Boston University School of Law

David I. Walker

Education

Harvard Law School
J.D. magna cum laude, 1998
Honors/activities: John M. Olin Prize
Research Fellow in Law and Economics
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

Vanderbilt University
B.E., Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, 1983
Honors: Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship

Employment

Boston University School of Law
Professor of Law (2008 to present)
Associate Professor of Law (2002 to 2008)

Ropes & Gray, Boston, MA
Associate (2000-2002)

John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics and Business, Harvard Law School
Research Fellow (1999-2000)

Judge Karen Nelson Moore, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Law Clerk (1998-1999)

British Petroleum/Standard Oil Co., Cleveland, Los Angeles, London
Various professional and managerial positions (1983-1995)

Scholarly Interests

Corporate Law, Taxation, Executive Compensation, Law and Economics

Presentations

Are Tax and Accounting Rules Discriminating against Discounted Employee Stock Options Justified? Tax Policy Seminar, Harvard Law School (Oct. 1, 2008).

Are Tax and Accounting Rules … Justified? Canadian Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Univ. of Toronto (Sept. 27, 2008).

Are Tax and Accounting Rules … Justified? Harvard Law School Seminar on Current Research in Taxation (Aug. 24, 2008).

Commentator for Steven N. Kaplan and Joshua Rauh, Wall Street and Main Street: What Contributes to the Rise in Highest Incomes?, Penn/NYU Conference on Law and Finance, University of Pennsylvania Law School (Mar. 1, 2008).

Regulatory Tax Penalties, Law and Economics Seminar, University of Texas School of Law (Feb. 18, 2008).

Regulatory Tax Penalties, Colloquium, Emory University School of Law (Nov. 27, 2007).

Discussant for Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala, Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities, Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, NYU School of Law (Nov. 10, 2007).

The Paradox of Book-Tax Conformity for Equity Compensation, Murphy Conference on Corporate Law, Fordham University School of Law (Oct. 18, 2007).

Regulatory Tax Penalties, Tax Policy Colloquium, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (Aug. 27, 2007).

Regulatory Tax Penalties, Junior Tax Scholars’ Conference, Boston University School of Law (June 9, 2007).

Unpacking Backdating: Economic Analysis and Observations on the Stock Option Scandal, Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum, Stanford Law School (May 19, 2007).

Unpacking Backdating, American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Harvard Law School (May 6, 2007).

Invited Participant, Columbia Law School Transactional Studies Program Fifth Deals Roundtable: Corporations and Capital Markets Evolution (Apr. 13, 2007).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, Colloquium on Tax Policy and Public Finance, New York University Law School (Feb. 1, 2007).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, National Tax Association Annual Conference (Nov. 16, 2006).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, Boston Univ. School of Management (Oct. 27, 2006).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, Law and Economics Workshop, Harvard Law School (Oct. 3, 2006).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, Canadian Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Univ. of Toronto (Sept. 29, 2006).

Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior, Junior Tax Scholars’ Conference, University of Colorado School of Law (June 16, 2006).

The Manager’s Share, Canadian Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Univ. of Toronto (Sept. 24, 2005).

The Manager’s Share, Corporate Law Workshop, Harvard Law School (Nov. 15, 2004).

Invited Participant, Workshop on Public Economics and Tax Policy, Berkeley, CA (June 2004).

The Social Insurance Crisis and the Problem of Collective Savings, The State of the Federal Income Tax Symposium, Boston College Law School (April 16, 2004).

The Tax Implications of Deferred Equity Compensation, Georgetown University Law Center Faculty Research Workshop (Oct. 10, 2003).

The Tax Implications of Deferred Equity Compensation, American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Univ. of Toronto (Sept. 20, 2003).

Reducing Director and Officer Liability Exposure through Improved Corporate Governance, Fall Forum on Risk Management, Boston University School of Law Business Law Center (Nov. 19, 2002).

Teaching

Boston University School of Law

  • Federal Income Tax: 2003 - 2008
    Most recent student evaluation score (overall evaluation of instructor): 4.9/5.00
  • Corporations: 2004, 2005, 2007.
    Most recent student evaluation score (overall evaluation of instructor): 4.9/5.00
  • Law and Economics (seminar): 2004, 2005
  • Executive Compensation (seminar): 2002

Boston University Summer Legal Institute in London

  • U.S. Corporate Law: 2005, 2007

Memberships

Massachusetts Bar
Boston Bar Association Tax Section
American Law and Economics Association

Publications

"Book/Tax Conformity and Equity Compensation," with V. Fleischer, Tax Law Review  (forthcoming). 

"The Non-Option: Understanding the Dearth of Discounted Employee Stock Options," Boston University Law Review  (forthcoming). 

"Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior," 64 Washington & Lee Law Review 927 (2007). 

"Unpacking Backdating: Economic Analysis and Observations on the Stock Option Scandal," 87 Boston University Law Review 561 (2007). 

"The Manager's Share," 47 William and Mary Law Review 587 (2005). 

"Is Equity Compensation Tax Advantaged?" 84 Boston University Law Review 695 (2004). 

"The Social Insurance Crisis and the Problem of Collective Savings: A Commentary on Shaviro's ‘Reckless Disregard’," 45 Boston College Law Review 1347 (2004). 

"Stock Options for Tax Exempt Organization Managers?" 100 Tax Notes 1581 (2003). 

"Managerial Power and Rent Extraction in the Design of Executive Compensation," with L. Bebchuk & J. Fried, 69 University of Chicago Law Review 751 (2002). 

"Tax Incentives Will Not Close Stock Option Accounting Gap," 96 Tax Notes 851 (2002). 

"The Overlooked Corporate Finance Problems of a Microsoft Breakup," Lucian Bebchuk, 56 Business Lawyer 459 (2001). 

"Breaking Up is Hard to Do," with L. Bebchuk & J. Fried, Financial Times 13 (2000). 

"A Hard Division," with L. Bebchuk, Legal Times 31 (2000). 

"Rethinking Rights of First Refusal," 5 Stanford Journal of Law, Business and Finance 1 (1999). 

Working Papers

“Explaining Tax Penalties”

“Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior,” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=894002

“Market Symmetry and the Tax Efficiency of Equity Compensation,” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=556608