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Articles 1 - 30 of 49
Full-Text Articles in Law
Is "Public Company" Still A Viable Regulatory Category?, George S. Georgiev
Is "Public Company" Still A Viable Regulatory Category?, George S. Georgiev
Faculty Articles
This Article suggests that the ubiquitous “public company” regulatory category, as currently constructed, has outlived its effectiveness in fulfilling core goals of the modern administrative state. An ever-expanding array of federal economic regulation hinges on public company status, but “public company” differs from most other regulatory categories in that it requires an affirmative opt-in by the subject entity. In practice, firms today become subject to public company regulation only if they need access to the public capital markets, which is much less of a business imperative than it once was due to the proliferation of private financing options. Paradoxically, then, …
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (Spacs) And The Sec, Neal Newman, Lawrence J. Trautman
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (Spacs) And The Sec, Neal Newman, Lawrence J. Trautman
Faculty Scholarship
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are simply enterprises that raise money from the public with the intention of purchasing an existing business and becoming publicly traded in the securities markets. If the SPAC is successful in raising money and the acquisition takes place, the target company takes the SPAC’s place on a stock exchange in a transaction that resembles a public offering. Also known as “blank-check” or “reverse merger” companies, this process avoids many of the pitfalls of a traditional initial public offering.
During late 2020 and 2021 an unprecedented surge in the popularity and issuance of Special Purpose Acquisition …
Regulation Best Interest: Is The Sec Finally Choosing Main Street Over Wall Street?, Ana Marcos
Regulation Best Interest: Is The Sec Finally Choosing Main Street Over Wall Street?, Ana Marcos
University of Miami Business Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Breakdown Of The Public–Private Divide In Securities Law: Causes, Consequences, And Reforms, George S. Georgiev
The Breakdown Of The Public–Private Divide In Securities Law: Causes, Consequences, And Reforms, George S. Georgiev
Faculty Articles
As a regulatory scheme, U.S. securities law has traditionally been designed around a set of lines—the “public–private divide”—which separate public companies, public capital, and public markets, from private companies, private capital, and private markets. Until the early 2000s, the lines were successful in establishing two largely coherent legal realms—a highly regulated public realm and a lightly regulated private realm. A series of bold and often-inconsistent reforms between 2002 and 2020, however, have transformed this longstanding regime into a low-friction system wherein public capital flows to both public and private companies, private capital is ever more abundant, and firms can effectively …
Whitman And The Fiduciary Relationship Conundrum, Lisa Fairfax
Whitman And The Fiduciary Relationship Conundrum, Lisa Fairfax
All Faculty Scholarship
While the law on insider trading has been convoluted and, in Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s words, “topsy turvy,” the law on insider trading is supposedly clear on at least one point: insider trading liability is premised upon a fiduciary relationship. Thus, all three seminal U.S. Supreme Court cases articulating the necessary elements for demonstrating any form of insider trading liability under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 made crystal clear that a fiduciary relationship represented the lynchpin for such liability.
