Business Commons^™

Loophole Entrepreneurship, Brian M. Sirman

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

All entrepreneurs seek favorable legal or regulatory treatment for their businesses. Sometimes this leads an entrepreneur to build a business within a gap in the law—a loophole. In so doing, these “loophole entrepreneurs” may avoid steep regulatory compliance costs that otherwise would beset (or perhaps prohibit) their businesses, thereby gaining advantages over competitors. Despite these benefits, loophole entrepreneurship is fraught with risks. Loopholes, by nature, are fragile, and their contours are often uncertain. Moreover, the stigma of “exploiting a loophole” (which connotes unfairness or deception) can provoke ill will among competitors, policymakers, and the public.

The ranks of loophole entrepreneurs …

Expanding Mfw: Delaware Law Should Offer A Business Judgment Rule Safe Harbor For All Conflicted Controller Transactions, Alex Lindsey

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

While courts usually defer to a board’s business decisions under the business judgment rule, courts will apply a much less deferential standard of review due to loyalty concerns if a conflicted controller is involved in a business decision such as a merger. However, in Kahn v. M & F Worldwide (“MFW”) when a squeeze out merger was challenged by a minority stockholder, the Delaware Supreme Court reviewed the transaction under the deferential business judgment rule standard because the Court found that the structure of the transaction neutralized the controller loyalty concerns. Building on this reasoning, the Court developed a checklist …

Where The Rainbow Ends: The Hidden Humanitarian Crisis For Members Of The Lgbtqia+ Community In International Business, John R. Krendel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Before pursuing an international career, members of the LGBTQIA+ community must be aware of the hardship that may be exacerbated by living and working abroad. This study addresses the trends in laws, including employment and anti-discrimination laws, that provide and restrict certain rights of members of the LGBTQIA+ community in eight countries. These nations, both progressive and discriminatory, include the United States, England, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Kazakhstan. Eight LGBTQIA+ business professionals spoke on their experiences living and working in each of these countries and provided advice to members of the community wishing to pursue an international …

Support New Business To Solve Old Problems With Kentucky’S Keystone Waste From Bourbon & Brewing, Samuel C. Kessler

Commonwealth Policy Papers

Provided here is a policy solution from the backside of Kentucky bourbon and brewing to upcycle Kentucky’s “keystone” wastes and grow businesses in the process. Potential effects range from removing the bottleneck on bourbon production and producing GHG-friendly biogas to lowering the price of milk.This full whitepaper brief provides an incentive model for keystone wastes which have a provider and a use. It is equally applicable for policymakers or advocates wishing to place a policy incentive behind waste-to-product upcycling, businesses involved with methane sequestration & renewable biogas energy, and shifting regulatory and penalizing models of pollution into incentive model for …

The Legal And Social Challenges Involved In The Expansion Of Multinational Operations: A Case Study Of Exxonmobil Indonesia, Shashaank Rajaraman

Senior Theses

Within this paper, I will analyze the legal and social relations between multinational corporations and their host countries. This analysis will be conducted through viewing the circumstances surrounding Doe v. ExxonMobil within the District of Columbia Circuit Court, in which ExxonMobil has engaged in litigation regarding their human rights record within the country of Indonesia. Through secondary research conducted both within business and legal journals, information about the practices of ExxonMobil can be examined and utilized to make general conclusions upon the corporate diplomacy practiced by multinational corporations.

Law School News: National Housing Advocate Named To Lead Rwu's New Real Estate Initiatives 02/08/2022, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Regulating New Tech: Problems, Pathways, And People, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

New technologies bring with them many promises, but also a series of new problems. Even though these problems are new, they are not unlike the types of problems that regulators have long addressed in other contexts. The lessons from regulation in the past can thus guide regulatory efforts today. Regulators must focus on understanding the problems they seek to address and the causal pathways that lead to these problems. Then they must undertake efforts to shape the behavior of those in industry so that private sector managers focus on their technologies’ problems and take actions to interrupt the causal pathways. …

The Coronavirus Pandemic Shutdown And Distributive Justice: Why Courts Should Refocus The Fifth Amendment Takings Analysis, Timothy M. Harris

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic and the ensuing shutdown of private businesses—to promote the public’ s health and safety— demonstrated the wide reach of state and local governments’ police power. Many businesses closed and many went bankrupt as various government programs failed to keep their enterprises afloat.

