ABOUT
Thomas W. White is a retired partner of WilmerHale in Washington, D.C. and is currently a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School in New York City.
At Columbia, Tom teaches an advanced corporate and securities law seminar entitled “Regulation of Financial Reporting and Audits.” The course explores the corporate governance, accounting and regulatory mechanisms regarding financial reporting that have evolved in the US and internationally since the Enron scandal and Sarbanes-Oxley Act of the early 2000s.
Tom practiced corporate and bankruptcy law at WilmerHale from 1983 to 2017. He was one of the firm’s leading practitioners in the area of corporate governance and disclosure, with extensive experience representing corporate and institutional clients in complex business transactions. Tom also served as General Counsel of the firm for nine years. He retired in 2017.
At WilmerHale, Tom advised numerous Fortune 100, mid-cap, and small-cap companies and their boards and management on key governance issues, including fiduciary duties, board oversight responsibilities and risk oversight. He served as standing counsel for corporate audit committees and also advised clients and their boards and management on difficult corporate law, securities and accounting issues, and in conducting internal investigations.
Tom has particular experience in legal aspects of accounting and auditing. He served as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC). He is former co-chair of the National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs, a joint body of the American Bar Association and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has served as Chair of the Audit Responses and Law and Accounting Committees of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
In 2018 and 2020, Tom was an instructor in “Accounting for Lawyers” at a law school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tom regularly speaks and writes on governance, accounting and auditing topics.
Tom has an AB in Government from Harvard University and a JD from Columbia Law School.