Alas, insider trading law is not clear about the source from which the fiduciary …
De Facto Shareholder Primacy, Jeff Schwartz
De Facto Shareholder Primacy, Jeff Schwartz
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
For generations, scholars have debated the purpose of corporations. Should they maximize shareholder value or balance shareholder interests against the corporation’s broader social and economic impact? A longstanding and fundamental premise of this debate is that, ultimately, it is up to corporations to decide. But this understanding is obsolete. Securities law robs corporations of this choice. Once corporations go public, the securities laws effectively require that they maximize share price at the expense of all other goals. This Article is the first to identify the profound impact that the securities laws have on the purpose of public firms — a …
Mootness Fees, Randall S. Thomas, Matthew D. Cain, Jill E. Fisch, Steven D. Solomon
Mootness Fees, Randall S. Thomas, Matthew D. Cain, Jill E. Fisch, Steven D. Solomon
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In response to a sharp increase in litigation challenging mergers, the Delaware Chancery Court issued the 2016 Trulia decision, which substantively reduced the attractiveness of Delaware as a forum for these suits. In this Article, we empirically assess the response of plaintiffs'attorneys to these developments. Specifically, we document a troubling trend-the flight of merger litigation to federal court where these cases are overwhelmingly resolved through voluntary dismissals that provide no benefit to the plaintiff class but generate a payment to plaintiffs'counsel in the form of a mootness fee. In 2018, for example, 77% of deals with litigation were challenged in …
The Problem Of Sunsets, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon
The Problem Of Sunsets, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon
All Faculty Scholarship
An increasing percentage of corporations are going public with dual class stock in which the shares owned by the founders or other corporate insiders have greater voting rights than the shares sold to public investors. Some commentators have criticized the dual class structure as unfair to public investors by reducing the accountability of insiders; others have defended the value of dual class in encouraging innovation by providing founders with insulation from market pressure that enables them to pursue their idiosyncratic vision.
The debate over whether dual class structures increase or decrease corporate value is, to date, unresolved. Empirical studies have …
The New Titans Of Wall Street: A Theoretical Framework For Passive Investors, Jill E. Fisch, Asaf Hamdani, Steven Davidoff Solomon
The New Titans Of Wall Street: A Theoretical Framework For Passive Investors, Jill E. Fisch, Asaf Hamdani, Steven Davidoff Solomon
All Faculty Scholarship
Passive investors — ETFs and index funds — are the most important development in modern day capital markets, dictating trillions of dollars in capital flows and increasingly owning much of corporate America. Neither the business model of passive funds, nor the way that they engage with their portfolio companies, however, is well understood, and misperceptions of both have led some commentators to call for passive investors to be subject to increased regulation and even disenfranchisement. Specifically, this literature takes a narrow view both of the market in which passive investors compete to manage customer funds and of passive investors’ participation …
Mootness Fees, Matthew D. Cain, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon, Randall Thomas
Mootness Fees, Matthew D. Cain, Jill E. Fisch, Steven Davidoff Solomon, Randall Thomas
All Faculty Scholarship
In response to a sharp increase in litigation challenging mergers, the Delaware Chancery Court issued the 2016 Trulia decision, which substantively reduced the attractiveness of Delaware as a forum for these suits. In this Article, we empirically assess the response of plaintiffs’ attorneys to these developments. Specifically, we document a troubling trend—the flight of merger litigation to federal court where these cases are overwhelmingly resolved through voluntary dismissals that provide no benefit to the plaintiff class but generate a payment to plaintiffs’ counsel in the form of a mootness fee. In 2018, for example, 77% of deals with litigation were …
Enforcing The Bargain V. Materiality Requirement: The Future Of Disclosure-Only Settlements Post-Trulia, Hao Jiang
Pace Law Review
In In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery broke away from its tradition of routinely approving disclosure-only settlements and required disclosures to be material in order to cure the conflict of interest between plaintiff’s counsel and the plaintiff class. I argue that fairness of settlement is the only standard in approving class action settlements and fairness will not be achieved by requiring materiality. Shareholders are legally entitled to all material information, as the board’s fiduciary duty dictates. Thus, material disclosures are enforcement of a legal duty that is no consideration for the release of shareholder claims. …
Corporate Governance, Capital Markets, And Securities Law, Adam C. Pritchard
Corporate Governance, Capital Markets, And Securities Law, Adam C. Pritchard
Book Chapters
This chapter explores the dividing line between corporate governance and securities law from both historical and institutional perspectives. Section 2 examines the origins of the dividing line between securities law and corporate governance in the United States, as well as the efforts of the SEC to push against that boundary. That history sets the stage for section 3, which broadens the inquiry by examining the institutional connections between capital markets and corporate governance. Are there practical limits to the connection between securities law and corporate governance? The US again illustrates the point, as Congress has increasingly crossed the traditional boundary …
Attorneys Beware: Increased Liability For Providing Advice To Corporate Clients Issuing Securites, Joseph Reece
Attorneys Beware: Increased Liability For Providing Advice To Corporate Clients Issuing Securites, Joseph Reece
Akron Law Review
Although the law in this area is rapidly evolving, a general overview of recent case law seems to indicate that attorneys may be liable even though their participation in the issuance of securities only involved rendering routine services to a corporate client. If an attorney were to have an active part in activities such as business planning or the promotion of securities, their exposure to potential liability would increase dramatically. As a result of this rapid change in the law, there is a degree of uncertainty concerning the potential liabilities attorneys may face when assisting their corporate clients in issuing …
The Ipo Crisis: Title I Of The Jobs Act And Why It Does Not Go Far Enough, Brian Howaniec
The Ipo Crisis: Title I Of The Jobs Act And Why It Does Not Go Far Enough, Brian Howaniec
Pepperdine Law Review
This Comment explores the brewing controversy over Title I and assesses the actual impact that it is having (and will have) on investor protection and the IPO market. This Comment argues that Title I has the ability to affect both, but, due to factors outside of Congress's control, will likely have only a minimal effect on either. Part II discusses the objectives of investor protection legislation and how previous legislation regulated the financial markets. Part III explains how these regulations have been changed for emerging growth companies under Title I. Part IV examines what impact Title I will have on …
The Moral Undercurrent Beneath The Regulatory Regime Of Investor Protection, Huhnkie Lee
The Moral Undercurrent Beneath The Regulatory Regime Of Investor Protection, Huhnkie Lee
Huhnkie Lee
No abstract provided.
Remembering George Michaely, Lawrence J. Trautman, Stanley Sporkin, John A. Dudley
Remembering George Michaely, Lawrence J. Trautman, Stanley Sporkin, John A. Dudley
Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.
This short essay is a memorial tribute about George P. Michaely, Jr. (1926 to 2014). After graduating from both the University of Notre Dame and its law school, he began his legal career, serving for approximately seven years as attorney in the Office of General Counsel. He was then appointed Chief Counsel of the Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, where he served for approximately the next four years and was responsible for advising the Commission and the public concerning the interpretation of the statutory provisions and rules relating to the registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the …
Bounties For Bad Behavior: Rewarding Culpable Whistleblowers Under The Dodd-Frank Act And Internal Revenue Code, Jennifer M. Pacella
Bounties For Bad Behavior: Rewarding Culpable Whistleblowers Under The Dodd-Frank Act And Internal Revenue Code, Jennifer M. Pacella
Jennifer M. Pacella, Esq.
In 2012, Bradley Birkenfeld received a $104 million reward or “bounty” from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for blowing the whistle on his employer, UBS, which facilitated a major offshore tax fraud scheme by assisting thousands of U.S. taxpayers to hide their assets in Switzerland. Birkenfeld does not fit the mold of the public’s common perception of a whistleblower. He was himself complicit in this crime and even served time in prison for his involvement. Despite his conviction, Birkenfeld was still eligible for a sizable whistleblower bounty under the IRS Whistleblower Program, which allows rewards for whistleblowers who are convicted …
Unfinished Business: Dodd-Frank's Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Protections Fall Short For Private Companies And Their Employees, Chelsea Hunt Overhuls
Unfinished Business: Dodd-Frank's Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Protections Fall Short For Private Companies And Their Employees, Chelsea Hunt Overhuls
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) revolutionized the world of securities law whistleblowing. It encouraged employees to reveal corporate fraud by providing federal anti-retaliation protection to incentivize such reports. Securities law whistleblowing was transformed a second time in 2010 when Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). Under Dodd-Frank, employees that report information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are not only provided federal anti-retaliation protections but also are eligible for a hefty bounty. Two major differences separate these statutes: (1) SOX is limited to employees of companies who are subject to the reporting …
Securities Law's Dirty Little Secret, Usha Rodrigues
Securities Law's Dirty Little Secret, Usha Rodrigues
Scholarly Works
Securities law’s dirty little secret is that rich investors have access to special kinds of investments—hedge funds, private equity, private companies—that everyone else does not. This disparity stems from the fact that, from its inception, federal securities law has jealously guarded the manner in which firms can sell shares to the general public. Perhaps paternalistically, the law assumes that the average investor needs the protection of the full panoply of securities regulation and thus should be limited to buying public securities. In contrast, accredited—i.e., wealthy— investors, who it is presumed can fend for themselves, have the luxury of choosing between …
Striking The Right Balance: Investor And Consumer Protection In The New Financial Marketplace: Introduction, Lisa Fairfax, Arthur E. Wilmarth Jr
Striking The Right Balance: Investor And Consumer Protection In The New Financial Marketplace: Introduction, Lisa Fairfax, Arthur E. Wilmarth Jr
All Faculty Scholarship
On March 2, 2012, The George Washington University Law School's Center for Law, Economics & Finance and The George Washington Law Review jointly hosted a symposium entitled "Striking the Right Balance: Investor and Consumer Protection in the New Financial Marketplace."' The symposium focused on two principal topics. First, participants analyzed the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") on investors and consumers in three areas of federal regulation-securities markets, derivatives markets, and consumer financial products. Second, the symposium evaluated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("Sarbanes-Oxley") on its tenth anniversary and considered whether Sarbanes-Oxley's legacy might …
Inequities In Corporate And Securities Law: Disabling The Exploitative Chinese Corporation And Charting A Path To International Commercial Accountability, Jonathan P. Schmidt
Inequities In Corporate And Securities Law: Disabling The Exploitative Chinese Corporation And Charting A Path To International Commercial Accountability, Jonathan P. Schmidt
San Diego International Law Journal
This article seeks to illuminate these issues and provide a roadmap for the U.S. federal and state legislatures to come together to protect the U.S. investor from the type of accounting fraud and stock misinformation that was the impetus behind enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. First, this article will discuss the legal backdrop and legislative policy behind U.S. laws such as SOX and its enforcement mechanisms, and the ability for shareholders to bring securities class action derivative actions for financial fraud. This article will also discuss trade secrets laws, criminal extradition treaties, international enforcement of judgments, and elucidate the …
Gender And Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Lyman P.Q. Johnson, Michelle Harner, Jason A. Cantone
Gender And Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Lyman P.Q. Johnson, Michelle Harner, Jason A. Cantone
Lyman P. Q. Johnson
The 2010 appointment of Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court meant that, for the first time, three female justices would serve together on that court. Less clear is whether Justice Kagan’s gender will really matter in how she votes as a justice. This question is an especially visible aspect of a larger issue: do female judges display gendered voting patterns in the cases that come before them? This article makes a novel contribution to the growing literature on female voting patterns. We investigated whether female justices on the United States Supreme Court voted differently than, or otherwise influenced, …
An Introduction To The Federalist Society's Panelist Discussion Titled "Deregulating The Markets: The Jobs Act", Lawrence Hamermesh, Peter Tsoflias
An Introduction To The Federalist Society's Panelist Discussion Titled "Deregulating The Markets: The Jobs Act", Lawrence Hamermesh, Peter Tsoflias
Lawrence A. Hamermesh
At its 2012 National Lawyers Convention in Washington, D.C., the Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Practice Group of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies hosted a panel discussion titled "Deregulating the Markets: The JOBS Act." The panel members were the Honorable Daniel M. Gallagher, Joseph H. Kaufman, Joanne T. Medero, Professor Robert T. Miller, and Professor Robert B. Thompson. The Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook moderated the discussion. This Article begins with a cursory overview of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the "JOBS Act" or "Act") provisions discussed by the panelists. It then summarizes the positions expressed by …
Death In One Act: The Case For Company Registration, Michael Mcdonough
Death In One Act: The Case For Company Registration, Michael Mcdonough
Pepperdine Law Review
No abstract provided.
