Law Commons^™

Law And Corporate Governance, Robert P. Bartlett, Eric L. Talley

Robert Bartlett

Pragmatic and effective research on corporate governance often turns critically on appreciating the legal institutions surrounding corporate entities – yet such nuances are often unfamiliar or poorly specified to economists and other social scientists without legal training. This chapter organizes and discusses key legal concepts of corporate governance, including statutes, regulations, and jurisprudential doctrines that “govern governance” in private and public companies, with concentration on the for-profit corporation. We review the literature concerning the nature and purpose of the corporation, the objects of fiduciary obligations, the means for decision making within the firm, as well as the overlay of state …

Regulating Charities In The Twenty-First Century: An Institutional Choice Analysis, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, Brendan M. Wilson

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

For more than fifty years scholars, practitioners, and government officials have debated whether the federal government, the state governments, or the charitable sector itself can best ensure that charity leaders fulfill their fiduciary duties. The dramatic growth of this sector, recent highly publicized governance scandals, and a push in Congress and the IRS for more federal involvement in this area have now brought this issue to a head. This article lays a foundation for resolving the dispute by developing an institutional choice framework for considering and comparing the various available options. Applying that framework, the article concludes that the best …

The Role Of Aspiration In Corporate Fiduciary Duties, Julian Velasco

Julian Velasco

Corporate law is characterized by a pervasive divergence between standards of conduct and standards of review. Courts often opine on the relatively demanding standard of conduct, but their judgements must be based on the more forgiving standard of review. Commentators defend this state of affairs by insisting that it provides guidance to directors without imposing ruinous liability. However, the dichotomy can lead many, especially those who focus on the bottom line, to call into question the meaningfulness of standards of conduct. Of particular concern is the increasing popularity, in legal and scholarly circles, of the notion that fiduciary duty standards …

Relating Fiduciary Duties To Corporate Personhood And Corporate Purpose, Lyman P. Q. Johnson

Lyman P. Q. Johnson

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And Fiduciary Duties, Lyman P. Q. Johnson, Mark A. Sides

Lyman P. Q. Johnson

This article explores the implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for fiduciary duty analysis in corporate law. The article examines those provisions of the Act, and recent SEC, NYSE and NASDAQ rules, that most pointedly bear on corporate governance. The article develops in detail exactly how Sarbanes-Oxley and those rules may alter state fiduciary duty law. Sarbanes-Oxley makes unprecedented federal inroads into the area of corporate governance and, although the fact of federal incursion into corporate governance is important in its own right, the more intriguing issue concerns the eventual interplay between federal and state law. Specifically, on various …

The New York Limited Liability Company Law At Twenty: Past, Present & Future, Meredith R. Miller

Meredith R. Miller

The New York Limited Liability Company Law (“LLC Law”) has turned 20. This occasion presents an opportunity to reflect on its past, present and future.

Policing The Good Guys: Regulation Of The Charitable Sector Through A Federal Charity Oversight Board, Terri Lynn Helge

Terri L. Helge

No abstract provided.

Policing The Good Guys: Regulation Of The Charitable Sector Through A Federal Charity Oversight Board, Terri Lynn Helge

Terri L. Helge

No abstract provided.

A Defense Of The Corporate Law Duty Of Care, Julian Velasco

Julian Velasco

Most people would acknowledge the importance of the duty of loyalty, but the same is not true of the duty of care. Historically, the corporate law duty of care has been underenforced at best, and arguably unenforced entirely. Some scholars do not consider the duty of care to be a fiduciary duty at all, and there are those who would do away with it entirely. In this paper, I intend to provide a comprehensive defense of the corporate law fiduciary duty of care. I hope to show that the duty of care is not simply an ill-fitting appendage to the …

On The Nature Of Corporations, Lynn A. Stout

Lynn A. Stout

Legal experts traditionally distinguish corporations from unincorporated business forms by focusing on corporate characteristics like limited shareholder liability, centralized management, perpetual life, and free transferability of shares. While such approaches have value, this essay argues that the nature of the corporation can be better understood by focusing on a fifth, often-overlooked, characteristic of corporations: their capacity to "lock in" equity investors' initial capital contributions by making it far more difficult for those investors to subsequently withdraw assets from the firm. Like a tar pit, a corporation is much easier for equity investors to get into, than to get out of. …

Trusting Trust, Deborah Gordon

Deborah S Gordon

What is a trustee and how should we understand her duties? The existing literature typically identifies the trustee in the role of agent, partner or contracting party. This Article re-envisions the trustee in the role of the legal system’s most trusted type of decision-maker: the common law judge. Rather than argue for a top-down recreation of the trustee’s role, this Article contends that valuable lessons can be learned by reconceptualizing how trustees, settlors, and beneficiaries view themselves and each other. Using traditional literature about great judging as a touchstone, the Article argues that those qualities essential to principled adjudication — …

How Corporate Political Spending Strains The Limits Of The Business Judgment Rule, David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg

A number of agency issues arise when a corporation chooses to exercise its freedom of speech by making donations to a super PAC or other political organization. This article draws a distinction between contributions designed to influence legislation and regulation of the corporation and political donations that corporations justify as goodwill or community outreach. Analyzing the issue with an emphasis on the duty of loyalty, the article argues that much corporate political spending cannot really be understood as a business decision that should enjoy the protection of the business judgment rule. It also reflects on the Supreme Court’s recent decision …

How Many Fiduciary Duties Are There In Corporate Law?, Julian Velasco

Julian Velasco

Historically, there were two main fiduciary duties in corporate law, care and loyalty, and only the duty of loyalty was likely to lead to liability. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Delaware Supreme Court breathed life into the duty of care, created a number of intermediate standards of review, elevated the duty of good faith to equal standing with care and loyalty, and announced a unified test for review of breaches of fiduciary duty. The law, which once seemed so straightforward, suddenly became elaborate and complex. In 2006, in the case of Stone v. Ritter, the Delaware Supreme Court rejected …

Fiduciary Duties And Fiduciary Outs, Julian Velasco

Julian Velasco

Fiduciary outs are virtually ubiquitous in acquisition agreements, but almost unheard of in other contexts. This is because the fiduciary out is an inherently problematic device. Although it is not intended to do so, it almost necessarily transforms an agreement into an option in the hands of one party. Nevertheless, fiduciary outs make sense in the context of acquisition agreements. This is because fiduciary outs are essentially contractual proxies for fiduciary duties. As such, they have the same purpose: to protect shareholders from abuse at the hands of directors. Fiduciary outs do this in the context of acquisition agreements by …

A More Realistic Approach To Directors' Duties, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

Expectations for what fiduciary duties can achieve in the corporate context are unrealistic. This segment of the law—and the alleged deficiencies therein—are blamed for corporate scandals, securities fraud, failed business plans, and even a company's insolvency. Risk is, however, inherent in business, and human beings are flawed. Fiduciary duty law cannot change these basic facts. To the extent we think it can, we will continue to be disappointed and frustrated. This essay considers recasting (and to a greater extent codifying) directors’ duties in a positive frame to help foster better director oversight. It does not suggest that codifying greater clarity …

Corporate Culture And Erm, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

The attitudes and actions of those viewed as leaders within a company (commonly referred to as “tone at the top”) help to define corporate culture and are critical to implementing a successful enterprise risk management (ERM) program. This paper explores the challenges and benefits of creating a risk-aware corporate culture, including the potential legal implications for boards of directors.

Damning Dictum: The Default Duty Debate In Delaware, Mohsen Manesh

Mohsen Manesh

Bizarrely, today even the most sophisticated business lawyer cannot answer a seemingly simple question: whether, in the absence of an express agreement to the contrary, the manager of a Delaware limited liability company (LLC) owes traditional fiduciary duties to its members as a default matter? This was not always the case. Until recently, this question was settled—settled at least in the Delaware Court of Chancery. But in November 2012, the Delaware Supreme Court cast doubt on a long line of chancery court precedent in Gatz Properties v. Auriga Capital. Given the broad freedom of contract available under LLC law, it …

Auction Theory And Standstills: Dealing With Friends And Foes In A Sale Of Corporate Control, Christina M. Sautter

Christina M. Sautter

A fundamental issue in Delaware mergers & acquisitions (M&A) law is the extent to which a target company’s board of directors may restrict a sales process to extract value from bidders and grant a “winning bidder” certain deal protections to protect a transaction from being overbid. Standstill agreements are one such form of deal protection. Standstills prevent bidders from making or announcing a bid for the target without the target’s consent both during the sales process and for a period after the sales process is completed and the target has executed an agreement with a “winning bidder.” Recent 2011 and …

Widener Law, The Institute Of Delaware Corporate & Business Law, On-Line Symposium: Default Fiduciary Duties In Llcs And Lps, Lawrence Hamermesh

Lawrence A. Hamermesh

No abstract provided.

Revisiting And Re-Evaluating Omnicare 10 Years Later, Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Abstract Known as one of the premier business courts in the country, very few decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court have garnered as much criticism as Omnicare, Inc. v. NCS Healthcare, Inc. In a court famously known for issuing unanimous decisions, Omnicare led to two separate dissenting opinions. In the dissents and in the years since its issuance, the majority’s decision has been faulted not only for its doctrinal shortcomings, but also for its potentially negative impact on M&A activity and its poor corporate policy implications. This has led many academics and practitioners to ask whether Omnicare was a normatively …

Revisiting And Re-Evaluating Omnicare 10 Years Later, Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Abstract Known as one of the premier business courts in the country, very few decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court have garnered as much criticism as Omnicare, Inc. v. NCS Healthcare, Inc. Indeed, much of the criticism originated from the court itself; in a court famously known for issuing unanimous decisions, Omnicare led to two separate dissenting opinions. In the dissents and in the years since its issuance, the majority’s decision has been faulted not only for its doctrinal shortcomings, but also for its potentially negative impact on merger and acquisition activity and its poor corporate policy implications. This has …

