Colleen Baker

PhD (Wharton) Professor Baker is an expert in banking and financial institutions law and regulation, with extensive knowledge of over-the-counter derivatives, clearing, the Dodd-Frank Act, and bankruptcy, in addition to being a mediator and arbitrator. Previously, she spent time at the U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Business, the U. of Notre Dame Law School, and Villanova University Law School. She has consulted for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and for The Volcker Alliance.  Prior to academia, Professor Baker worked as a legal professional and as an information technology associate. She is a member of the State Bars of NY and TX.

Accomplishments/Awards

• Price College of Business Ethics Teaching Award (2020)
• Huber Hurst Scholar, University of Florida Warrington College of Business (2019)
• American Business Law Journal Invited Scholars Colloquium (2019) 

Degrees Earned:

• University of Pennsylvania, PhD, The Wharton School’s Program in Ethics and Legal Studies
• University of Virginia, JD/MBA 
• Carnegie Mellon University MS, Logic, Computation and Methodology 
• University of Notre Dame, BA, Program of Liberal Studies (a Great Books Program) and Philosophy (second major)

Publications:

• Baker, C. (2022) Derivatives and ESG, American Business Law Journal, 59(4), 725-772.
• Baker, C.M. & Coleman, J. (2022) Paying for Energy Peaks: Learning from Texas' February 2021 Power Crisis, Transactions: University of Tennessee Journal of Business Law, 23(3), 463-475.
  
• Houser, K. & Baker, C. (2022) Sovereign Digital Currencies: Parachute Pants or the Continuing Evolution of Money, New York University Journal of Law & Business, 18(2), 527-597.
• Baker, C. (2021) The Federal Reserve As Collateral’s Last Resort, Notre Dame Law Review, 96(4), 1381-1401.
  
• Baker, C. (2021) Clearinghouse Shareholders and “No Creditor Worse Off Than in Liquidation” Claims, Transactions: University of Tennessee Journal of Business Law, 22(2), 335-353.
• Baker, C. (2020) Entrepreneurial Regulatory Legal Strategy: The Case of Cannabis, American Business Law Journal, 57(4), 911-952. 
  
• Baker, C. Entrepreneurial Regulatory Legal Strategy, American Business Law Journal (in press).
• Baker, C. & Ostas, D. (2020) Ethics of Legal Astuteness: Barring Class Actions Through Arbitration Clauses, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 29(3), 399-426.
• Baker, C.M., Fratto, D., & Reiners, L. (2020) Banking on the Cloud, Transactions: University of Tennessee Journal of Business Law, 21(2), 381-401.
• Baker, C.M. (2019) Incomplete Clearinghouse Mandates, American Business Law Journal, 56(3), 507-581.
• Baker, C., & Werbach, K. (2019) Blockchain in Financial Services, in J. Madir (Ed.). FinTech: Law and Regulation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 123-147.
• Baker, C., Cummings, C. & Jagtianni, J. (2017) The Impacts of Financial Regulations: Solvency and Liquidity in the Post-Crisis Period, Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, 25(3), 253-270.
• Baker, C. (2016) When Regulators Collide: Financial Market Stability, Systemic Risk, Clearinghouses, and CDS, University of Virginia Law & Business Review, 10(3), 343-491.
• Baker, C. (2016) Clearinghouses for Over-the-Counter Derivatives (The Volcker Alliance Working Paper) New York, 1-76.
• Baker, C.M. (2015) Regulatory Reforms and Unintended Collisions: The Case of the Volcker Rule and the Over-the-Counter Derivative Markets, Capital Markets Law Journal, 10(4), 433-446.
• Baker, C. (2015) A Primer on Dodd-Frank’s Title VIII in J. Barth & G. Kaufman (Eds.). The First Great Financial Crisis of the 21st Century: A Retrospective. Hanover: WSPC/NOW, 283-298.
• Baker, C. (2012-2013) The Federal Reserve's Supporting Role Behind Dodd-Frank's Clearinghouse Reforms, Harvard Business Law Review Online, 3, 177-186.
• Baker, C. (2013) The Federal Reserve’s Use of International Swap Lines, Arizona Law Review, 55(3), 603–654.
• Baker, C. (2013, July 25) Evaluating Dodd-Frank and International Approaches to Clearinghouses, Central Banks, and Swap Lines, CLS Blue Sky Blog.
• Baker, C. (2012) The Federal Reserve as Last Resort, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 46(1), 69–133.
• Baker, C. (2011) Charting a Course in Clearing, Bulletin of the Notre Dame Center for the Study of Financial Regulation. South Bend: University of Notre Dame College of Business, 11-18.
• Baker, C.M. (2010) Regulating the Invisible: The Case of Over-the-Counter Derivatives, Notre Dame Law Review, 85(4), 1287–1378.
• Baker, C. (2010) Sovereign Wealth Funds, in J. Boatright (Ed.) Finance Ethics: Critical Issues in Theory and Practice, Hokoken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 253–271.
• Dunfee, T. & Baker, C. (2007) The Impact of Dirty Money on Global Capitalism, Business Ethics Quarterly, 17(4), 729–742.
• Baker, C. (2004) The Fate of Human Capital Contracts in Bankruptcy in E. O’Halloran, M. Palacios Lleras, A.L. Halliday & R.F. Bruner (Eds.) An Executive Briefing on Financing Human Capital, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Darden School of Business, 80–93.

In the Media:

• Global Global Risk Regulator (a specialist service from the Financial Times)
  • FSB treads fine line on CCP resolution in final guidance
  • FSB sees potential problems with rules on clearing OTC derivatives
  • Dealers v clearers: a battle of living wills
    
  • US regulatory proposals pose concern to foreign banks operating there
  • Battle between CCPs and their members steps up a notch
  • FSB throws CCP equity on the line in resolution consultation
• Wall Street Journal
  • Clearing Houses: The New Too-Big-to-Fail Firms
• Financial News London
  • Clearing houses: The new too-big-to-fail firms

Blog Editor

• Business Law Prof Blog