These businesses were shut down to further the national interest in stemming a global pandemic. This is an archetypal example of regulating for the public health—preventing a direct threat that sickened hundreds of thousands of Americans. But some businesses were disproportionately hit while others flourished. Many who bore the brunt of these regulations sued, …

The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act: The Double-Edged Sword Of U.S. Foreign Investment Regulations, J. Russell Blakey

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Process Outsourcing: Analyzing And Managing The Prospective "Make Or Buy" Decision By Ontario Law Firms, Brandon Keshen

Major Papers

This paper examines the costs, risks and benefits associated with law firms outsourcing some of their core business activities to legal process outsourcers (“LPOs”). Similar to other outsourcing operations, LPOs supply services for a fraction of the cost of what law firms charge for similar services. Common in manufacturing industries, the decision to outsource, or keep work in-house (also referred to as a “make or buy” decision), has become more prevalent in the area of business services, including client service industries such as consulting and financial management. With respect to legal services, recent and rapid changes to the legal profession, …

The Effects Of Computer And Information Technology On Education, Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

In the society of ours, is it true really that computers and information technology have contributed immensely to the way we learn? After observing and reading various educational paraphernalia and scanning the environment research has shown that the educational systems have greatly been impacted by computers and information technology. With the growth of technology, the ways we learn have been improved tremendously. Innovative technologies have contributed to the innovation of learning in the education arena and outside. The traditional ways of conveying instructions to learners have been augmented with the use of computers information technologies. The educational system of our …

Sample-Based Hip-Hop Music And Fair Use Laws In The Age Of Streaming Services, Michael Vanbuhler

Senior Theses

This thesis takes an in depth look at the history and processes behind creating sample-based music. Sampling was popularized during the beginnings of hip-hop music and now a wide variety of genres use samples or techniques created by sample-based music. Early hip-hop beats took samples of drum breaks or a portion of a track from another artist or band. As hip-hop grew in the late 80s and early 90s, the use of samples became a question of intellectual property rights and if it was acceptable to sample someone’s copyrighted work. Lawsuits in the early 90’s helped to create new caselaw …

Business For A Prosperous And Flourishing World, Chris Laszlo, David Cooperrider

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.

Law Library Blog (November 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Throw Out The Old Thinking 9-30-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Unique Benefits Of Treating Personal Goodwill As Property In Corporate Acquisitions, Darian M. Ibrahim

Darian M. Ibrahim

Corporate acquisition talks may not get far if buyer and seller disagree over transaction structure, which can have significant after-tax effects. But the parties may have overlooked an item that, due to its potential tax treatment, could be the key to facilitating the acquisition. That item is the selling shareholder's "personal goodwill."

Personal goodwill exists when the shareholder's reputation, expertise, or contacts gives the corporation its intrinsic value. It is most likely to be found in closely held businesses, especially those that are technical, specialized, orprofessional in nature or have few customers and suppliers. If personal goodwill is treated as …

Navigating Sino-American Business Relationships, Ryan Stenquist

Marriott Student Review

Relationships between American and Chinese companies have never been more important or profitable as they are now. With linguistic, moral, governmental, and legal systems developed entirely independent of each other for thousands of years, these relationships also prove the most difficult and complex to navigate. This article explores mistakes foreigners often make while doing business in China, the current environment and culture of joint ventures with native Chinese, and how to succeed in the challenging yet rewarding economy now opening up to the world.

Do Conflicts Of Interest Require Outside Boards? Yes. Bsps? Maybe., Usha Rodrigues

Scholarly Works

From the Symposium: Outsourcing the Board: How Board Service Providers Can Improve Corporate Governance

Boards of directors are curious creatures. The law generally requires corporations to have them—indeed, they are the focus of the corporate law we teach in Business Associations in U.S. law schools. The corporation is managed by directors or under their direction; directors hire and fire officers; directors are necessary for fundamental transactions.

