David I. Walker
Professor of Law
Maurice Poch Faculty Research Scholar
BE summa cum laude, Vanderbilt University
JD magna cum laude, Harvard University
Biography
Professor David Walker is the recipient of BU Law’s Michael Melton Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and Boston University’s Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching. His research lies at the intersection of taxation and corporate governance, with a particular focus on executive compensation. Recent projects include “Employer Losses and Deferred Compensation,” published in the Tax Law Review, and “Common Ownership and Executive Incentives: The Implausibility of Compensation as an Anticompetitive Mechanism,” published in the Boston University Law Review.
Professor Walker is a 1998 graduate of Harvard Law School and a recipient of Harvard’s John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Karen Nelson Moore of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, returned to Harvard Law School for a year as an Olin Fellow, and worked as an associate in the tax department at Ropes & Gray, where he had a general tax practice with an emphasis on executive compensation.
Prior to law school, Professor Walker enjoyed an interesting and varied career in the oil industry that included roles as a chemical engineer, crude oil trader, and assistant to the president of BP Oil Company, the US arm of British Petroleum. His undergraduate degree in chemical engineering is from Vanderbilt University.
- Profile Types
- Faculty, Full-Time Faculty, Professors & Clinical Instructors, and Tax Law Professors
- Areas of Interest
- Corporate, Business & Transactional Law, Economics & Law, and Tax Law
- Profiles
- David I. Walker
Publications
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David I. Walker, Tax Complexity and Technology 97 Indiana Law Journal (2022)
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David I. Walker, The Economic (In) Significance of Executive Pay ESG Incentives 27 Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance (2022)
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David I. Walker, Executive Pay Clawbacks and Their Taxation 24 Florida Tax Review (2021)
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David I. Walker, Common Ownership and Executive Incentives: The Implausibility of Compensation as an Anticompetitive Mechanism 99 Boston University Law Review (2019)
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David I. Walker, Employer Losses and Deferred Compensation 73 Tax Law Review (2019)
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David I. Walker, The Practice and Tax Consequences of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation No. 16-27 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper (2017)
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David I. Walker, End (Finally) the BOLI and COLI Tax Subsidy 157 Tax Notes Federal and Tax Notes Today Federal: Special Reports (2017)
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David I. Walker, Reconsidering Realization-Based Accounting for Equity Compensation No. 16-03 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper Series (2016)
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David I. Walker, Donor Reaction to Salient Disclosures of Nonprofit Executive Pay: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach 45 Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2016)
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David I. Walker, The Way We Pay Now: Understanding and Evaluating Performance-Based Executive Pay No. 15-34 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper (2015)
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David I. Walker & Brian D. Galle, Nonprofit Executive Pay as an Agency Problem: Evidence from U.S. Colleges and Universities 94 Boston University Law Review (2014)
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David I. Walker, The Impact of Public Disclosure on Equity Dispositions by Corporate Managers 112 Columbia Law Review Sidebar (2012)
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David I. Walker, Who Bears the Cost of Excessive Executive Compensation (and Other Corporate Agency Costs)? 57 Villanova Law Review (2012)
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David I. Walker, A Tax Response to the Executive Pay Problem No. 11-50 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper (2011)
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David I. Walker, Suitable for Framing: Business Deductions in a Net Income Tax System 52 William and Mary Law Review (2011)
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David I. Walker, Evolving Executive Equity Compensation and the Limits of Optimal Contracting 64 Vanderbilt Law Review (2011)
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David I. Walker, Executive Pay Lessons from Private Equity 91 Boston University Law Review (2011)
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David I. Walker, The Law and Economics of Executive Compensation: Theory and Evidence, in No. 10-32 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper Series (2010)
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David I. Walker, Book/Tax Conformity and Equity Compensation 62 Tax Law Review (2009)
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David I. Walker, The Non-Option: Understanding the Dearth of Discounted Employee Stock Options 89 Boston University Law Review (2009)
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David I. Walker, Financial Accounting and Corporate Behavior 64 Washington & Lee Law Review (2007)
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David I. Walker, Unpacking Backdating: Economic Analysis and Observations on the Stock Option Scandal 87 Boston University Law Review (2007)
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David I. Walker, Is Equity Compensation Tax Advantaged? 84 Boston University Law Review (2004)
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David I. Walker, The Social Insurance Crisis and the Problem of Collective Saving: A Commentary on Shaviro's 'Reckless Disregard' 45 Boston College Law Review (2004)
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David I. Walker, Managerial Power and Rent Extraction in the Design of Executive Compensation 69 The University of Chicago Law Review (2002)
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David I. Walker, The Overlooked Corporate Finance Problems of a Microsoft Breakup 56 Business Lawyer (2001)
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David I. Walker, Rethinking Rights of First Refusal 5 Stanford Journal of Law, Business and Finance (1999)
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Stories from The Record
Courses
Introduction to Federal Income Taxation: LAW JD 889
Feld/Sims: The income tax is a pervasive feature of life in the United States and lawyers encounter tax issues in virtually every field of practice. This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of the federal income tax, and its impact on a wide range of matters, including employment, tort claims, divorce, retirement, and especially business activities and investments of all types. Topics include: the concept of income, determination of gross income, allowance of deductions and the determination of taxable income, identification of the taxpayer, taxable periods and timing, the determination of gain or loss (including realization and recognition) from dealings in property, the concept of income tax basis, and the process of change in the tax law. Dean: The income tax is a pervasive feature of life in the United States and lawyers encounter tax issues in virtually every field of practice. It also reflects society's priorities in ways that can reinforce privilege and deepen inequality. This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of the federal income tax, and its impact on a wide range of matters, including employment, tort claims, divorce, retirement, and especially business activities and investments of all types. Topics include: the concept of income, determination of gross income, allowance of deductions and the determination of taxable income, identification of the taxpayer, taxable periods and timing, the determination of gain or loss (including realization and recognition) from dealings in property, the concept of income tax basis, and the process of change in the tax law. GRADING NOTICE: Professor Dean's section does not offer the CR/NC/H option.
FALL 2022: LAW JD 889 B1 , Sep 7th to Dec 7th 2022| Days | Start | End | Credits | Instructors | Bldg | Room |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon,Wed | 8:30 am | 10:30 am | 4 | Dean | LAW | 414 |
| Days | Start | End | Credits | Instructors | Bldg | Room |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue,Thu | 9:00 am | 10:30 am | 4 | Theodore S. SimsTheodore S. Sims | LAW | 103 |
| Fri | 9:00 am | 10:10 am | 4 | Theodore S. SimsTheodore S. Sims | LAW | 103 |