Scholars

Scholars of the SMU Corporate Governance Initiative.

Affiliated faculty at SMU Cox School of Business and SMU Dedman School of Law working at the intersection of corporate law, securities regulation, capital markets, and the structural design of the modern public company. Listed alphabetically by last name.

Affiliated faculty

Carliss Chatman

Professor of Law

SMU Dedman School of Law

Corporate personhood Corporate governance Contracts Ethics Commercial law Race & entrepreneurship

Scholarship examines how corporate personhood, contract structures, and governance norms reinforce racial capitalism and systemic inequality. Author of Corporate Human Trafficking, 102 Tex. L. Rev. 1135 (2024), and co-author (with Carla L. Reyes) of Business Organizations: An Experiential Approach (Carolina Academic Press 2022). Chair of the Article 2 Committee of the American Bar Association Business Law Section; Academic Fellow at the Center for Retail Investors & Corporate Inclusion; Faculty Affiliate at Duke University’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity. Recipient of the SMU Dedman Law BLSA Black Faculty of the Year Award (2024), the Lutie A. Lytle Outstanding Scholar Award, and the AALS Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Award. Previously practiced at Vinson & Elkins LLP and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

SMU Faculty Profile → SSRN →

Shane Goodwin, PhD, LL.M.

Professor of Practice, Finance, SMU Cox School of Business · Adjunct Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law

Executive Director, SMU Corporate Governance Initiative · Editor, Hilltop Forum & The Hilltop Docket

Corporate governance Capital markets Corporate finance Mergers & acquisitions Shareholder activism

Empirical and doctrinal research on corporate governance, M&A, capital markets, and the law and economics of state corporate-law competition. Testified before the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs in support of Senate Bill 29, 89th Legislature, Regular Session (Tex. S.B. 29, signed into law May 14, 2025), which modernized the Texas Business Organizations Code (State Affairs Committee witness list, Mar. 10, 2025, capitol.texas.gov; bill history at capitol.texas.gov). Engaged by the Special Committee of Tesla, Inc.’s Board of Directors to advise on corporate governance matters, including satisfaction of fiduciary duties under Texas law, in connection with the 2025 CEO Performance Award (Tesla, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), at 30 (Sept. 5, 2025) (Accession No. 0001104659-25-090866)). Testified as an expert witness in the remedy phase of United States v. Google LLC regarding the feasibility of divesting Google’s Ad Exchange (E.D. Va., Oct. 2025). Recent commentary appears in Fortune, the Securities Regulation Law Journal, and the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog. Earlier career in investment banking and corporate finance at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo Securities. NACD Certified Director and Board Leadership Fellow.

sgoodwin@smu.edu SMU Cox Faculty Page → SSRN → LinkedIn →

Christine Hurt

Inaugural Alan R. Bromberg Centennial Chair in Corporate, Partnership, Business and Securities Law · Professor of Law

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, SMU Dedman School of Law

Corporate governance Securities regulation Corporate tax Business associations Partnership law

Formerly the George Sutherland Chair at BYU Law and director of the Illinois Business Law & Policy Program. Co-pioneered the Interactive Citation Workbook (LexisNexis) and served on the National Adjudicatory Council of FINRA. Earlier corporate practice at Baker Botts L.L.P. and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

SMU Faculty Profile → SSRN →

Christina M. Sautter

Professor of Law

Associate Dean for Research, SMU Dedman School of Law · Co-Founder, Secretary, and Board Director, Center for Retail Investors & Corporate Inclusion (RICI Center)

Retail investor rights Capital markets Corporate governance Mergers & acquisitions Transactional law

Scholar of structural corporate law and individual-investor rights. Visiting Fellow, LSE Law (Fall 2024); Visiting Scholar, Dublin City University School of Law and Government (Feb. 2025); Visiting Scholar, University of Edinburgh Law School (Feb.–Mar. 2025); Visiting Professor of Law, Bocconi University School of Law (Apr.–May 2025). Co-author (with Franklin A. Gevurtz) of Mergers and Acquisitions Law (West Academic Publishing 2018) (Hornbook Series). Previously practiced M&A at Shearman & Sterling LLP (now A&O Shearman).

SMU Faculty Profile → SSRN →

Marc I. Steinberg

Rupert and Lillian Radford Chair in Law · Professor of Law

Editor-in-Chief, The International Lawyer and The Securities Regulation Law Journal

Securities regulation Director & officer liability Corporate governance Legal ethics

Securities-law scholar and former SEC enforcement attorney. Author of approximately 50 books and 150 law review articles, including Rethinking Securities Law (Oxford University Press 2021) (American Book Fest “Best Law Book of 2021”; Green Bag Exemplary Legal Writing 2021) and Understanding Securities Law. Has held visiting appointments at the Lauterpacht Centre of International Law (University of Cambridge), The Dickson Poon School of Law (King’s College London, 2026–present), the National University of Singapore, and Bocconi University.

SMU Faculty Profile → SSRN →

Affiliating with the Initiative.

The SMU Corporate Governance Initiative welcomes faculty, visiting scholars, and PhD candidates whose research engages corporate governance, securities regulation, or the law and economics of state corporate-law competition. To inquire about joining the Initiative, please visit the About page.