Bio
Professor William Wang has taught courses in Corporations and Corporate Finance. From January 2005 through January 2009, Professor Wang served as a member of the FINRA (formerly NASD) National Adjudicatory Council. In addition, from 1996 to 2011 he chaired the Investment Policy Oversight Group of the Law School Admissions Council and served ex officio on the LSAC board. Since 2012, he has been on the board of directors of Access Group Inc. and on its investment committee.
Professor Wang was born in New York City and grew up near Washington, D.C. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College, and he is an honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He received his law degree from Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale, Professor Wang took the California Bar Examination and then moved to New York to work for a firm engaging in risk arbitrage. He left Wall Street to teach at the University of San Diego Law School. He later served briefly as a full-time consultant to the White House Domestic Policy Staff. He joined the UC Law SF faculty in 1981.
In addition to UC Law SF and the University of San Diego, he has taught at the law schools of NYU, New York Law School, Leiden University (Netherlands), Brooklyn Law School, Villanova University, UCLA, and U.C. Davis.
Professor Wang is the coauthor of a treatise, Insider Trading, now in its third edition. He has also written numerous articles in law journals, magazines, and newspapers on subjects ranging from The Unbundling of Higher Education to novel investment strategies with Toilet Paper – It’s Good As Gold or How to ‘Clean Up’ in Toilet Paper.
As a hobby, Professor Wang likes to give travel, consumer, and investment tips. He has also published an article on budget travel to Las Vegas.
Scholarship
Books
Insider Trading (Oxford Univ. Press 3d ed. 2010) (with Marc I. Steinberg).
Insider Trading (Practising Law Institute 2d ed. 2005 & Supps. 2005-2008) (with Marc I. Steinberg).
Insider Trading (Little, Brown 1996 & Supps. 1998–2002) (with Marc I. Steinberg).
Journal Articles
A Roth Conversion Is Not Necessarily More Attractive During a Significant Stock Market Decline: Separating the Tax and Market Timing Effects, 50 Tax Mgmt. Compensation Plan. J. 10 (2022). FULLTEXT
The Proposed Secure Act’s Ten-Year Mandatory Distribution Period for Non-Spousal Traditional §401(k)/IRA Beneficiaries May Not Increase Government Revenue, 47 Tax Mgmt. Compensation Plan. J. 12 (2019) (reprinted in INSIGHT: SECURE Act May Not Increase Government Revenue, 246 BNA Daily Tax Report 9, Dec. 24, 2019). FULLTEXT
Application of the Federal Mail and Wire Fraud Statutes to Criminal Liability for Stock Market Insider Trading and Tipping, 70 U. Miami L. Rev. 220 (2015). FULLTEXT SSRN
The Importance of “The Law of Conservation of Securities”: A Reply to John P. Anderson’s “What’s the Harm in Issuer-Licensed Insider Trading?”, 69 U. Miami L. Rev. 811 (2015). FULLTEXT SSRN
An Introduction to United States Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5, 27 Nihon Univ. Comp. L. 105 (2010). SSRN
Measuring Insider Trading Damages for a Private Plaintiff, 10 U.C. Davis Bus. L.J. 1 (2009). FULLTEXT SSRN
The United States Law on Stock Market Insider Trading and Tipping, 26 Nihon Univ. Comp. L. 107 (2009). SSRN
The Restructuring of Legal Education Along Functional Lines, 17 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 331 (2008). FULLTEXT SSRN
Who Are the Victims of Stock Market Insider Trading? Is Stock Market Insider Trading Fraud?, 25 Nihon Univ. Comp. L. 45 (2008). SSRN
The Injustice of Reducing the Number of Levels in a Grading System, 57 J. Legal Educ. 423 (2007). FULLTEXT
The Corporation as Insider Trader, 30 Del. J. Corp. L. 45 (2005) (with Mark J. Loewenstein) (reprinted in 35 Bank & Corp. Governance L. Rep. 425 (2005)). FULLTEXT SSRN
Apply UBIT to De Facto Leverage, But Not to ‘Spurious Leverage’, 95 Tax Notes 925 (May 6, 2002) (reprinted in 37 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 27 (2002)).
