The Global Capital Markets Center brings together the impressive resources of Duke University's Law School and The Fuqua School of Business to provide an interdisciplinary approach to examining capital markets. Fueled by the faculty of Duke's top-ranked law and business schools, the Center also draws on expertise from Duke's economics and public policy faculties to bring an essential breadth and weight to issues of securities regulation, international finance and corporate governance. The Center has broadened the base of inquiry and debate beyond traditional academic boundaries by nurturing mutually beneficial ties to the business and financial communities as well as to practicing attorneys.

Since its founding in 1998, the Center has been a forum for intellectual exchange on issues of law, regulation and policy that shape capital markets. Close relationships with the business and legal communities allow the Center to focus on rapidly shifting issues of the day, including changes in corporate governance standards, director compensation issues, relationships between chief executive officers and boards, and corporate valuation.

Through innovative business law and finance courses, research and conferences, such as the Center's Directors' Education Institute, the Center plays a vital role in encouraging dialogue and fresh thinking among corporate leaders, and helps prepare both students and leaders in the international business and law for the challenges facing the global economy. The Center's activities allow it to provide guidance on best practices for capital markets in both developed and emerging economies.

Crucial to the Center's success is the enthusiastic support of many of Duke's faculty and deans, the Center's partnership with its sponsors, and the guidance of its Advisory Board. Sustaining Sponsors provide ongoing financial and programmatic support that has allowed the Center to expand its educational research.

The Center's activities, including its assistance with recruitment, also provide valuable opportunities for interaction between sponsors and students preparing to enter the financial and legal marketplace.

With the combined strengths of Duke University's schools of business and law along with the rich experience of international business leaders, the Global Capital Markets Center is mapping new territory in understanding capital markets and their global connections, creating exciting new visions for worldwide business in a time of profound challenge and opportunity.