William A. Birdthistle joined the faculty of Chicago-Kent in 2006. Previously, he
practiced for five years at Ropes & Gray in Boston, where he was a corporate
associate in the investment management division. While at the firm, Professor Birdthistle
worked primarily on matters involving mutual funds and hedge funds, focusing specifically
on governmental investigations into allegations of malfeasance in the mutual fund
industry. 

Professor Birdthistle is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as managing
editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received his B.A. summa cum laude in English and
psychology from Duke University in 1995. Following law school, Professor Birdthistle
clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit. 

Professor Birdthistle has published pieces in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune
and Christian Science Monitor, as well as in the Harvard Law Review, Green Bag, Loyola of
Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review and Tulane Law Review. He is a citizen of the
Republic of Ireland and spent eight years living in Marsa el-Brega, Libya, and nine years
living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before coming to the United States in 1991 for his
undergraduate studies. At Chicago-Kent, he teaches business organizations, securities
regulation, and international business transactions.

Articles

OpenURL

The Fortunes & Foibles of Exchange-Traded Funds, 33 Del. J. Corp. L. (forthcoming) (2008)
One of the most dynamic and complex new investment vehicles on the market today is...
 

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Football Most Foul, Green Bag 2D (2007)

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was a disappointing display of soccer, comprised primarily of forgettable...

 

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Compensating Power: An Analysis of Rents and Rewards in the Mutual Fund Industry, Tulane Law Review (2006)

The allegations of malfeasance in the investment management industry - market timing, late trading,...

 

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A Contested Ascendancy: Problems with Personal Managers Acting as Producers, Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review (2000)
 

OpenURL

Patronage Terminations: Jenkins v. Medford, 119 F.3d 1156 (4th Cir. 1997) (en banc), Harvard Law Review (student case comment) (1998)
 

Popular Press

Burning Bright: How the Celtic Tiger Proved the Begrudgers Wrong(reviewing R.F. Foster, Luck and the Irish 2008), Wall Street Journal (2008)
 

An Irish Freshman Adapts to Dorm Life, Chicago Tribune (2007)
 

Bookmarks, Wall Street Journal (2007)
 

Relegating the Twelfth Man, Chicago Tribune (2006)
 

Writer’s Block, (reviewing Alan Furst, The Foreign Correspondent), Wall Street Journal (2006)
 

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