Katharina Pistor
Katharina Pistor is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law at Columbia Law School and one of the world’s leading scholars on corporate governance, money and finance, property rights, and comparative legal institutions. She is also the Director of Columbia Law School’s Center on Global Legal Transformation, where she oversees research initiatives and conferences that examine how law shapes global economic and political systems and how those systems, in turn, transform the law. Pistor’s research focuses on comparative law with an emphasis on emerging markets, the legal construction of financial markets, the governance of essential resources, and law and development. She is widely published in top legal and social science journals and is recognized internationally for her work on the relationship between law, capital, and economic power. A prominent voice in public debates on digital currencies and financial regulation, Pistor frequently comments on cryptocurrency policy and has testified before the U.S. Congress on the regulatory risks surrounding proposed global digital currencies.
Katharina Pistor Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law
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Assistant Professor for Public Policy
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Lecturer on Law
Academic History
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J.S.D., Law
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M.P.A., Legal Economics
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L.L.M., Comparative Law
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J.D., Law
RESEARCH & EARLY CAREER
Katharina Pistor’s research career began with an in-depth examination of the legal and institutional transformation of former socialist countries, work that established her as a leading comparative law scholar.
She later expanded her focus to the legal foundations of capitalism, exploring how law creates, shapes, and sustains modern financial systems.
Before joining Columbia Law School in 2001, Pistor held teaching and research positions at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Law in Hamburg.
She has served as a visiting professor at major global institutions including the University of Pennsylvania Law School, New York University School of Law, Frankfurt University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Oxford.
Pistor has also contributed extensively to the academic community through service on editorial boards such as the American Journal of Comparative Law, the Columbia Journal of European Law, the European Business Organization Law Review, and the Journal of Institutional Economics.
A recipient of research grants from the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the National Science Foundation, Pistor continues to influence the fields of law and economics through her scholarship, editorial leadership, and ongoing contributions to comparative law, financial regulation, and institutional analysis.
RECOGNITIONS