William S. Laufer

William S. Laufer
  • Julian Aresty Endowed Professor
  • Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, Sociology, and Criminology
  • Co-Director: The Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Governance & Business Ethics

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    670 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    3730 Walnut Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: corporate criminal law, corporate ethics, criminology, law and psychology

Links: Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Governance and Business Ethics

Overview

Education

PhD, Rutgers University; JD, Northeastern University School of Law; BA, The Johns Hopkins University

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards; Book Awards

David W. Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division, 1991, 1997 (first recipient non-tenured faculty member, 1991; first recipient of award for non-tenured and tenured faculty, 1997); Marc & Sheri Rapaport Undergraduate Core Teaching Award, 2002, 2012; Excellence in Teaching Award (1990-1993, 1996-2001; 2004-2006; 2008-2010; 2013-2015; 2015-2016; 2017-2018; 2019-2020; 2020-2021; 2021-2022); Graduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 2001, 2002; Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching Award, 2000-2003

Academic Positions Held

Wharton: 1989-present (named Julian Aresty Endowed Professor, 2007); Co-Director, Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Governance and Business Ethics, 2022-presnet; Director, Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, 2000-2010 and 2013-2022; Anheuser-Busch Term Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, 1989-95; Associate Director, Sellin Center for Studies in Criminology and Criminal Law, 1989-90). School of Arts and Sciences: Chair, Department of Criminology, 2008-2009; Graduate Chair, Department of Criminology, 2009-2010; Faculty Affiliate, Penn Program on Regulation, 2014 to present; Visiting appointment: New York University School of Law, 2004-5; Faculty, Joint Vienna Institute, Vienna, Austria, 2013.

Professional Leadership 2002-present

Consultant, Private Sector Development and Competitiveness Project, World Bank, 2012-2014; Member, Academic Council, Hills Program Governance, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., 2002-2015; Regional (North America) Secretary General, International Society of Social Defense and Humane Criminal Policy, Economic and Social Council, United Nations, 2004-present; Member, Working Group on Business-Led Collective Action Against Corruption, World Bank Institute, 2007-2013; Member, Working Group, PRME Anti-Corruption Working Group, UN Global Compact, 2010-2015; Member, United Nations Global Compact Academic Advisory Team, 2006-2007; Advisory Board Member, Business Contributions to the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Development Programme, 2006-2007; Member, International Advisory Board, Program on Global Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Competitiveness, World Bank Institute, 2005-2008; Board Member, Center for Political Accountability (Washington, DC), 2009-present; Faculty Advisory Committee, Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership, 2014-2019; Senior Advisor, International Infrastructure Finance Fund, 2013-2019; Member, Expert Advisory Committee, World Economic Forum, Anti-Corruption Collective Action Project in the Infrastructure and Urban Development Industries, 2014-2018.

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Research

  • William S. Laufer and Robert Hughes (2021), Justice Undone (American Criminal Law Review), American Criminal Law Review, 58, pp. 155-204.

    Abstract: There is far more justice that is not served than served in our criminal justice system. Well more than half of all offending and victimization fails to make its way into the criminal justice system. An additional share of wrongdoing from initial police contact to the end of the criminal process is diverted or exits. A host of additional personal, systemic, and societal factors constrain the administration of justice to respond to criminal wrongs. This Article introduces the idea of justice remainders, or the omission of the state’s response to crime. Justice remainders include both justified and unjustified failures to punish the guilty. The total of all justice remainders is the sum of justice undone. It is argued that the moral indignation and outrage over many types of justice remainders are simply and remarkably missing. Our collective response to sexual assaults, the most under-reported of all serious criminal offenses, reveals the importance of formal and informal recognition of victims, the community affected by the wrongdoing, and the state. This Article shows that theories of criminal law with significantly different assumptions and premises nevertheless support three conclusions about justice remainders. First, the state has a duty to address systematic justice remainders that involve either the failure to enforce an important criminal prohibition or a profound inequality in the effective protections of criminal law. Second, the state may be able to remedy some justice remainders with a commitment to effective and humane reforms to penal laws and practices. Finally, the state has a duty to provide public recognition of criminal wrongdoing when just punishment is impossible. This suggests the moral importance of an accounting for the sum of justice undone.

