Eric Talley

Eric Talley is an expert who works at the intersection of corporate law, governance, and finance. He also teaches and researches in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, quantitative methods, machine learning, contract and commercial law, alternative investments, game theory, and economic analysis of law. 

As a co-director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, Talley shapes research and programs focused on the future of corporate governance and performance. Talley is a frequent commentator in the national media, and he speaks regularly to corporate boards and regulators on issues pertaining to fiduciary duties, governance, and finance. 

Talley’s recent scholarship includes a data-based investigation of constitutional polarization in Congressional speech, written with David Pozen and Julian Nyarko, and an analysis of whether the end of disclosure-only settlements in merger objection lawsuits has benefited shareholders, written with Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci. His paper “Contracting Out of the Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty: An Empirical Analysis of Corporate Opportunity Waivers,’’ written with Gabriel Rauterberg and published in Columbia Law Review, was named one of the 10 best corporate and securities articles of 2017 by the Corporate Practice Commentator.

Before joining Columbia Law in 2015, Talley held permanent or visiting appointments at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Southern California, Caltech, University of Chicago, Harvard University, Georgetown University, RAND Graduate School, and Stanford University. In 2017, Talley was chosen by Columbia Law School’s graduating class to receive the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

He serves on the board of directors of the Society for Empirical Legal Studies and was the co-president of the 2014 Conference on Empirical Legal Studies.