Adam C. Pritchard, the Frances and George Skestos Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, teaches corporate and securities law.

His research focuses on securities class actions, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement and rulemaking, and the history of securities law in the US Supreme Court. He is the author, with Stephen J. Choi, of Securities Regulation: Cases and Analysis, currently in its sixth edition. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Law and Economics, American Law and Economics Review, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, the Journal of Legal Studies, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, and various law reviews.

After graduation, he served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice. After working in private practice, Pritchard served as senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the SEC, where he wrote appellate briefs and studied the effect of recent reforms in the areas of securities fraud litigation. He received the SEC’s Law and Policy Award for his work in United States v. O’Hagan, in which the US Supreme Court upheld the misappropriation theory of insider trading.

Pritchard has been a visiting professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Iowa School of Law, and the Levin College of Law, University of Florida. He also has been a visiting scholar at the SEC and a visiting fellow in capital market studies at the Cato Institute. He was previously a member of the FINRA National Adjudicatory Council and the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel.

Related Information

Areas of Interest

Education
  • University of Virginia, BA
  • University of Virginia, JD, Olin Fellow in Law and Economics; Virginia Law Review, articles development editor
  • University of Chicago, MPP

    • Recent Courses

    Clerkships

    • US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III

    Featured Scholarship

    "Paying for Performance? Attorneys' Fees in Fraud Class Actions"

    Empirical Legal Studies

    MLaw Repository WWW
    • Corporate and Securities Law
    • Litigation

    Securities Regulation: Cases and Analysis

    • Corporate and Securities Law

    "The Business of Securities Class Action Lawyering"

    Indiana Law Journal
    WWW HEIN

    "All Stick and No Carrot? Reforming Public Offerings"

    Virginia Law and Business Review

    MLaw Repository WWW
    See All Scholarship
    Activities
    December 2020

    Presented, “Coalitions among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Securities Fraud Class Actions,” Institute for Law and Economics Online Workshop, University of Pennsylvania

    September 2020

    Presented, “Coalitions among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Securities Fraud Class Actions,” Law & Economics Workshop, University of Michigan Law School

    March 2020

    Presented, “Coalitions among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Securities Fraud Class Actions”, Tulane Corporate and Securities Law Roundtable, Tulane University School of Law

    November 2020

    Presented, “A History of Securities Law in the Supreme Court,” Faculty Workshop, Duke University Law School

    June 2019
    Presented “Working Hard, or Making Work? Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Fees in Securities Fraud Class Actions, National Business Law Scholars Conference, University of California, Berkeley.
    May 2019
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Gender Gaps in the Market for SEC Lawyers,” American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting.
    February 2019
    Presenter, “Securities Litigation Contagion,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
    December 2018
    Presented “Should Public Companies be Permitted to Include Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in the Governing Documents?,” Council of Institutional Investors Webinar.
    November 2018
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Gender Gaps in the Market for SEC Lawyers,” Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Society for Empirical Legal Studies, University of Michigan Law School.
    October 2018
    Commentator, “A Decade of Corporate Governance in the Era of Post-Crisis: Review and Prospect,” 18th International Conference of 21st Century Commercial Law Forum, Commercial Law Research Center, Tsinghua University.
    September 2018
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Gender Gap for SEC Attorneys” at the Canadian Law and Economics Association annual meeting.
    June 2018
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Gender Gap for SEC Attorneys” at the National Business Law Scholars Conference, University of Georgia.
    May 2018
    Presented “An Empirical Comparison of Insider Trading Enforcement in Canada and the United States” at the American Law and Economics Association annual meeting.
    March 2018
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Gender Gap for SEC Attorneys” at the Law, Identity, and Politics Workshop, Duke University School of Law.
    January 2018
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Gender Gap for SEC Attorneys” at the Law and Economics Workshop, University of Michigan Law School.
    November 2017
    Presented “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Gender Gap for SEC Attorneys” at the Center on Finance, Law, and Policy Blue Bag Lunch, University of Michigan.
    October 2017
    Participant, Annual Securities Regulation Program, Los Angeles County Bar Association.
    September 2017
    Conference co-organizer and presenter, “A New Look at the Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance,” Korea Corporate Governance Service, Seoul.
    April 2017
    Presented “Enforcement of Securities Law Violations,” Program on Ethics in Law and Business, University of Toronto.
    January 2017
    Presented “Breaking News, The Supreme Court’s Decision in Salman v. U.S.: What Does it Mean for Private Practitioners?,” American Bar Association Business Law Section Webinar.

    News

    Exterior of a Michigan Law Reading Room Window.
    News

    The Federalist Society at Michigan Law Wins Two Awards, Including Chapter of the Year, at National Student Symposium

    Decorative
    News

    Michigan Law Hosts Annual Conference of American Law and Economics Association

    In the Media

    The Wall Street Journal

    To Avoid Trial, a Short Seller Puts His Hopes on Trump

    Reuters

    Exclusive: DOGE now targeting SEC policy, eyes SPAC rules, sources say

    Bitget

    Bitcoin Bull Michael Saylor’s Company Strategy Hit with Multiple Lawsuits – Here’s the Critical Date

    Financial Times

    GTCR’s $24bn reasons to be happy

    Financial Times

    Trading in two stocks surged before Trump family appointments announced

    Time

    Breaking Down the ‘Insider Trading’ Accusations Leveled at Trump After Tariffs U-Turn

    See All