Walter Effross
Walter Effross joined the faculty of the American University Washington College of Law after practicing commercial and computer law at two of the largest law firms in New Jersey. He teaches courses in Corporate Bankruptcy, E-Commerce Law & Drafting, Business Associations, Corporate Governance, Negotiable Instruments, and Sales & Secured Transactions.
An honors graduate of Princeton University, where he won the freshman and sophomore English prizes, Professor Effross graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for Justice Daniel J. O’Hern of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. From 1991 to 1995 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Regional Advisory Board of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. He was awarded the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Service to the Bar Award in 1992 and its Young Lawyer of the Year Award in 1994.
Professor Effross is a member of the American Law Institute, a co-author of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Practice Manual, a former associate editor of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, and a member of the editorial boards of: the International Journal of Electronic Commerce; Internet Law and Regulation; and E-Commerce Law & Strategy. He is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights and Section on Commercial and Related Consumer Law, and of the American Bar Association’s Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce.
Professor Effross’s articles on intellectual property, privacy, e-commerce, and bankruptcy law have appeared in a wide range of periodicals and have won the Washington College of Law’s Emalee C. Godsey Scholar Award and Elizabeth Payne Cubberly Research Award. Professor Effross has testified on electronic commerce issues and on Y2K issues before Congressional subcommittees, and was the initiator and principal drafter of the ABA’s Safeshopping.org website for online shopping strategies.
In late December 2009, Aspen published Professor Effross’s book, Corporate Governance: Principles and Practices, the first casebook devoted specifically to this topic. Its practical summaries, questions, and suggestions are addressed not only to students of law and business, but also to boards of directors, individual directors and officers, shareholders, stakeholders, and their counsel.