The John R. Raben/Sullivan & Cromwell Fellowship brings to the Law School a leading expert in securities law or the accounting for business enterprises, who delivers a public lecture at the School.

John R. Raben ‘39, was a partner of the Sullivan & Cromwell firm. He was counsel to investment banking and accounting firms and associations, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and counsel to the industry task force that helped draft the Securities Investor Protection Corporation Legislation. Upon his death in 1975, the fellowship was established in his honor at the Law School by Sullivan & Cromwell, and augmented by his friends.

In remarks for a firm history by John F. Cannon, then a younger partner, the following impression of John Raben was provided:

“No chronicle of any length could capture how potent a figure John’s character, intellect and spirit made him with his clients and those with whom he dealt on behalf of his clients, and with his partners, associates and other co-workers at Sullivan & Cromwell... For all of John’s intensity and rigor as a lawyer, he never confused anyone for very long about what the man was like; warm and thoughtful, generous and forgiving. And in spite of the strength and confidence he projected, there was a boyish element, a shyness in him, a paradox with roots, one judges, in his awareness that his great gifts were, after all, gifts.”

Raghuram G. Rajan, Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, gave the 2007-2008 John R. Raben/Sullivan & Cromwell Fellowship Lecture entitled, "Landed Interests and Financial Underdevelopment in the United States." To view a photo gallery follow this link.

Bengt Holmstrom, Paul A. Samuelson Professor, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave the 2006-2007 John R. Raben Fellowship Lecture entitled, "Corporate Governance in Context." To view a photo gallery follow this link.

April 24, 2006

Oliver Hart, Andrew E. Furer Professor of Economics, Harvard University, gave the 2005-2006 John R. Raben Fellowship Lecture entitled, "Partial Contracts." On Tuesday, April 25, Professor Hart led a general discussion on the Law and Economics of Contracts and Organizations. Click here for paper Click here for video To view a photo gallery follow this link.

November 15, 2005

Lucian Bebchuk, the William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor of Law, Economics, and Finance at Harvard Law School, gave the 2004-2005 Raben Lecture entitled, "The Myth of the Shareholder Franchise."

View video of the lecture

March 30, 2004

J. Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, lectured on "Who Appoints Them, What Do they Do? Evidence on Outside Directors from Japan."

May 7, 2003

Paul G. Mahoney '84, the Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law and Albert C. BeVier Research Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, spoke on "Searching for Market Manipulation in the Pre-SEC Era."

February 28, 2002 

Ronald J. Gilson '71, the Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School and the Marc and Eva Stern Professor of Law and Business at Columbia University School of Law, spoke on Engineering Venture Capital Markets.

November 27, 2000

John C. Coffee, Jr. '69, Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at the Columbia University School of Law, delivered a lecture on "The Rise of Dispersed Ownership: The Role of Law in The Separation of Ownership and Control."