Robert J. Jackson Jr. Brings His Expertise on Executive Compensation to Columbia Law School

New York, July 22, 2010—Robert J. Jackson Jr. brings his recent experience at the U. S. Treasury Department to Columbia Law School as associate professor of law.

 

Jackson, a noted expert on the legal and economic implications of executive compensation and corporate governance, deferred his faculty appointment for the 2009-2010 academic year to join the Treasury Department at the height of the financial crisis to work with senior officials, including General Counsel George Madison ’80.

 

At the Treasury, Jackson was an adviser on executive compensation and corporate governance matters, and served as deputy to Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Special Master for Troubled Asset Relief Program(TARP) Executive Compensation, who is a Lecturer-in-Law at the Law School.

Along with an insider’s look at TARP, Jackson brings to the Law School a new course, The Law, Economics, and Regulation of Executive Compensation, which will feature panel discussions with officials engaged in the current policy debates regarding the regulation of executive pay. Students will write a comment letter designed to assist federal regulators with the implementation of the compensation and corporate governance provisions in the sweeping financial reform bill signed into law Wednesday by President Obama.

“With the passage of the financial regulatory reform legislation, new lawyers have an extraordinary opportunity to contribute to the legal frameworks that will govern economic affairs for years to come,” Jackson said. “I look forward to working with the future lawyers who will shape and advance the law in these areas.”

Before the Treasury, Jackson practiced law in the executive compensation and benefits department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York. His work has been the subject of rulemaking commentary before several federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.  His recent projects include the first comprehensive study of executive pay in firms owned by private-equity investors.

Previously, Jackson worked in investment banking and as a consultant to financial institutions. Before his most recent government service, he served as a law clerk to Judge Amalya L. Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and as articles co-chair of the Harvard Law Review. 

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins its traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, criminal, national security, and environmental law.