Prof. James Coleman

James W. Coleman is an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. His scholarship addresses regulation of international energy companies, focusing on how countries account for and influence regulation in their trading partners. Courses taught by Professor Coleman include Oil & Gas, Energy Law, Corporations, Energy Management, Regulatory Theory, International Energy Development, and International Petroleum Transactions.

Professor Coleman’s research focuses on how to respond to increased scrutiny of investment in energy transport projects such as pipelines, power transmission, and liquefied natural gas. A related strand of his research examines regulation of imported fuel and electricity that is based on how it was produced elsewhere, a mode of regulation that is becoming increasingly common in many forms including low carbon fuel standards. Finally, Professor Coleman analyzes how global energy companies respond to competing pressures from investors and regulators in multiple jurisdictions employing different corporate law standards. Some of his recent pieces on these topics include “Beyond the Pipeline Wars: Reforming Environmental Assessment of Energy Transport Infrastructure,” “Importing Energy, Exporting Regulation,” “Unilateral Climate Regulation,” and “How Cheap Is Corporate Talk? Comparing Companies’ Comments on Regulations with Their Securities Disclosures.”

Professor Coleman comes to SMU from the University of Calgary where he was an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Haskayne School of Business. Before that he served on the faculty at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in Biology, magna cum laude with highest honors in field, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude. After law school, Professor Coleman clerked for the Honorable Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and practiced energy, environmental, and appellate law at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington D.C.