Regulation Fd Will Result In Poorer Disclosure And Increased Market Volatility, Joanna E. Barnes
Regulation Fd Will Result In Poorer Disclosure And Increased Market Volatility, Joanna E. Barnes
Pepperdine Law Review
No abstract provided.
Say On Pay And The Sec Disclosure Rules: Expressive Law And Ceo Compensation , Sandeep Gopalan
Say On Pay And The Sec Disclosure Rules: Expressive Law And Ceo Compensation , Sandeep Gopalan
Pepperdine Law Review
The debate over the lack of correlation between CEO compensation and performance has caused a divide amongst corporate law scholars. Proponents of intervention have predictably welcomed the legislative activity and have called for more. This article argues that the legislative and regulatory interventions by the state are in furtherance of the expressive functions of the law, and that even in the absence of sanctions such expressive laws can have an affect on behavior. It argues that while legislative and regulatory actions can express certain norms, they are ultimately unlikely to be of much help in behavior modification unless accompanied by …
Gender And Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Lyman P.Q. Johnson, Michelle Harner, Jason A. Cantone
Gender And Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Lyman P.Q. Johnson, Michelle Harner, Jason A. Cantone
Scholarly Articles
The 2010 appointment of Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court meant that, for the first time, three female justices would serve together on that court. Less clear is whether Justice Kagan’s gender will really matter in how she votes as a justice. This question is an especially visible aspect of a larger issue: do female judges display gendered voting patterns in the cases that come before them?
This article makes a novel contribution to the growing literature on female voting patterns. We investigated whether female justices on the United States Supreme Court voted differently than, or otherwise influenced, …
Federalizing Fiduciary Duty: The Altered Scope Of Officer Fiduciary Duty Following Orderly Liquidation Under Dodd-Frank, Dorothy S. Lund
Federalizing Fiduciary Duty: The Altered Scope Of Officer Fiduciary Duty Following Orderly Liquidation Under Dodd-Frank, Dorothy S. Lund
Faculty Scholarship
The financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a new era of regulatory reform in the United States. The failure of several large banks prompted Congressional scrutiny ofthe U.S. bank regulatory system. Many critics highlighted the government's failure to intervene to prevent Lehman Brothers' insolvency, which resulted in economic turmoil not yet resolved. Against this backdrop, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") in July 2010.
Dodd-Frank mandates institutional changes to minimize economic instability and establishes regulatory processes to guide the government's response to future bank failures. At the heart of the regulation is the Orderly …
Corporate Governance And Accountability, Renee M. Jones
Corporate Governance And Accountability, Renee M. Jones
Renee Jones
This book chapter on Corporate Governance and Accountability is a contribution to the book CORPORATE GOVERNANCE - SYNTHESIS OF THEORY, RESEARCH, AND PRACTICE (Wiley, forthcoming 2010), edited by Ronald Anderson and H. Kent Baker. This chapter describes the sources of corporate governance standards for American corporations and analyzes the accountability mechanisms designed to ensure that corporate officials act faithfully in their management of corporate affairs. The chapter focuses on the financial reporting system under the U.S. securities laws which forms the foundation of the accountability system, and discusses structures and rules designed to ensure the integrity of financial reporting. The …
Insider Trading, Congressional Officials, And Duties Of Entrustment, Donna M. Nagy
Insider Trading, Congressional Officials, And Duties Of Entrustment, Donna M. Nagy
Articles by Maurer Faculty
This article refutes what has become the conventional wisdom that insider trading by members of Congress and legislative staffers is “totally legal” because such congressional officials are immune from federal insider trading law. It argues that this well-worn claim is rooted in twin misconceptions based on: (1) a lack of regard for the broad and sweeping duties of entrustment which attach to public office and (2) an unduly restrictive view of Supreme Court precedents, which have interpreted Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act to impose liability whenever a person trades securities on the basis of material nonpublic information in …