Recent Faculty Works: Andrew McKinley, Max M. Schanzenbach, Kimberly A. Yuracko

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law is home to a distinguished group of faculty working at the intersections of law and many other disciplines. Their research and scholarship have advanced the understanding of legal institutions across a wide range of fields. Learn about their latest publications and innovations in the “Recent Faculty Works” series. 

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Beyond Greenwashing: Environmental Commitments and Gas Flaring in the African Oil Sector

 __ Accounting Review __ (forthcoming 2026)

By Andrew McKinley, Assistant Professor of Law (co-authored with Samuel Chang, University of Chicago, and Hans B. Christensen, University of Chicago)

Corporations make substantial progress toward their Zero Routine Flaring commitments globally, particularly in Africa where preexisting environmental standards are weak. Moreover, committers’ flaring reductions on the continent are driven primarily by operational improvements rather than offloading assets and are concentrated among committers facing greater stakeholder pressure. Although flaring is higher for assets continuously operated by, awarded to, or divested to noncommitters, corporate actions to uphold commitments are associated with a conservatively estimated 10 percent net reduction in flaring in Africa without a corresponding reduction in oil production or local economic activity in extraction communities. Our findings suggest that environmental commitments are backed by corporate policies akin to establishing a uniform cost of pollution across the firm’s global operations and therefore may alleviate the problems posed by globally fragmented regulation. Read more

Keywords:
corporate commitments, sustainability, greenwashing, corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental regulation, natural gas flaring, Africa

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Divesting University Endowments

16 Harvard Business Law Review 449 (2026)

By Max M. Schanzenbach, Seigle Family Professor of Law (co-authored with Robert H. Sitkoff, Harvard Law School, European Corporate Governance Institute)

The brutal conflict between Hamas and Israel convulsed higher education. Student protestors have demanded that university endowments “divest” from Israel. University leaders have largely resisted those demands on grounds of fiduciary obligation, institutional neutrality, or both. In response, protestors have pointed to prior instances of purported divestment. Confusion abounds over the applicable fiduciary principles and the scope of prior divestments. This paper synthesizes the law and finance of endowment divestment and applies that analysis to past divestments and present divestment demands. We show that under prevailing law endowment divestment for nonfinancial reasons is permissible only if: (1) the divestment is consistent with the university’s charitable purpose of research and education, and (2) the divestment’s effect on the portfolio is reasonable in light of that purpose. Read More

Keywords: divestment, endowment, prudent investor rule, loyalty, South Africa, Darfur, Fossil Fuels, fiduciary, Yale Model, charity, charitable purpose, public benefit, academic dissociation, endowment divestment

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NIL and Title IX: Implications and Aspirations

Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 26-26 (2026)

By Kimberly A. Yuracko, Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Law

The landscape of college athletics underwent a seismic shift in June 2025, when Judge Wilken, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California approved a settlement in In Re: College Athlete NIL Litigation (the House settlement). By authorizing $2.576 billion in back damages and establishing a framework for future revenue sharing between universities and athletes, the settlement effectively dismantled the NCAA’s long-standing amateurism model. It also allowed universities to pay vast sums to male athletes raising critical questions about the scope and meaning of Title IX’s antidiscrimination mandate. This essay examines the implications and aspirations of Title IX in this new era of college sports. Read More

Keywords: sports, Title IX, sex discrimination, NIL, House Settlement, Civil Rights and Discrimination, Entertainment and Sports Law, Sexuality and the law, education law