About Us

The Clarke Business Law Institute provides a venue for Cornell students to learn from nationally-recognized academics, senior lawyers, regulators, and business leaders, providing a three-dimensional, nuanced view of the business world and the legal issues that affect it.  At its core, and reflecting that purpose, the Institute focuses on:

• Hiring and retaining faculty, both permanent and visiting, who concentrate
  on business law areas;
• Developing courses and seminars in business law that improve the range,
  depth, and overall quality of legal training;
• Facilitating collaboration on projects related to business and financial law
  between Law School faculty and other Cornell departments; and
• Bringing speakers to the Ithaca campus and organizing conferences that use
  the Law School's academic platform as a neutral forum for the discussion of
  topics of pressing interest among judges, regulators, practitioners, and academics.

The Institute was created with a $5 million lead gift from alumnus Jack G. Clarke, LL.B. '52, a lawyer and retired Exxon Mobil executive.  Other alumni have committed an additional $9 million to the project, and additional fundraising is ongoing.  The 2007 gift was the single largest investment in business law in the Law School's history.

Learn more about the Clarke Business Law Institute Leadership team.

To learn more about the Clarke Business Law Institute, please review our web pages or the brochure below.