Thomas Brennan
Thomas Brennan

FINANCE
Professor of Law, Northwestern School of Law
Professor of Finance (Courtesy)

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Tom Brennan is a Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and a Professor of Finance, by courtesy, at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Professor Brennan's research is currently focused on the use of finance and economic theory to analyze and inform tax policy.  He also uses empirical methods to investigate the effects of tax laws and the strategic behavior of taxpayers.

His ongoing other research interests include the application of finance theory to the law in areas other than tax, the empirical analysis of corporate financing decisions, and the empirical study of judicial behavior.  In addition, his continuing work includes the use of mathematical methods to obtain new insights into the theory of finance.

Professor Brennan received an AB in mathematics from Princeton University, an AM and a PhD in mathematics from Harvard University, and a JD from Harvard Law School.  After law school, he worked as an associate attorney in the tax practice of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP, and later as a strategist at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  He has also held positions as a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management Laboratory for Financial Engineering and as an Assistant Professor of Law at Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law.

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Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Financial Strategy and Tax Planning (FINC-447-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Analytical Finance, Finance.

This course examines the role of taxes in a firm's financial strategy. Tax knowledge is not a prerequisite, and we do not cover the specifics of any one tax code. Instead we study the basic structure of tax codes and identify the fundamental sources of gains from tax planning. General principles are illustrated with examples from past and current tax law in the United States and other countries. Real examples of tax planning and cases are used. We study financial decisions such as the choice of organizational form, investments in real and financial assets, and different methods of financial investments. FINC-465-0 is a prerequisite for this course, but they may be taken concurrently.