Professor Lawrence A. Cunningham

Lawrence A. (“Larry”) Cunningham is Director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. A graduate of the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics, Cunningham served for a decade as a Member of the Lerner College Dean’s NYC Advisory Council, and has participated in many UD and Weinberg Center events over the years, including delivering the 2024 Weinberg Distinguished Lecture.

A Delaware native, Cunningham is a leading expert on corporate governance who has held diverse roles as a university professor, program director and dean, author and commentator, public company board member, and corporate lawyer. He held tenured appointments on the faculties of Yeshiva University, Boston College, and George Washington University. In 2022, he was elected as the Henry St. George Tucker III Research Professor of Law Emeritus at George Washington University Law School.

During these appointments, Cunningham served at Yeshiva University as director of the Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance; at George Washington, as director of the Center for Law, Economics and Finance (C-LEAF) and founding director of GW in New York (GWNY); and at Boston College as associate dean for academic affairs. Cunningham has also taught or visited at many other universities, including Columbia, Fordham, St. John’s and Vanderbilt in the United States, as well as Central European University in Budapest, Hebrew University in Jerusalem and University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

Cunningham has published more than 20 books, 50 scholarly research articles and hundreds of columns. Books include the international best seller, The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, and notable titles such as Contracts in the Real World and Quality Investing. Cunningham’s scholarly research on topics at the intersection of law and accounting have been especially influential. His writings on corporate governance have appeared in all the leading academic and professional outlets, including the blogs of Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Yale Universities, as well as Corporate Board, Corporate Governance Advisor, Corporate Secretary, Directors & Boards and the NACD’s Directorship. Journalists call upon Cunningham often and he has twice testified before Congress on topics related to corporate governance.

Cunningham has served on numerous corporate boards, currently including Markel Group (New York Stock Exchange), Constellation Software (Toronto Stock Exchange) and Kelly Partners Group (Australian Stock Exchange/Nasdaq). He has been a nominee in several proxy contests and has participated in resolving and settling related disputes. Cunningham has also served on the boards of non-profit organizations, including currently as a Trustee of the Museum of American Finance.

From 2022 to 2024, Cunningham served as special counsel of Mayer Brown, where he advised clients on corporate governance and related matters and produced substantial thought leadership. Before entering academia, Cunningham was a corporate associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and during college at UD worked in various positions in the Wilmington office of Skadden, Arps.

In 2018, Cunningham received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and has been honored by NACD as among the “most influential people in corporate governance and in the boardroom.” His research is among the most downloaded from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), and his books have won awards from the American Library Association and received wide reviews.

Cunningham is a graduate of Girard College, the Philadelphia boarding school, as well as of UD and received his JD, magna cum laude, from Yeshiva University.