Securities Law Commons^™

Embattled Ceos, Marcel Kahan, Edward B. Rock

All Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we argue that chief executive officers of publicly-held corporations in the United States are losing power to their boards of directors and to their shareholders. This loss of power is recent (say, since 2000) and gradual, but nevertheless represents a significant move away from the imperial CEO who was surrounded by a hand-picked board and lethargic shareholders. After discussing the concept of power and its dimensions, we document the causes and symptoms of the decline in CEO power in several areas: share ownership composition and shareholder activism; governance rules and the board response to shareholder activism; regulatory …

Securities Class Actions As Pragmatic Ex Post Regulation, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Scholarly Works

Securities class actions are on the chopping block-again. Traditional commentators continue to view class actions with suspicion; they see class suits as nonmeritorious byproducts of self-interest and the attorneys who bring them as rent-seekers. Their conventional approach has popularized securities class actions' negative effects. High-profile commissions capitalizing on this rhetoric, such as the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, have recently recommended eliminating or severely curtailing securities class actions. But this approach misses the point: in the ongoing push and pull of securities regulation, corporations are winning the battle.

Thus, understanding the full picture and texture of securities class actions necessitates …

Changing The Paradigm Of Stock Ownership From Concentrated Towards Dispersed Ownership? Evidence From Brazil And Consequences For Emerging Countries, Erica Gorga

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

This paper analyzes micro-level dynamics of changes in ownership structures. It investigates a unique event: changes in ownership patterns currently taking place in Brazil. It builds upon empirical evidence to advance theoretical understanding of how and why concentrated ownership structures can change towards dispersed ownership.

Commentators argue that the Brazilian capital markets are finally taking off. The number of listed companies and IPOs in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) has greatly increased. Firms are migrating to Bovespa’s special listing segments, which require higher standards of corporate governance. Companies have sold control in the market, and the stock market has …

The Direction Of Corporate Law: The Scholars' Perspective, John C. Coffee Jr., Richard A. Booth Marbury Research Professor Of Law, R. Franklin Balotti, David C. Mcbride, Edward P. Welch

Richard A Booth

Transcript of a panel on a scholar's approach to corporation law.

Tercer Congreso Nacional De Organismos Públicos Autónomos, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Tercer Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autónomos

"Autonomía, Reforma Legislativa y Gasto Público"

Corporate Taxation And International Charter Competition, Mitchell Kane, Edward B. Rock

All Faculty Scholarship

Corporate Charter competition has become an increasingly international phenomenon. The thesis of this article is that this development in the corporate law requires a greater focus on the corporate tax law. We first demonstrate how a tax system’s capacity to distort the international charter market depends both upon its approach to determining corporate location and the extent to which it taxes foreign source corporate profits. We also show, however, that it is not possible to remove all distortions through modifications to the tax system alone. We present instead two alternative methods for preserving an international charter market. The first best …

Agency Costs, Charitable Trusts, And Corporate Control: Evidence From Hershey's Kiss-Off, Jonathan Klick, Robert H. Sitkoff

All Faculty Scholarship

In July 2002 the trustees of the Milton Hershey School Trust announced a plan to diversify the Trust’s investment portfolio by selling the Trust’s controlling interest in the Hershey Company. The Company’s stock jumped from $62.50 to $78.30 on news of the proposed sale. But the Pennsylvania Attorney General, who was then running for governor, opposed the sale on the ground that it would harm the local community. Shortly after the Attorney General obtained a preliminary injunction, the trustees abandoned the sale and the Company’s stock dropped to $65.00. Using standard event study methodology, we find that the sale announcement …

Five Decades Of Corporation Law - From Conglomeration To Equity Compensation, Richard A. Booth

Working Paper Series

This brief essay recounts developments in corporation law over the last fifty years. It begins with the rise of finance capitalism and the conglomerate corporation which was followed by the emergence of hostile takeovers in the late 1970s and 1980s. One of the key events in this saga was the February 1, 1983 decision by the Delaware Supreme Court in Weinberger v. UOP, Inc. that effectively permitted the at-will elimination of minority stockholders through cashout mergers. Takeovers were also facilitated by two major financial developments: (1) the growth of institutional investors coupled with the growing taste of diversified investors for …

Gatekeeper Failures: Why Important, What To Do, Merritt B. Fox

Michigan Law Review

The United States was hit by a wave of corporate scandals that crested between late 2001 and the end of 2002. Some were traditional scandals involving insiders looting company assets - the most prominent being Tyco, HealthSouth, and Adelphia. But most were what might be called "financial scandals": attempts by an issuer to maximize the market price of its securities by creating misimpressions as to what its future cash flows were likely to be. Enron and WorldCom were the most spectacular examples of these financial scandals. In scores of additional cases, the companies involved and their executives were sued by …

