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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Uneasy Case For The Inside Director, Lisa M. Fairfax
The Uneasy Case For The Inside Director, Lisa M. Fairfax
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In the wake of recent scandals and the economic meltdown, there is nearly universal support for the notion that corporations must have independent directors. Conventional wisdom insists that independent directors can more effectively monitor the corporation and prevent or otherwise better detect wrongdoing. As the movement to increase director independence has gained traction, inside directors have become an endangered species, relegated to holding a minimal number of seats on the corporate board. This Article questions the popular trend away from inside directors by critiquing the rationales in favor of director independence, and assessing the potential advantages of inside directors. This …
Setting The Record Straight: Three Concepts Of The Independent Director, Donald C. Clarke
Setting The Record Straight: Three Concepts Of The Independent Director, Donald C. Clarke
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Despite the surprisingly shaky support in empirical research for the value of independent directors, their desirability seems to be taken for granted in policy-making circles. Yet important elements of the concept of and rationale for independent directors remain curiously obscure and unexamined. As a result, the empirical findings we do have may be misapplied, and judicial gap-filling may be harder than imagined when legislative intent cannot be divined or is contradictory.
This article attempts to unpack the concept broadly understood by the term independent director and to distinguish among its various concrete manifestations. In particular, I discuss the critical differences …
The Independent Director In Chinese Corporate Governance, Donald C. Clarke
The Independent Director In Chinese Corporate Governance, Donald C. Clarke
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Corporate governance (gongsi zhili) is a concept whose time has come in China, and the institution of the independent director is a major part of this concept. Policymakers in several countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan have turned to independent directors as an important element of legal and policy reform in the field of corporate governance. In August 2001, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued its Guidance Opinion on the Establishment of an Independent Director System in Listed Companies. Covering all companies listed on Chinese stock exchanges (but not Chinese companies listed overseas), it constitutes the most …