Climate Bonds

Professor Cynthia Williams joined the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Law in 1995, after practicing law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, where she primarily handled cases involving securities, mergers and acquisitions, and antitrust issues. From 2007-2009 she was the Inaugural Osler Chair in Business Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada. She is also a director of Climate Bonds Initiative parent, the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets.

Professor Williams writes in the areas of securities law and corporate law, with a particular emphasis on institutional investors and corporate responsiblity. Her Harvard Law Review article, “The Securities and Exchange Commission and Corporate Social Transparency,” was the lead article reprinted in the Securities Law Review 2000, and was recognized by the Corporate Practice Commentator as one of the ten best corporate or securities articles published in 1999 (based on a survey of American corporate and securities professors).

Her 2007 Academy of Management Review article, Putting the S Back in Corporate Social Responsibility, co-authored with Profs. Ruth Aguilera (business) and Deborah Rupp (organizational psychology) was awarded the Best Paper Prize at the Second Annual International Conference on Corporate Governance, University of Birmingham.

Prof. Williams is a casebook author with Prof. Gordon Smith , publishing a casebook entitled Business Organizations: Cases, Problems, and Case Studies with Aspen Press in 2004. A second edition is forthcoming in 2008.