Staudt installed as inaugural Howard and Caroline Cayne Professor of Law

Nancy Staudt, JD, PhD, dean of the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, has been installed as the inaugural Howard and Caroline Cayne Professor of Law. A lecture and a reception to celebrate the occasion were held Oct. 22 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

A nationally renowned scholar in tax, tax policy and empirical legal studies, Staudt previously served as professor of law at the university from 2000-06.

Prior to her return to the university, Staudt served as academic director of the newly established Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at the University of Southern California. She also was the vice dean for faculty and academic affairs at the USC Gould School of Law and the inaugural holder of the Edward G. Lewis Chair in Law and Public Policy.

Staudt’s endowed position at Washington University was made possible by a gift from Caroline and Howard Cayne. Longtime advocates and benefactors of the School of Law, the Caynes believe that great teachers are the key to the future of legal education and a great law school.

“I truly appreciate and commend Caroline and Howard for their commitment to advancing Washington University’s School of Law,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “They have been tremendous leaders for the school and have helped countless students over the years through their extensive support of scholarships. The Howard and Caroline Cayne Professorship further enhances the couple’s remarkable impact on legal education at Washington University.”

“It is a pleasure to recognize Dean Staudt’s contributions to the faculty, students and staff of the School of Law,” said Provost Holden Thorp, PhD. “She is a great asset to the school and a recognized leader in her field. We are fortunate for her leadership of our School of Law and thankful to Caroline and Howard Cayne for their generous support.”

The author or co-author of nearly 40 articles and two books, Staudt’s academic work has been published in the country’s leading journals and university presses. She has given countless speeches and keynote addresses to national and international audiences on a range of tax, law and public policy topics.

Staudt earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1985, a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1989, and a PhD from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy in 2010.

She has held visiting professorships at Vanderbilt and Boston Universities, and at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, and she has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Prior to her academic appointments, Staudt was a tax associate at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. She clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco and she provided free legal services to both battered women and organizations seeking tax-exempt status from the federal government.

About Howard and Caroline Cayne

Caroline and Howard Cayne (JD ’79) are longtime supporters of the School of Law. Howard Cayne is a partner with the Washington, D.C.-based firm of Arnold & Porter LLP, where he counsels financial and other institutions on a broad range of regulatory, compliance and transactional issues. Caroline Cayne is a former special education teacher.

Following Howard Cayne’s positive experience at the School of Law as a student, the couple wanted to demonstrate their appreciation in a way that would ensure a superb experience for the students and faculty who came after them. They chose to make a $2-million gift to establish and endow the Howard and Caroline Cayne Professorship.

But their support of the university began much earlier, shortly after Howard graduated from the school. He began giving back in small amounts at first, honoring the efforts of a former dean in the School of Law who helped scrape together scholarship and loan money to keep Howard Cayne in school when his family experienced a financial crisis.

The Caynes co-chair the law school’s Scholarship Initiative Committee and have established numerous endowed scholarships to honor friends and family. These include the Kent Syverud Scholarship, the Professor Michael Greenfield Scholarship and the David Blasingame Scholarship.

The Caynes also established a scholarship in law to celebrate their daughter Elizabeth’s marriage in 2011 — the Howard and Caroline Cayne Scholarship in Honor of the Marriage of Max Samuel Rosen (AB ’10) and Elizabeth Cayne Rosen (AB ’11). In appreciation of the education their daughter, Allison Cayne (AB ’07), received at Washington University, they established the Dolores Pesce and Dan Presgrave Scholarship in Music in Arts & Sciences.

The Caynes have also provided support for facilities, including a gift to Seigle Hall in 2006, which named the Cayne Global Studies Review Office Suite, and a gift in 2015 to name the Oculus in the newly dedicated Hillman Hall in honor of Edward F. Lawlor, PhD, dean of the Brown School and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor.

A committed leader for Washington University, Howard Cayne is a member of the Washington, D.C., Regional Cabinet as well as the university’s Board of Trustees, where he serves on the executive committee. He is chair of the law school national council and serves as a regional and law school committee co-chair for Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University. Cayne was a member of the eight-person search committee that named Staudt as dean of the law school, and both Howard and Caroline have served on the Parents Council.

The Caynes’ deep connection to the university continues to grow. Their two daughters remain active participants in the university community. Allison is pursuing a master’s degree in social work at the Brown School and Elizabeth works at the university. Elizabeth’s husband, Max Rosen, also graduated in 2015 from the university’s School of Medicine. The Caynes’ son, Brian, is an investment banker and lives in San Francisco with his wife, Elizabeth.