  • William S. Laufer and Matthew Caulfield (2020), Wall Street and Progressivism, Yale Journal on Regulation Bulletin, 37, pp. 36-51.

  • Matthew Caulfield and William S. Laufer (2019), Corporate Moral Agency at the Convenience of Law and Ethics, Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, 17, pp. 953-978.

  • William S. Laufer (2019), Promoting a Progressive Account of Corporate Criminal Justice, Special Issue: The Role of Corporations in Criminal Justice, 89 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF PENAL LAW 35-45 (Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, 2019) (Abridged and Edited Version of The Missing Account of Progressive Corporate Criminal Law); William S. Laufer, “Promoting a Progressive Corporate Criminal Law,” in Lecciones Sobre Responsabilidad Penal de las Personas Jurídicas y Compliance Penal (2019) (forthcoming) (in Spanish),.

  • William S. Laufer and Nicola Selvaggi (2019), Exceptionalism and Corporate Criminal Law, Quarterly Review of Economic Criminal Law, 1-2.

  • Mihailis E. Diamantis and William S. Laufer (2019), Corporate Prosecution and Punishment of Corporate Criminality, Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences, 26.

  • William S. Laufer, “Preface, The Missing Account of Corporate Victimology, in Eduardo Saad-Diniz, Vicimologia Corporativa (Florianopolis: Tirant Lo Blanch, 2019)”. In The Missing Account of Corporate Victimology, VICIMOLOGIA CORPORATIVA (Florianopolis: Tirant Lo Blanch) Eduardo Saad-Diniz, edited by, (2019)

  • Matthew Caulfield and William S. Laufer (2018), The Promise of Corporate Character Theory, Iowa Law Review Online, 103 (101).

  • Freda Adler, Gerhard O. W. Mueller, William S. Laufer, Criminology, Ninth Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill) (2017)

  • William S. Laufer (2017), The Missing Account of Progressive Corporate Criminal Law, 14 New York University Journal of Law and Business, New York University Journal of Law & Business, 14, pp. 71-142.

Teaching

Current Courses (Fall 2023)

  • LGST1010 - Law And Social Values

    This course presents law as an evolving social institution, with special emphasis on the legal regulation of business in the context of social values. It considers basic concepts of law and legal process, in the U.S. and other legal systems, and introduces the fundamentals of rigorous legal analysis. An in-depth examination of contract law is included.

    LGST1010004 ( Syllabus )

    LGST1010005 ( Syllabus )

All Courses

  • CRIM2030 - Law and Criminal Justice

    This course explores constitutional criminal procedure or the law of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Topics included the laws and rules associated with search and seizure, arrest, interrogation, the exclusionary rule, and deprivation of counsel. Social science evidence that supports or raises questions about legal doctrine will be examined. No prerequisites are required.

  • CRIM4001 - Senior Research Thesis

    Senior Research Thesis is for senior Criminology majors only. Students are assigned advisors with assistance from the Undergraduate Chair.

  • LGST1010 - Law and Social Values

    This course presents law as an evolving social institution, with special emphasis on the legal regulation of business in the context of social values. It considers basic concepts of law and legal process, in the U.S. and other legal systems, and introduces the fundamentals of rigorous legal analysis. An in-depth examination of contract law is included.

  • LGST2200 - Int'l Business Ethics

    This course is a multidisciplinary, interactive study of business ethics within a global economy. A central aim of the course is to enable students to develop a framework to address ethical challenges as they arise within and across different countries. Alternative theories about acting ethically in global environments are presented, and critical current issues are introduced and analyzed. Examples include bribery, global sourcing, environmental sustainability, social reports, intellectual property, e-commerce, and dealing with conflicting standards and values across cultures. As part of this study, the course considers non-Western ethical traditions and practices as they relate to business.

  • LGST6110 - Resp in Global Mgmt

    This course uses the global business context to introduce students to important legal, ethical and cultural challenges they will face as business leaders. Cases and materials will address how business leaders, constrained by law and motivated to act responsibly in a global context, should analyze relevant variables to make wise decisions. Topics will include an introduction to the basic theoretical frameworks used in the analysis of ethical issues, such as right-based, consequentialist-based, and virtue-based reasoning, and conflicting interpretations of corporate responsibility. The course will include materials that introduce students to basic legal (common law vs. civil law) and normative (human rights) regimes at work in the global economy as well as sensitize them to the role of local cultural traditions in global business activity. Topics may also include such issues as comparative forms of corporate governance, bribery and corruption in global markets, human rights issues, diverse legal compliance systems, corporate responses to global poverty, global environmental responsibilities, and challenges arising when companies face conflicting ethical demands between home and local, host country mores. The pedagogy emphasizes globalized cases, exercises, and theoretical materials from the fields of legal studies, business ethics and social responsibility.

