Professor Robert M. Daines Appointed Associate Dean for Stanford Law School’s Global Programs

Robert M. Daines
Robert M. Daines has been appointed Associate Dean for Global Programs at Stanford Law School.

Robert M. Daines, the Pritzker Professor of Law and Business, has been appointed Associate Dean for Global Programs at Stanford Law School. In this role, he will spearhead the law school’s Global Initiative, an innovative new model for training tomorrow’s leaders for an increasingly interconnected world.

“A global perspective is more important than ever for leaders in law, government and business,” said M. Elizabeth Magill, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean at Stanford Law School (SLS). “Our curriculum is rich in opportunities for our students to study international and transnational law, and Rob is well positioned to take our efforts to the next level.”

Daines will be focused on scaling and expanding Stanford Law School’s international offerings.

“I’m excited to build on what we’ve done so far and to expand our students’ opportunities for learning how to navigate in the global arena,” said Daines, who is also a senior faculty member for the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, as well as a Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The Global Initiative builds on a wide variety of programs SLS has developed to give law students direct experience in studying and working in a global setting. It includes rule of law and development programs around the globe such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Timor-Leste, Iraq and Rwanda; exchange programs with non-U.S. law schools; a robust traditional public international law curriculum; and an international human rights center and​ clinic.

In addition, the school is offering a new course called “Going Global” to introduce students to the practice of law in the global context. The course provides a foundation for understanding the types of challenges faced by business entities that operate around the world. It is built around a series of cases (like traditional business school cases) that put students in real-world situations and ask them to think through a wide range of business and legal options.

The Global Initiative also includes courses that include an intensive overseas component where student are immersed in other cultures and legal systems. Introduced during the 2014-15 academic year, these courses include overseas experiences that allow students to engage thoughtfully with faculty mentors and leaders in foreign law, policy and business communities. During this academic year, students took quarter-long courses on comparative civil rights, deals in Latin America and comparative venture capital before departing on overseas study trips in spring 2016 to Paris, Chile and China, respectively. In 2015 students traveled to Brazil, China and Belgium.

A third leg of the Initiative is the integration of transnational law into core courses. To better integrate international perspective into the student learning experience, SLS is increasing the number of visitors from around the world who can partner with faculty to teach core courses, as well as adding global case studies into a broader range of courses.

In his research, Daines focuses on the intersection between law and finance, including CEO pay, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, mandatory disclosure regulations, IPOs, shareholder voting and takeover defenses. His work has appeared in such top publications as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization and The Yale Law Journal.

Before entering academia, Daines was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he advised firms on bank and bond financings. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he clerked for Judge Ralph K. Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

He also was awarded the 2012 John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching.