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Full-Text Articles in Law
Books And Olive Oil: Why Antitrust Must Deal With Consolidated Corporate Power, Carl T. Bogus
Books And Olive Oil: Why Antitrust Must Deal With Consolidated Corporate Power, Carl T. Bogus
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Following an epic battle in the marketplace between Apple and major book publishers, on one side, and Amazon, on the other side, the United States Department of Justice and thirty-three states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and the publishers, alleging that they had conspired to fix the prices of ebooks. Both the district court and a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided the case in the government’s favor. This Article argues that government regulators and the courts took the wrong side in the dispute and did so because of fundamental flaws …
Third-Party Institutional Proxy Advisors: Conflicts Of Interest And Roads To Reform, Matthew Fagan
Third-Party Institutional Proxy Advisors: Conflicts Of Interest And Roads To Reform, Matthew Fagan
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
With the rise of institutional activist investors in recent decades—including a purported 495 activist campaigns against U.S. corporations in 2016 alone—the role that third-party institutional proxy advisors play in corporate governance has greatly increased. The United States Office of Government Accountability estimates that clients of the top five proxy advisory firms account for about $41.5 trillion in equity throughout the world. For several years, discussions have developed regarding conflicts of interest faced by proxy advisors. For example, Institutional Shareholder Services, the top proxy advisory firm in the world, frequently provides advice to institutional investors on how to vote proxies while …
The Limits Of Performance-Based Regulation, Cary Coglianese
The Limits Of Performance-Based Regulation, Cary Coglianese
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Performance-based regulation is widely heralded as a superior approach to regulation. Rather than specifying the actions regulated entities must take, performance-based regulation instead requires the attainment of outcomes and gives flexibility in how to meet them. Despite nearly universal acclaim for performance-based regulation, the reasons supporting its use remain largely theoretical and conjectural. Owing in part to a lack of a clear conceptual taxonomy, researchers have yet to produce much empirical research documenting the strengths and weaknesses of performance-based regulation. In this Article, I provide a much-needed conceptual framework for understanding and assessing performance-based regulation. After defining performance-based regulation and …
Three Problems (And Two Solutions) In The Law Of Partnership Formation, Shawn Bayern
Three Problems (And Two Solutions) In The Law Of Partnership Formation, Shawn Bayern
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article considers several foundational questions concerning the formation of general partnerships, a topic that has received little modern attention and that is governed largely by classical axioms rather than adaptive modern considerations. Its three main topics concern (1) the timing of partnership formation, (2) the aggregation of multiple distinct questions under the single heading of “partnership formation,” and (3) the rarely challenged proposition that general partners ought to be liable for partnership obligations, a doctrine that is surprisingly at odds with the rest of modern business-entity law.
Charitable Choices: The Need For A Uniform Nonprofit Limited Liability Company Act (Unllca), Kenya J. H. Smith
Charitable Choices: The Need For A Uniform Nonprofit Limited Liability Company Act (Unllca), Kenya J. H. Smith
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Uniform laws serve an important role in our society, balancing state autonomy and the need to provide consistent solutions to common problems among the states. The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) is the preeminent authority that promulgates uniform laws. To date, the ULC has promulgated over 150 uniform and model acts. ULC tackles a wide array of issues, including child custody and protection, probate, electronic records, and commercial law. The ULC aims to “provide[ ] states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.”
Reconciling Tax Law And Securities Regulation, Omri Marian
Reconciling Tax Law And Securities Regulation, Omri Marian
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Issuers in registered securities offerings must disclose the expected tax consequences to investors investing in the offered securities (“nonfinancial tax disclosure”). This Article advances three arguments regarding nonfinancial tax disclosures. First, nonfinancial tax disclosure practice, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has sanctioned it, does not fulfill its intended regulatory purposes. Currently, nonfinancial tax disclosures provide irrelevant information, sometimes fail to provide material information, create unnecessary transaction costs, and divert valuable administrative resources to the enforcement of largely-meaningless requirements. Second, the practical reason for this failure is the SEC and tax practitioners’ unsuccessful attempt to address investors’ heterogeneous …
Market Power In Power Markets: The Filed-Rate Doctrine And Competition In Electricity, Sandeep Vaheesan
Market Power In Power Markets: The Filed-Rate Doctrine And Competition In Electricity, Sandeep Vaheesan
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
State and federal initiatives have opened the American electric power industry to competition over the past four decades. Although the process has not occurred uniformly across the country, wholesale electricity markets exist everywhere today. Independent power producers can construct generation facilities and sell their output to utilities and industrial customers through bilateral contracts. In many regions, centralized power markets now facilitate the sale of billions of dollars in electricity annually through auctions. Although market forces have replaced direct price regulation in electricity, antitrust enforcement has not expanded its role commensurately. A lack of competition has been a serious problem in …
The Failing Company Defense After The Commentary: Let It Go, Oliver Zhong
The Failing Company Defense After The Commentary: Let It Go, Oliver Zhong
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note proposes the abolishment of the failing company defense in merger control law. This call for reform is based on a comprehensive critique, which consists of a revisit of the doctrinal history, a survey of problems in current practice, and an inquiry into the normative merits of both the status quo and alternative plans. The reform advocated will purify the doctrine and improve the practice with minimum adjustments, in line with the ongoing movement to modernize merger review with the publication of the Commentary to the Merger Guidelines.
