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Celebration Commemorates Professor Alan Schwartz’s Lifetime of Scholarship

Alan Schwartz seated in a gray sports jacket and light blue shirt
Professor Alan Schwartz at the conference marking his academic career

Yale Law School honored Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Alan Schwartz ’64 and his academic career with a two-day celebration held Nov. 8 and Nov. 9. 

“Alan’s papers on contract law, corporate governance, and bankruptcy aren’t merely contributions; they are cornerstones, giving those fields shape and form,” Dean Heather K. Gerken said in her opening remarks on Friday. “With an extraordinary number of published works, Alan has carved a place of rare distinction, placing him among the top half of one percent of all cited social scientists and one of the 50 most cited legal scholars of all time.”

Schwartz is an expert in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, contracts, and commercial law, and holds an additional appointment in the Yale School of Management. 

“Alan has always dared to zig when others zag, unafraid to venture where others hesitate,” Gerken said. “His conclusions often surprise us, yet his models and reasoning compel us to follow, leading us to insights that are both unexpected and irrefutable.”

three panelists in a large classroom
Panelists Gideon Yaffe, Rebecca Stone, and Simone Sepe

Gerken also credited Schwartz for the impact he’s had on her both professionally and personally. 

The conference kicked off with three panels, the first on “Corporations” with Elisabeth de Fontenay, the Karl W. Leo Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law, and Gabriel Rauterberg ’09, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School; the second on “Contract Theory” with Simone Sepe ’05 LLM, ’09 JSD, the Chester H. Smith Professor and Professor of Law and Finance at The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, and Rebecca Stone, Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law; and the third on “Formal Models In Contract” with Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci, Professor of Law and Economics at Amsterdam Law School, and Alex Stremitzer, Professor of Law, Economics, and Business at ETH Zürich.

The final panel, “Credit And Bankruptcy,” took place on Nov. 9 and featured Jared Elias, the Scott C. Collins Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; Paige Skiba, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School; and Adriana Robertson ’15, the Donald N. Pritzker Professor of Business Law at the University of Chicago Law School. The day concluded with final remarks from Schwartz. 

The event was supported by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School.