The Use Of The Corporate Monitor In Sec Enforcement Actions, Jennifer O'Hare

Working Paper Series

This paper addresses the SEC’s recent use of the corporate monitor as ancillary relief in its enforcement actions. The corporate monitor represents the latest example of the SEC seeking to shift its enforcement responsibilities to the public companies it regulates. Focusing on the role played by the corporate monitor imposed by the SEC in its enforcement action brought against WorldCom, this paper considers some of the dangers posed by the use of the corporate monitor, such as the whether the appointment of a corporate monitor constitutes impermissible overreaching by the SEC. The paper recognizes that the corporate monitor can be …

Option Backdating And Its Implications, Jesse M. Fried

Washington and Lee Law Review

Thousands of U.S. companies appear to have secretly backdated stock options. This Article analyzes three forms of secret option backdating: (1) the backdating of executives' option grants; (2) the backdating of nonexecutive employees' option grants; and (3) the backdating of executives' option exercises. It shows that each type of backdating less likely reflects arm's length contracting than a desire to inflate and camouflage executive pay. Secret backdating thus provides further evidence that pay arrangements have been shaped by executives' influence over their boards. The fact that so many firms continued to secretly backdate after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in blatant violation …

On Beyond Calpers: Survey Evidence On The Developing Role Of Public Pension Funds In Corporate Governance, Stephen Choi, Jill E. Fisch

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Equity: Public Ownership, Agency Costs, And Complete Capital Markets, Charles K. Whitehead, Ronald J. Gilson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The traditional law and finance focus on agency costs presumes that the premise that diversified public shareholders are the cheapest risk bearers is immutable. In this Essay, we raise the possibility that changes in the capital markets have called this premise into question, drawn into sharp relief by the recent private equity wave in which the size and range of public companies being taken private expanded significantly. In brief, we argue that private owners, in increasingly complete markets, can transfer risk in discrete slices to counterparties who, in turn, can manage or otherwise diversify away those risks they choose to …

Law And Morality, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Natural Justice And Its Applications In Administrative Law, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Capacity Of The State And Its Subordinates, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Functioning Of The Law Commission Of India, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

J.S Mill On Liberty, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Bar Council Of India, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

“A Responsabilidade Dos Administradores E Os Deveres De Cuidado Enquanto Estratégias De Corporate Governance” [The Liability Of Board Members And Duties Of Care As Corporate Governance Strategies], Bruno Ferreira

Bruno Ferreira

No abstract provided.

“Os Deveres De Cuidado De Administradores E Gerentes” [The Duties Of Care Of Board Members And Managers], Bruno Ferreira

Bruno Ferreira

No abstract provided.

El Conflicto De Intereses Entre Los Beneficiarios Del Fideicomiso: Pautas De Interpretación De La Resolución General 530 De La Cnv, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Análisis de alternativas de interpretación de las reglas de votación de los beneficiarios de fideicomisos financieros que sean a su vez fiduciantes

El Modelo Normativo De Información Al Inversor De Fondos Comunes De Inversión. La Necesidad De Su Adecuación Y La Futilidad Del Reglamento De Gestión, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Crítica referencia al modelo normativo de información al inversor de fondos comunes de inversión, sustancialmente diferente del general vigente en el derecho de mercado de capitales

La Acción Cambiaria Directa: Presentación Al Pago Y Prescripción, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Breve análisis de una sentencia de la Cámara Nacional en lo Comercial y consideraciones sobre la acción directa para el cobro de pagarés

Los Amparos De Cuotapartistas De Fondos Comunes De Inversión. La Corte Suprema De Justicia Cierra Un Debate Más, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Nota a fallo de la Corte Suprema sobre la falta de legitimaciòn individual de los cuotapartistas para accionar por los perjuicios sufridos por el fondo de inversión

La Parabola Del Administrador Infiel, Diego G. Pardow

Diego G. Pardow

No abstract provided.

Workers, Information, And Corporate Combinations: The Case For Non-Binding Employee Referenda In Transformative Transactions, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

Employees present a curious puzzle for corporate law. The success of a corporation depends on its employees, from the chief executive officer down to the front-line production or service worker. But for the most part, corporate law relegates employees to the sidelines. Perhaps nowhere is this difference as dramatic as in the realm of mergers, acquisitions, and other transformative transactions. Such transactions are usually negotiated at the highest levels of management, approved by the board, and ultimately approved by the shareholders. In contrast, employees at most may be able to bargain about the effects of the merger through union representatives; …

Confusion And Unpredictability In Shareholder Derivative Litigation: The Delaware Courts' Response To Recent Corporate Scandals, Ann M. Scarlett

All Faculty Scholarship

The Delaware courts responded to the recent wave of corporate scandals, exemplified by Enron and WorldCom, by changing their approach to shareholder derivative litigation. This Article analyzes the Delaware courts' response to these scandals and concludes that the courts have created doctrinal confusion and introduced unpredictability into derivative litigation. This Article also analyzes the future negative consequences for shareholders, corporations, directors, investors, and other litigants. Finally, this Article proposes improvements for derivative litigation that may alleviate the confusion and unpredictability created by the Delaware courts' response to the recent scandals.

How Much Is Enough? Giving Fiduciaries And Participants Adequate Information About Plan Expenses, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1005 (2008), Debra A. Davis

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.