But the reason why corporations have directors is not entirely clear. In the prototypical privately held corporation, the family firm, the same individuals serve both as directors and officers. The CEO (better known as …

Conceptualizing The Regulation Of Virtual Currencies And Providers: Friction Points In State And Federal Approaches To Regulating Providers Of Payments Execution And Custody Services And Products In The United States, Sarah J. Hughes

Cleveland State Law Review

This essay evaluates the state of regulation by the United States government and State legislatures of participants in emerging virtual-currency businesses. It points to friction points as both the federal government and the States experiment with their own regulatory authority over virtual-currency businesses and provides a taxonomy of differing approaches to regulating such businesses. The essay takes the position that the States need to act in the near term if they wish to maintain their longstanding role as regulators of non-depository providers of financial products and services—or they risk being preempted by Congress or federal regulatory actions. This essay also …

Conflicts Of Interest And Law-Firm Structure, Cassandra Burke Robertson

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Business and law are increasingly practiced on a transnational scale, and law firms are adopting new business structures in order to compete on this global playing field. Over the last decade, global law firms have merged into so-called “mega-brands” or “mega-firms”—that is, associations of national or regional law firms that join together under a single brand worldwide. For law firms, the most common mega-firm structure has been the Swiss verein, though the English “Company Limited by Guarantee” structure is growing in popularity as well, as is the similar “European Economic Interest Grouping.” All of these structures allow related entities to …

Creating Stability In The International Fashion Industry By Using Corporate Structures And Conglomerates, Joyce Boland-Devito Esq.

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

Abstract:

This paper will analyze the challenges currently facing the global fashion industries as consumers change their shopping habits. During these tumultuous times, retailers should re-evaluate their organizational structures. According to the Forbes Global 2000, apparel companies make up 29 of those top businesses. For instance, a corporate structure helps businesses like TJX Companies (headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts) – which owns TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post – to operate efficiently and maintain over 1000 stores in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria, The Netherlands and Australia. It sells apparel and home fashions (sheets, pillows, …

"Beyond The New Economy: The Other Technology Revolution" From The Entrepreneur’S Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, Jon Garon

Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a series of book excerpts from The Entrepreneur’s Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for start-ups and small businesses. While the book refers to the Internet as perhaps the most significant technological change in the 21st century, computer technology, microbiology, and many other fields have undergone similar explosions in innovation.

Alternative Business Structures: Good For The Public, Good For The Lawyers, Jayne R. Reardon

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

There has been a shift in consumer behavior over the last several decades. To keep up with the transforming consumer, many professions have changed the way they do business. Yet lawyers continue to deliver services the way they have since the founding of our country. Bar associations and legal ethicists have long debated the idea of allowing lawyers to practice in “alternative business structures,” where lawyers and nonlawyers can co-own and co-manage a business to deliver legal services. This Article argues these types of businesses inhibit lawyers’ ability to provide better legal services to the public and that the legal …

Law Library Blog (October 2017): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: From Farm To School 09-21-2017, Jill Rodrigues, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

"Attendee Basics: Survival Guide For Patrons, Customers, Guests, And Goers" From The Pop Culture Business Handbook For Cons And Festivals, Jon Garon

Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a series of book excerpts The Pop Culture Business Handbook for Cons andFestivals, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for fan conventions, filmfestivals, musical festivals, and cultural events.Cons use a range of labels for the people who attend the event as paid ticket holders. Whether thepeople are labeled attendees, patrons, guests, concert-goers, or customers, many of the chapters ofthis book identify how the Con organizers address these differing ticket holders and should plan andprepare to assure each group has a safe, fun, and memorable experience. This chapter focuses on theattendees and what …

The Arc And Architecture Of Private Enforcement Regimes In The United States And Europe: A View Across The Atlantic, Jason Rathod, Sandeep Veheesan

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The United States and Europe have traditionally taken very different approaches to the regulation of harmful conduct. Previously, European nations relied almost entirely on the public enforcement of laws, whereas the United States relied on a mix of public and private actors. In the United States, private rights of action have played a central role deterring illegal conduct—and, in fact, provided greater deterrence than public enforcers in some areas of law. They have also allowed injured parties to obtain compensation. Despite their very different histories, the private enforcement systems in the United States and Europe are showing signs of convergence …

Myth: Hard Work And Credentials Determine Employment Opportunities

Alev Dudek

Sports And Entertainment - Notable Alumni List, New York Law School

At 125 Years

A list of notable alumni within the sports and entertainment industries.

On The Social Significance Of Large Law Firm Practice, Robert Kagan, Robert Rosen

Robert Kagan

No abstract provided.