Lawrence A. Cunningham


Lawrence A. Cunningham is an American scholar, author of corporate governance and investing books, and the Henry St. George Tucker III Research Professor of Law at George Washington University. In 2018, he received the Kenneth D. West Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors, in recognition of his board service, board advice, and research on corporate governance.

Significance

Cunningham is regarded as an expert on Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett. He is also widely regarded as a significant expert in the fields of corporate culture and governance, having authored some 50 scholarly articles in major law journals and published a dozen books. His articles are widely cited in the literature. His books are the standard teaching books in US law schools.
Professor Cunningham is also one of the leading figures in developing innovative solutions to risk transfer. His proposal to use insurance-linked securities, in the form of catastrophe bond type mechanisms, for transferring risk unrelated to property damage or natural catastrophes can lead to transformation of the field of alternative risk transfer.
Cunningham is best known an expert on corporate governance, doing work for the Council of Institutional Investors, the Securities Investor Protection Corp., and PCAOB, as well as writing popular accounts of AIG and Berkshire Hathaway. He also wrote several influential books on investing, including quality investing, which include insights into governance as stewardship for shareholders.

Works

Cunningham's father died when Cunningham was 13, whereupon he enrolled in Girard College, the boarding school for poor orphans in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduation, he worked full-time to put himself through his home-state school, University of Delaware. He graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law magna cum laude in 1988.

Career

From 1988 to 1994, Cunningham practiced corporate law with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, before taking an appointment to the law faculty at the Cardozo School of Law. He directed The Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance, and wrote several books on value investing.
From 2002 to 2007, he was Professor of Law & Business and Vice Dean at Boston College. At that time, he received an appointment to the faculty of George Washington University where he is the Founding Faculty Director of GW in New York.
Throughout his career, Cunningham has consulted for corporate boards and managers, and also served as a director on many.