  • LGST8200 - Int'l Business Ethics

    This course is a multidisciplinary, interactive study of business ethics within a global economy. A central aim of the course is to enable students to develop a framework to address ethical challenges as they arise within and across different countries. Alternative theories about acting ethically in global environments are presented, and critical current issues are introduced and analyzed. Examples include bribery, global sourcing, environmental sustainability, social reports, intellectual property, e-commerce, and dealing with conflicting standards and values across cultures. As part of this study, the course considers non-Western ethical traditions and practices as they relate to business.

  • LGST9210 - Foundations of Bus Law

    This course will introduce students to basic jurisprudential discussions and debates that relate to understanding business in society. Topics will include a general overview of the nature of law and its relationship to ethics; history of legal thought, business in society; theories of contract, torts, and property; criminal law as it applies to business situations; and theories of the business enterprise and its regulation. Selected topics will also be chosen in accordance with the interest of participants in the seminar.

  • PPE4998 - Directed Honors Research

    Student arranges with a Penn faculty member to do research and write a thesis on a suitable topic. For more information on honors visit: https://ppe.sas.upenn.edu/study/curriculum/honors-theses

Awards and Honors

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1990)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1991)

David W. Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division (1991) (first recipient non-tenured faculty member)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1992)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1993)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1996)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1997)

David W. Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division (1997) (first recipient of award for non-tenured and tenured faculty)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1998)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (1999)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2000)

Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching Award (2000)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2001)

Graduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award (2001)

Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching Award (2002)

Marc & Sheri Rapaport Undergraduate Core Teaching Award (2002)

Graduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award (2002)

Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching Award (2003)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2004)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2005)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2006)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2008)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2009)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2010)

Marc & Sheri Rapaport Undergraduate Core Teaching Award (2012)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2013)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2014)

Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award (2015)

 

National White-Collar Crime Research Consortium: Outstanding Book Award, 2010

  • Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 2014
  • National White-Collar Crime Research Consortium: Outstanding Book Award, 2010
  • Marc & Sheri Rapaport Undergraduate Core Teaching Award, 2002
  • Graduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 2001
  • Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching Award, 2000
  • Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division, 1997
  • Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 1996
  • Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 1992
  • Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division, 1991
  • Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 1990

In the News

  • Why ‘personhood’ is powerful A word that means both more and less than human, Boston Globe - 11/20/2011
  • Rolling Stone: Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?, Rolling Stone - 08/17/2011
  • Enough Is Enough WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINALS: THEY LIE THEY CHEAT THEY STEAL AND THEY’VE BEEN GETTING AWAY WITH IT FOR TOO LONG, Fortune Magazine - 03/18/2002
  • Cruise Officials to Report Accusations of Crimes at Sea, The New York Times - 07/27/1999

Knowledge at Wharton

Activity

Latest Research

William S. Laufer and Robert Hughes (2021), Justice Undone (American Criminal Law Review), American Criminal Law Review, 58, pp. 155-204.
All Research

In the News

Enron and Andersen: Bad Apples or Bad Barrel?

The Enron scandal took a new turn recently with the guilty plea of former finance director Michael Kopper, who is expected to supply evidence that will help prosecutors indict other individuals further up the company’s executive ladder. This latest government action raises the question of why Enron itself is not the target of a criminal case, given that the Justice Department indicted and ultimately convicted Enron’s auditing firm, Arthur Andersen. The answer, according to experts, demonstrates the power of government prosecutors to decide the future of both companies and executives once evidence of wrongdoing comes to their attention.…Read More

Knowledge at Wharton - 8/28/2002
All News

Wharton Magazine

Ethics Beyond Borders

Globalization, technology and the integration of markets have created a frightening new frontier in the realm of business ethics. So how can we build a new ethical code for a fast-changing world?

Wharton Magazine - 04/01/2011