Massey Prize for Research in Law, Innovation, and Capital Markets Awarded to Texas Law Professor Henry T. C. Hu

International Symposium Brings Together Corporate, Banking, and Finance Experts in Honor of Prize

AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 5, 2014) — University of Texas School of Law Professor Henry T. C. Hu has been awarded the Massey Prize for Research in Law, Innovation, and Capital Markets in honor of his scholarly body of work. To recognize Hu’s receipt of the Massey Prize, a symposium will be held Sept. 26 featuring a group of renowned corporate, banking and finance scholars and practitioners from around the world. See speakers and panelists list below.

The Massey Prize was established in 2009 at The University of Texas School of Law through a generous gift from alumnus John H. Massey and his wife, Elizabeth. This international prize is awarded for a scholarly book, article or body of work that has made a significant contribution to the understanding of law, innovation and capital markets. Hu is the second recipient. The first Massey Prize was awarded to Robert E. Litan of the Brookings Institution in 2011.

“We’re proud and excited to be hosting a symposium that brings together such a spectacular international collection of scholars in the fields of law and finance, and to be doing honor at the same time to a towering scholar on our own faculty – Henry Hu,” said Ward Farnsworth, dean of The University of Texas School of Law.  “A worthier and more intellectually accomplished recipient of the Massey Prize is impossible to imagine.”

Robert Charles Clark, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor (and dean of Harvard Law School, 1989-2003), will be the keynote speaker at the symposium, with an address on corporate governance. Hu will give an address on financial innovation. The two addresses will be followed by three panel discussions covering a wide range of corporate, banking, bankruptcy, derivatives, international, securities and systemic risk matters. The panel members include finance professors from Stanford University and New York University, law professors from Columbia University, ETH-Zurich, the London School of Economics, University of Texas, Tilburg University, Trinity College (Dublin), the University of Hong Kong and the University of Pennsylvania, a former Delaware Supreme Court Justice and a senior partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

“Financial innovation has become central to capital markets and financial institutions, corporate governance and securities regulation, and, as we have all recently witnessed, the very foundations of economies worldwide,” Hu said. “I am enormously grateful for the Massey Prize, to the founding donors, Mr. and Mrs. Massey, and for this new inspiration for continuing research.”

Hu is the Allan Shivers Chair in the Law of Banking and Finance at The University of Texas School of Law. He is best known for his scholarship and public service relating to the law and economics of capital markets and corporate governance, especially as to disclosure, financial innovation and risk. A 1993 article was the first work to show how certain factors could cause “sophisticated” financial institutions to take excessive risks and make mistakes as to derivatives. Sole- and lead-authored articles in 2006-09 offered the first systematic analysis of the new derivatives-related phenomenon of “decoupling,” and coined terms such as “empty creditor” and “empty voter” now used worldwide by academics, bankers, corporate executives, hedge funds, judges, legislators and regulators. Articles in 2012 and 2014 offer a fundamental rethinking of the classic approach to public disclosure relied on by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Reserve, and show the approach’s inadequacies in the face of the complex risks posed by certain new financial products and “too big to fail” banks. These articles offer pathways for reform, including a new conceptual framework for “information.”

In public service, Hu was appointed by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro as the inaugural director of the Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation (2009-11) (now called the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis), the first new Division in 37 years. He has been chair of the Business Associations Section of the Association of American Law Schools and a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the NASD (now FINRA), and Nasdaq Market Regulation Committees and the Board of Trustees of the Center for American and International Law. Hu is on the Editorial Board of Oxford University Press’s “Capital Markets Law Journal.” In 2010, the National Association of Corporate Directors named him one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance (“Directorship 100”).


The Massey Prize for Research in Law, Innovation, and Capital Markets Symposium Speakers and Panelists Include:

Professor Robert C. Clark, Harvard Law School
Professor Henry T. C. Hu, The University of Texas School of Law
Professor Anat Admati, Stanford Business School
Professor Douglas Arner, University of Hong Kong Department of Law
Deputy Dean William W. Bratton, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Professor Blanaid Clarke, Trinity College School of Law (Dublin)
Professor Merritt Fox, Columbia Law School
Professor Jeffrey Golden, London School of Economics and Political Science
Professor Gérard Hertig, ETH-Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
The Honorable Jack B. Jacobs, Delaware Supreme Court (Justice) (through June 24, 2014) and Sidley Austin LLP (from October 1, 2014)
Michael H. Krimminger, Esq., Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Professor Joseph McCahery, Tilburg University
Professor Marti G. Subrahmanyam, New York University Stern School of Business
Professor Jay L. Westbrook, The University of Texas School of Law

For more information about the Symposium and Massey Prize, visit law.utexas.edu/massey-2014 or contact The University of Texas School of Law Office of Alumni Relations and Development at 512-232-1118.

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