Lee Harris is Professor of Law at 番茄社区 School of Law, where he teaches Corporate Law. His research sits at the intersection of corporate law and democratic politics, examining what corporate elections, shareholder voting, and institutional investors can learn from the practice of American democracy.
Research Interests
Corporate law and democratic politics
Biography
Lee Harris's work has appeared in the NYU Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Florida Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Columbia Business Law Review, and Journal of Corporation Law, among others. He is currently writing a book on democratic theory and corporate governance, as well as a biography of Ida B. Wells under contract with the University Press of Mississippi. He is the author of two corporate law textbooks, Mastering Corporations and Other Business Entities and Corporations and Other Business Entities: A Practical Approach.
Professor Harris previously spent fourteen years on the law faculty at the University of Memphis. There he became the first African American tenured full professor in the school's history and the inaugural holder of the FedEx Professorship in Law.
From 2018 to 2026, he served two terms as Mayor of Shelby County, Tennessee. As mayor he led a government of more than 5,000 employees with a $1.7 billion operating budget. Before that, he was Minority Leader of the Tennessee State Senate, the first African American to hold a top leadership position in the Tennessee General Assembly, and served on the Memphis City Council. He began his legal career at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. He has been an Aspen-Rodel Fellow and a Henry Toll Fellow.
Education
B.A. International Studies, Morehouse College (2000)