Selective Disclosure by Issuers, Its Legality and Ex Ante Harm: Some Observations in Response to Professor Fox, 42 Va. J. Int’l L. 869 (2002) (adapted and reprinted in 24 Company Law. 144 (2003)). FULLTEXT SSRN
The Supreme Court’s Misplaced Concern with Selective Fairness: Bush v. Gore and Three Analogies to Grading Dilemmas, 52 J. Legal Educ. 272 (2002). FULLTEXT
Stock Market Insider Trading: Victims, Violators and Remedies—Including an Analogy to Fraud in the Sale of a Used Car with a Generic Defect, 45 Vill. L. Rev. 27 (2000) (reprinted in 33 Sec. L. Rev. 381 (2001), 3 Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 77 (2000), and in part in Donna M. Nagy, Richard W. Painter & Margaret V. Sachs, Securities Litigation and Enforcement: Cases and Materials 595 (3d ed. 2012)). FULLTEXT SSRN
A Qualitative Theory of the Dead Hand, 68 Ind. L.J. 1 (1992) (with Adam J. Hirsch). FULLTEXT
ITSFEA’s Effect on Either an Implied Cause of Action for Damages by Contemporaneous Traders or an Action for Damages or Rescission by the Party in Privity with the Inside Trader, 16 J. Corp. L. 445 (1991) (reprinted in 25 Sec. L. Rev. 427 (D. Langevoort ed., 1993)). FULLTEXT
More Thoughts on Litwin v. Allen, 9 The Red Herring 3 (Fall 1989).
A Cause of Action for Option Traders Against Insider Option Traders, 101 Harv. L. Rev. 1056 (1988) (reprinted in Materials on the Law of Insider Trading 384 (C. E. Fletcher ed., 1991)). FULLTEXT
Is a Seller’s Rule 10b–5 Cause of Action Automatically Transferred to the Buyer?, 1988 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 129 (1988) (reprinted in 33 Corp. Prac. Comm. 41 (1991)). FULLTEXT
Some Thoughts on Litwin v. Allen, 8 The Red Herring 3 (Fall 1988).
The “Contemporaneous” Traders Who Can Sue an Inside Trader, 38 Hastings L.J. 1175 (1987) (reprinted in part in Materials on the Law of Insider Trading 371 (C. E. Fletcher ed., 1991)). FULLTEXT
Some Arguments That the Stock Market is Not Efficient, 19 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 341 (1986). FULLTEXT
Natural Advantages and Contractual Justice, 3 Law & Phil. 281 (1984) (with Larry Alexander) (reprinted in 2 Contract Law 453 (International Library of Essays in Law & Legal Theory 1991)).
Recent Developments in the Federal Law Regulating Stock Market Inside Trading, 6 Corp. L. Rev. 291 (1983) (reprinted in 16 Sec. L. Rev. 219 (1984), and reprinted in slightly different form in Contemporary Issues in Securities Regulation 59 (M. Steinberg ed., 1987)).
Post–Chiarella Developments in Rule 10b–5, 15 Rev. Sec. Reg. 956 (1982).
Reflections on Contract Law and Distributive Justice: A Reply to Kronman, 34 Hastings L.J. 513 (1982). FULLTEXT
The Advantage of Paying Your Bar Dues Early, 4 Bottom Line 126 (Nov. 1982).