Federal Chartering Revisited, Donald E. Schwartz
Federal Chartering Revisited, Donald E. Schwartz
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The protections that corporation law provided to shareholders and to our economic community against the excesses and complacency of corporate directors and managers have undergone a general weakening. Although it is uncertain whether the ALI can accomplish effective and meaningful reforms, this effort may be the most important attempt by the corporate community to reform itself.
Beyond Managerialism: Investor Capitalism?, Alfred F. Conard
Beyond Managerialism: Investor Capitalism?, Alfred F. Conard
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Capitalism, in most large public corporations, has been subtly transformed from a system of dominance by the suppliers of capital to a system of dominance by the managers, dubbed "managerialism." In many respects, managerialism is beneficial to investors and other enterprise constituencies, since managers' rewards typically grow with the profitability of the enterprise. But managerialism permits drastic wastes of resources when managers hang on to their jobs after they have become inefficient or spend lavishly to defend themselves against takeover bids. Derivative suits, shareholder proposals, independent directors, and other prescriptions have failed to stifle managerial abuses. This is the message …
Two Models Of Corporate Governance: Beyond Berle And Means, Lynne L. Dallas
Two Models Of Corporate Governance: Beyond Berle And Means, Lynne L. Dallas
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article introduces a new model of corporate governance, which challenges, as did Berle and Means, the conclusions drawn from the traditional ownership model. Rather than focusing upon the inefficiencies of the large complex firm resulting from the separation of share ownership and control, however, this new model, which I call the power model, focuses upon the political nature of decision making in the large corporation, which exists regardless of the identity of the entrepreneur.
Introduction, Joel Seligman
Introduction, Joel Seligman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Introduction for the 1988 Journal of Law Reform Symposium: Issues in Corporate Governance.
Suing In The Right Of The Corporation: A Commentary And Proposal For Legislative Reform, Lawrence A. Larose
Suing In The Right Of The Corporation: A Commentary And Proposal For Legislative Reform, Lawrence A. Larose
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article is premised on the belief that the derivative action is uniquely susceptible to strike suit litigation-that is, actions with little or no substantive merit but pursued to exploit the nuisance value inherent in litigation. Although there is historic support for the notion of "pernicious and vexing" derivative litigation, some modern evidence suggests that the vast majority of publicly held companies experience no derivative litigation. Commentators, however, have questioned both the validity of the modern evidence and the conclusions derived from it. Despite these criticisms, observers of the present vitality of the derivative action, far from characterizing it as …
Corporate Indemnification Of Directors And Officers: Time For A Reappraisal, K.G. Jan Pillai, Craig Tractenberg
Corporate Indemnification Of Directors And Officers: Time For A Reappraisal, K.G. Jan Pillai, Craig Tractenberg
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article evaluates the benefits and burdens of shifting litigation risk from management to the enterprise. The Article begins by considering the nature of the legal risks confronting the corporate executive, and the principles of common law that developed to counter those risks. The Article proceeds to assess the two statutory responses to threats of personal liability against the corporate executive: indemnification statutes, and director and officer insurance. Finally, after comparing the effective absolute immunity available to corporate executives with the qualified immunity enjoyed by high-level government officials, the Article concludes that indemnification practices have overinsulated the corporate officer from …
Employee Stock Ownership Plans: An Analysis Of Current Reform Proposals, Luis L. Granados
Employee Stock Ownership Plans: An Analysis Of Current Reform Proposals, Luis L. Granados
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article surveys the battle between the critics and advocates of the ESOP, and scrutinizes various proposals currently being considered in the legislative arena. Part I examines the philosophy and history of the ESOP, particularly focusing upon the conceptual foundations provided by the writings of Louis Kelso. Part II explicates the various functions performed by the ESOP: as a tool of corporate finance, as an "in-house" market for the sale of stock held by a company's shareholders, and as a means of obtaining additional investment tax credit. Part III analyzes critically six proposed improvements of the ESOP system from both …
Controlling The Controllers In Parent-Subsidiary Relations, James C. Bruno
Controlling The Controllers In Parent-Subsidiary Relations, James C. Bruno
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article will examine the rights and responsibilities of a party in control of a corporation. The discussion of these rights and responsibilities focuses principally on the law of Michigan. However, passages on policy, discussion of the development of relevant Michigan law, and recommendations for changes in the law are pertinent to the general problem-area of parent-subsidiary relations encountered in all jurisdictions.
The Proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act, Stanley Siegel
The Proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act, Stanley Siegel
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The author of this article was selected by the Commission as Reporter, to draft and revise the statute. It is the purpose of this article to describe the drafting process, to outline the general structure and to examine some unique aspects of the proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act. In this discussion, the author expresses his own views only, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Law Revision Commission or its members.