Associate Professor of Law

Constance Wagner combines her considerable experience as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street with an interest in globalization in her teaching and writing.

"National economies are becoming more interdependent all the time," Professor Wagner says. "International law, especially international trade law, will continue to develop in response. Increasingly, international law will regulate business and economic matters for both governments and private enterprises."

After earning her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, Wagner worked as an associate with the New York City law firm of Seward & Kissel. She represented domestic and foreign clients in connection with corporate, banking, and securities law matters. She handled international work for U.S. commercial banks that included Latin American debt restructurings and loan syndications.

Professor Wagner later joined The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. as vice president and senior associate counsel in the General Counsel's Office. In that capacity, she represented the international banking division, securities affiliate, wholesale banking division, and trade finance division in various transactional and regulatory matters. Before joining the School of Law in 1995, Professor Wagner earned her LL.M. from the Universität Konstanz in Germany where she researched international trade and investment law as a fellow in an institute on globalization. She has also interned with two leading German law firms.

Her strong practice background in financial regulation is reflected in her scholarship. A recent article is titled, "Securities Fraud in Cyberspace: Reaching the Outer Limits of the Federal Securities Laws" (University of Nebraska Law Review). She is also writing about the impact of international economic laws on women, an area of interest that she developed while teaching a seminar on women's human rights. "Gender issues have not been adequately addressed in the context of globalization," Wagner says.

Professor Wagner is director of the School of Law's LL.M. program in American Law for Foreign Lawyers. She is on the faculty of the Center for International and Comparative Law and is on the advisory committee for the Women's Studies program at Saint Louis University.