Norman Bishara

Scholarly Interests:   

human capital law and policy, including employee noncompete agreements
corporate governance with a focus on corruption control 

Teaching Areas:
BL 488: Business and Public Policy (Washington Campus, 2018); BL 300: Business Law & Ethics; BL 536/NRE 512: Ethics of Corporate Management, BL 512: Foundations of Business Law, and BL 309: Business Ethics & Accountability

Norm Bishara's research interests include the areas of corporate governance and corruption as a constraint on business activity, international legal reform and business ethics in the developing world with a focus on the Middle East, and covenants not to compete as an obstacle to employee mobility and knowledge transfer.  His academic field research includes a position as the principal researcher and project consultant with the Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) in Beirut, an affiliate of Transparency International, where he coauthored the first Lebanese Code of Corporate Governance.  Professor Bishara's recent research is focused on corporate governance in the Middle East to circumvent a business ethics glass ceiling, the evolving role of the corporation and the employee relationship to Benefit Corporations and B Corps, corruption as a human rights issue, corporate corruption in the executive suite, and noncompete agreement enforcement variations across the United States and the implications for highly skilled labor mobility, including CEO contracts.  
 
Professor Bishara is a staff editor in the American Business Law Journal and a recent past president of the Employment Law Section of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. He has also previously taught Business Enterprises at Michigan State University College of Law and worked with the United Nations Development Programme-RBEC.  While in private practice in New York State he represented a diverse group of corporate and individual clients in corporate, insurance, and commercial litigation matters.  He is a past chairperson of the Alumni Board of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a Social Enterprise Research Fellow with the William Davidson Institute.  During the 2016-18 academic year he was a Visiting Professor at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

Professor Bishara’s work has recently appeared in or is forthcoming in the Vanderbilt Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, the American Business Law Journal, the NYU Journal of Law & Business, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, the Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, and the Journal of Business Ethics, as well as in compilation volumes on business law, human rights, and corruption topics. His professional recognitions include the ALSB Early Career Faculty Award, an Outstanding Proceedings Award, the Mauer Award for Best Submitted Ethics Paper and Distinguished Proceedings Paper Awards, as well as Holmes-Cardozo Award Competition finalist awards, from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business.

EDUCATION

• MPP University of Michigan 2004
• JD Cornell University 1999
• BA Colgate University 1996