Hal S. Scott
President and Director

Hal S. Scott is the Nomura Professor and Director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School, where he has taught since 1975. He teaches courses on Capital Markets Regulation, International Finance, and Securities Regulation.

He has a B.A. from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School, 1965), an M.A. from Stanford University in Political Science (1967), and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School (1972). In 1974-1975, before joining Harvard, he clerked for Justice Byron White.

The Program on International Financial Systems, founded in 1986, engages in a variety of research projects. Its book, Capital Adequacy Beyond Basel (Oxford University Press 2004), is an examination of capital adequacy rules for banks, insurance companies and securities firms. The Program also organizes the annual invitation-only U.S.- Japan, U.S.- Europe, and U.S.-China Symposia on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century, attended by financial system leaders in the concerned countries. In addition, the Program directs a concentration in International Finance for LLM students at Harvard Law School.

Professor Scott's books include the law school textbook International Finance: Transactions, Policy and Regulation (16th ed. Foundation Press 2009) and International Finance: Policy and Regulation (2nd ed. Sweet & Maxwell 2007). His recent articles include “International Finance: Rule Choices for Global Financial Markets,” in Research Handbook in International Economic Law, eds. A. Guzman and A. Sykes (2007) and with Martin F. Grace, “An Optional Federal Charter for Insurance: Rationale and Design,” in The Future of Insurance Regulation in the United States, eds. M. Grace and R. Klein (2009).