The Dismantling of Higher Education Part 1, 29 Improving Coll. & Univ. Teaching 55 (1981). FULLTEXT
The Dismantling of Higher Education Part 2, 29 Improving Coll. & Univ. Teaching 155 (1981). FULLTEXT
Trading on Material Non-Public Information on Impersonal Stock Markets: Who is Harmed, and Who can Sue Whom Under SEC Rule 10b-5?, 54 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1217 (1981) (reprinted in part in Materials on the Law of Insider Trading 575 (C. E. Fletcher ed., 1991)). FULLTEXT
Reflections on Convenience Translations: A Reply to Professor Brooks, 17 San Diego L. Rev. 309 (1980) (reprinted in Corporate Counsel’s Annual 1981, at 1301 (Jeremiah J. Spires & Edward J. Burchell eds., 1981)). FULLTEXT
A Chicken in Every Pot, and Forty-one Channels for Every Television Set, 1 Comm. & L. 97 (1979). FULLTEXT
The California Statutory Close Corporation: Gateway to Flexibility or Trap for the Unwary?, 15 San Diego L. Rev. 687 (1978). FULLTEXT
Pooling Agreements Under the New California General Corporation Law, 23 UCLA L. Rev. 1171 (1976). FULLTEXT
The Metaphysics of Punishment—An Exercise in Futility, 13 San Diego L. Rev. 306 (1976). FULLTEXT
The Unbundling of Higher Education, 1975 Duke L.J. 53 (1975). FULLTEXT
The Structure of the Securities Market—Past and Future, 41 Fordham L. Rev. 1 (1972) (with Thomas A. Russo) (reprinted in N.Y. L.J., Nov. 27, 1972, at 1). FULLTEXT
Newspaper & Magazine Articles
Similarities Between Roth IRAs And Non-Dividend Paying Stocks, Fin. Advisor, Apr. 25, 2023. URL
The Long and the Short of Classifying ‘Hedged Equity’ Funds, Pensions & Inv., Feb. 18, 2022. URL
Insight: Myths About the Traditional and Roth 401(k)/IRA That Affect How People Use Them, BNA Daily Tax Report, Feb. 3, 2020. URL
Insight: Repeal of Retiree Required Minimum Distributions May Increase Government Revenue, BNA Daily Tax Report, Jan. 9, 2020. URL
Insight: Why ‘Risk’ Aversion Should Cause a High Percentage in Stocks, BNA Daily Tax Report, Mar. 16, 2020. URL
Looking Back at the High Court’s Landmark Campaign Finance Decisions, Daily J., Mar. 1, 2019, at 1.
Paying the Price in a Net-Long Portfolio, Pensions & Inv., Jan. 27, 2017. URL
Is It Worthwhile to Realize Capital Gains to Finance the Tax for the Roth Conversion, 34 ABA Section of Taxation News Quarterly, Winter, 2015, at 1.
Advantages of 401(k) Even with No Capital Gains Tax and Same (or Sometimes Higher) Tax Rate at Retirement, ABA Sec. of Tax’n NewsQuarterly, Summer, 2013, at 10.
Index-Fund Outperformance Not Logical in Rational World, Pensions & Inv., Aug. 5, 2013, at 23. URL
Using ‘Spurious’ Leverage to Reduce Personal Income Taxes When One Has the Maximum Allowed in an IRA/401(k), ABA Section of Taxation NewsQuarterly, Spring, 2013, at 16.
Passive Investing in Stocks Based on Market Cap, Pensions & Inv., July 26, 2012. URL
Some Immediate and Long-Term Advantages of a Roth IRA Conversion, ABA Section Taxation NewsQuarterly, Winter, 2011, at 10.
Hidden Leverage and Portfolio Policies, Pensions & Investments, Dec. 8, 2008, at 28. URL
Alternative Treatments of Equitized Hedge Funds, Pensions & Investments, May 1, 2006, at 37. URL
Toilet Paper: It’s as Good as Gold, S.F. Chron., Apr. 26, 1980, at 36 (slightly revised version reprinted as: As an Investment, Toilet Paper is as Good as Gold, The Detroit News, Aug. 28, 2013).
Booting the Professors, Wash. Star, Jan. 9, 1978.
A Liberal’s Confession, N.Y. Times, June 14, 1976, at 31.
Other Publications
Should Part of a 130/30 Fund Count Toward a Portfolio’s Hedge Fund Maximum?, Pensions & Investments Online (Jan. 13, 2011). URL
When Should a Nonprofit with an Endowment Borrow Long–Term?, Pensions & Investments (Nov. 2009). URL
Education
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Amherst College
B.A., Economics 1967 -
Yale Law School
J.D. 1971