Revisiting And Re-Evaluating Omnicare 10 Years Later, Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Abstract Known as one of the premier business courts in the country, very few decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court have garnered as much criticism as Omnicare, Inc. v. NCS Healthcare, Inc. Indeed, much of the criticism originated from the court itself; in a court famously known for issuing unanimous decisions, Omnicare led to two separate dissenting opinions. In the dissents and in the years since its issuance, the majority’s decision has been faulted not only for its doctrinal shortcomings, but also for its potentially negative impact on merger and acquisition activity and its poor corporate policy implications. This has …

M&A Fiduciary Duties: Delaware’S Murky Jurisprudence, Daniel J. Morrissey

Dan Morrissey

The article deals with the fiduciary duties of corporate officials in mergers and acquisitions, particularly as they have been defined by the Delaware Courts. It focuses on judicial decisions over the last several decades and includes a discussion of some of the most recent significant ones.

The article also describes how those duties may vary depending on the type of corporate event that is occurring and contains commentary on the nature of those obligations. Where corrupt activity is present or there is no showing that these transactions are in the public interest, they should not be permitted to go forward. …

The Naked Fiduciary, Michelle M. Harner, Jamie Marincic

Michelle M. Harner

Business law is grounded in the common law of fiduciary duty. Courts and policymakers have been loath to abandon that principle. Yet, particularly in the contractual context of limited liability companies (LLCs), the fiduciary label is illusory and may undercut sound governance practices for those entities. This Article presents an in-depth empirical study about governance provisions included in LLC operating agreements and examines the implications of the data in the context of various types of businesses that might choose to organize as LLCs. The Article uses the data and related case studies to offer a new approach to LLC governance …

Dual Real Estate Agents And The Double Duty Of Loyalty, Mary Szto

Mary Szto

Our present housing crisis is related in part to practices of real estate agents. This article addresses the top three issues that cause the most disputes for agents. They are dual agency, disclosure, and breach of fiduciary duty. Despite legislative efforts in the past two decades to clarify and reduce the duties of dual agents, agents and consumers are still confused about agents who represent both sellers and buyers. They owe double, not half the loyalty owed to one principal.

The stakes are high because home ownership is critical to our economic recovery and the chief source of wealth for …

Limiting And Eliminating (And Establishing?) Fiduciary Duties In Delaware Business Entities, Lawrence Hamermesh

Lawrence A. Hamermesh

No abstract provided.

Fiduciary Duties And Exculpatory Clauses: Clash Of The Titans Or Cozy Bedfellows?, Louise Hill

Louise L Hill

Centuries ago, when land represented the majority of wealth, the trust was used primarily for holding and transferring real property. As the dominant form of wealth moved away from family land, the trust evolved into a device for managing financial assets. With this transformation came the use of exculpatory clauses by both amateur and professional trustees, providing an avenue for these fiduciaries to escape liability for designated acts. With the use of exculpatory provisions, discussion abounded about whether fiduciary duties were mandatory or subject to modification. The latter view eventually prevailed, with the majority of jurisdictions viewing fiduciary duties as …

Guilty By Proxy: Expanding The Boundaries Of Responsibility In The Face Of Corporate Crime, Amy J. Sepinwall

Amy J. Sepinwall

The BP oil spill and financial crisis share in common more than just profound tragedy and massive clean-up costs. In both cases, governmental commissions have revealed widespread wrongdoing by individuals and the entities for which they work. The public has demanded justice, yet the law enforcement response in both cases has been underwhelming. In particular, no criminal indictments have been sought for any of the corporations responsible for the Macondo oil rig explosion or the Wall Street banks involved in the financial meltdown.

This governmental restraint reflects a deep-seated ambivalence about corporate criminal liability. Though scholars have been debating the …

The Economic Theory Of Derivative Actions, Diego G. Pardow

Diego G. Pardow

This paper offers a model to formalize the economic theory of derivative actions developed during the last 30 years. From this perspective, the derivative action presents two interrelated problems. The first is how to solve the collective action problem that prevents that minority shareholders file a suit. The second is how to control the risk of collusive settlements between the defendant manager and the plaintiff’s attorney. This model identifies the fundamental tradeoffs that are implicit in these problems, as well as an optimum that could be used as normative benchmark. In brief, it argues that if the goal of derivative …

Delaware's "Expanding Duty Of Loyalty" And Illegal Conduct: A Step Towards Corporate Social Responsibility, David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg

Courts and legal scholars have long agreed that approval of illegal activity constitutes a violation of a corporate director’s fiduciary duties to the shareholders. While directors’ fiduciary obligations have traditionally been divided into the duties of care, loyalty and good faith, recent decisions in the Delaware courts have narrowed them down into a fairly broadly defined single duty of loyalty. Therefore, in order for shareholders to bring a lawsuit against directors for approving illegal activity, they must claim that the directors acted disloyally, even in situations where the directors believed that their decision would benefit the corporation and the shareholders. …