Area of Expertise

Corporate governance; business law; technology law; blockchain; commercial and consumer law; corporate bankruptcy; e-commerce; cyberlaw; Internet and computer law; bankruptcy; intellectual property law

Additional Information

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, Sales & Secured Transactions, and U.S. Business Law. 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. He is a current member of the Executive Committee of the AALS's Section on Agency, Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies, and Unincorporated Associations. Professor Effross's works on corporate governance, 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 Egon Guttman Casebook Award, 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; was the initiator and principal drafter of the ABA's Safeshopping.org website for online shopping strategies; and is the initiator and faculty advisor of the Washington College of Law's Social Enterprises Legal Society. In 2013, Aspen published the second edition of 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. In 2016, he discussed "Nine Approaches to the Business Associations Course." Professor Effross initiated, and serves as the faculty advisor to, WCL's Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Legal Issues Group. In July 2018, he launched the website, Blockchain for Law Students. In March 2019, Professor Effross was appointed to the American Law Institute/Uniform Law Commission's Joint Committee on the Uniform Commercial Code and Emerging Technologies.