About Us

Located in New York City near the heart of the business and financial capital of the world, the Center for Business and Financial Law (CBFL) provides students with an unparalleled rigorous and integrated approach to academic study and skills training in all aspects of corporate, commercial and financial law.

Students may affiliate with the CBFL either through the Harlan Scholar’s Program or through the Associates Program.
 

Center Leadership

Tamara Belinfanti is a Director of the CBFL and an Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School. She is an expert in the area of corporate law and board governance whose research and scholarship focuses on corporate law and institutional design, and the normative and practical implications of the changing dynamics affecting public corporations. Professor Belinfanti teaches Contracts, Corporations, and Corporate Practice Skills – an experiential learning course that she created and designed, which simulates the stages of a business deal from inception to closing. Professor Belinfanti often presents at both scholarly and practitioner events. She blogs on the Huffington Post and is an invited blogger on Yahoo!Finance. Prior to entering academia, she worked as a corporate associate at the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. While at the law firm she counseled clients on U.S. securities and general corporate law matters, and was co-editor of the securities law treatise, U.S. Regulation of the International Securities & Derivatives Market (Aspen, 2003). Professor Belinfanti currently advises and serves on the board of several nonprofits and cultural institutions. She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2000. Professor Belinfanti's full profile is available here.

Houman B. Shadab is a Director of the CBFL and an Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School. He is an internationally recognized expert in financial law and regulation whose research focuses on hedge funds, derivatives, and securitization. Professor Shadab teaches courses on contracts, corporations, financial law and regulation, start-ups and venture capital, and commercial transactions. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Taxation and Regulation of Financial Institutions and blogs at Lawbitrage. Professor Shadab has testified before Congress several times and is a frequent speaker at academic and practitioner conferences. Governmental bodies have recognized Professor Shadab's research, which has been cited by the Delaware Court of Chancery, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in studies published by the U.K. House of Commons and the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Professor Shadab has been quoted in numerous media publications including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Washington Post. Professor Shadab's full profile is available here.


Ronald H. Filler is the Director of the CBFL's Financial Services Law Institute and a Professor of Law at New York Law School. He teaches Derivatives Market Regulation, Special Topics in Corporate Law: Financial Services Seminar and Workshop, and Special Topics in Corporate Law: Regulation of Brokers/Dealers and Futures Commissions Merchants. Professor Filler was previously the Managing Director in the Capital Markets Prime Services Division at Lehman Brothers. He has spoken at hundreds of industry conferences and seminars during his more than 30 years in the futures and derivatives legal fields. Professor Filler has served on numerous industry boards and advisory committees during his career and, most recently, as a member of NYSE LIFFE US, the National Futures Association, CFTC Global Markets Advisory Committee, the CME Clearing House Risk Operating Committee, The Clearing Corporation Board of Directors, the FIA Board of Directors, and the FIA Law and Compliance Division Executive Committee. Professor Filler's full profile is available here.

Howard S. Meyers is an Associate Director of the CBFL and a Professor of Law at New York Law School. He teaches Accounting for Lawyers, Corporations, Securities Arbitration Clinic, Financial Advocacy, and Business Basics for Lawyers. Previously, he served as litigation associate at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. Professor Meyers served as a staff attorney in the Northeast Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, located in New York City. During his tenure with the SEC, he was responsible for investigating and litigating complex cases involving sales practice abuses committed by stockbrokers, fraudulent financing and Ponzi schemes, accounting fraud, and the sale of unregistered securities by various public companies. Professor Meyers was also a senior accountant at the international accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick. While at KPMG, he earned his Certified Public Accountant license and was responsible for auditing the financial statements of several Fortune 500 companies and regional broker-dealers. Professor Meyers' full profile is available here.