law, capital markets law, corporate governance, and securitization issues.
- JD, Northwestern University
- BA, University of Notre Dame
Education & Training
Books:
- Questions And Answers On Business Associations, (LexisNexis/Matthew Bender, Jan. 2012).
- Three Tastes of Nưởc Mẳm, Hellgate Press (2012).
- The Sage Handbook of Corporate Governance, (with Clarke, T., Sage, 2012).
- Business Enterprises: Legal Structures, Governance, and Policy, (with Heminway J.M., Loewenstein M.J., LexisNexis, Apr. 2012).
- The Last Male Bastion – the CEO Suite at America’s Public Companies and Gender, (Routledge Press, 2010). Abstract on SSRN.
- Understanding Corporate Law 3rd edition, (Matthew Bender, 2009).
- Cases and Materials On Business Organizations (with Joan Hemminway et al., LexisNexis, 2009).
- No Seat At The Table: How Corporate Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom, (New York University Press, 2007). Abstract available on SSRN.
- Forensic Social Work, (2d. ed., with B. Barker, 2005).
- Questions & Answers: Business Associations, (LexisNexi, 2004).
- Questions & Answers: Business Organizations Law, (Lexis Law Publishing, 2003).
Scholarly Articles:
- Global Convergence in Corporate Governance: What a Difference Ten Years Make, The Sage Handbook of Corporate Governance, (with Clarke, T., Branson, ed., Sage, 2012).
- A Business Judgment Rule for Incorporating Jurisdictions in Asia? 3 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 23 (Nov. 2011).
- Nibbling at the Edges - Regulation of Short Selling: Policing Failures to Deliver and Restoration of an Uptick Rule, Business Lawyer (Nov. 2009) on SSRN.
- Still Square Pegs in Round Holes? A Look at ANCSA Corporations, Corporate Governance, and Indeterminate Form or Operation of Legal Entities, 24 Duke Akaska L. Rev. 203 (2007).
- Too Many Bells? Too Many Whistles? Corporate Governance in the Post Enron, Post WorldCom Era, 58 S.C. L. Rev. (2006).
- Governance: Operations and Choice of Form in Schizophrenic or Indeterminate Entities, Haw. L. Rev. (2006).
- Balancing the Scales: A Statutory Business Judgment Rule for Hong Kong? (with Low Chee Keong) 34 Hong Kong L. J. 303 (2004).
- Symposium, Enron--When All Systems Fail: Creative Destruction Or Roadmap To Corporate Governance Reform? 48 Vill. L. Rev. 989 (2003).
- Indiana Supreme Court Lecture: The Rule That Isn’t a Rule - The Business Judgment Rule, 36 Valparaiso L. Rev. 631 (2003).
- The Social Responsibility Of Large Multinational Corporations, 33 Transnat'l Law. 121 (2002).
Other Publications:
- Criminal Excess: Backdating Stock Options Jurist, (Nov. 29, 2006).
- Schadenfreude and Martha Stewart, Jurist, (June 6, 2003).
Presentations
- Presenter, “Corporate Governance in East Asia,” East Asia Law & Society, (Oct. 2011).
- Presenter, W. Edward Sell Keynote Address, Pennsylvania Bar Business Law Institute, (Nov. 2011).
- Presenter, ‘Pathways to Senior Executive Positions and Board Seats,” Pathways to Power Conference, Michigan State Univ. School of Law, (Apr. 2012).
- Presenter, “Diversity on Corporate Governance,” Business Law Section Annual Meeting, Allegheny County Bar Association, (May 2012).
- Keynote Speaker, “Achieving Diversity on Corporate Governance,” Corporate Law Teachers Association Annual Meeting, (Feb. 2012).
- Presenter, “Globalization and Corporate Law Teaching,” CLTA Annual Meeting, (Feb. 2012).
- Keynote Speaker, “Achieving Diversity in Corporate Governance,” Diversity on Boards, Univ. of Auckland School of Business, New Zealand, (Feb. 2012).
Corporate Law
Securities Regulation
