Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Securities Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Securities Law

Tender Offers And The Sale Of Control: An Analogue To Determine The Validity Of Target Management Defense Measures, Stuart R. Cohn Aug 2015

Tender Offers And The Sale Of Control: An Analogue To Determine The Validity Of Target Management Defense Measures, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

The hostile tender offer phenomenon has spawned wholesale defensive measures adopted by target company management. In recent years, confrontations like those of Occidental Petroleum-Mead Corporation and American Express-McGraw-Hill have resulted in target management causing the eventual withdrawal of the tender offer by employing a variety of defensive measures known colloquially as “scorched earth” tactics. The “urge to merge” among major corporations will continue to produce unsolicited, nonnegotiated tender offers at varying scales of size. Consequently, strategies and techniques have been created at a pace faster than the process of litigation, causing a discernible lag between the ingenuity of corporate management …


Stock Appreciation Rights And The Sec: A Case Of Questionable Rulemaking, Stuart R. Cohn Aug 2015

Stock Appreciation Rights And The Sec: A Case Of Questionable Rulemaking, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

A stock appreciation rights (SARs) program is a form of deferred incentive compensation. Grantees are awarded SAR-units representing an equal number of the grantor’s equity shares currently being traded in public markets. SARs provide grantees the benefit of stock ownership without equity interest, investment, or risk of loss. Stock appreciation rights programs offer various advantages over other forms of executive compensation and have grown rapidly in number. These advantages include the availability of benefits without the requirement of monetary payments, the utilization of SARs as an interest-free form of financing the purchase of stock under tandem stock option programs, the …


Securities Markets For Small Issuers: The Barrier Of Federal Solicitation And Advertising Prohibitions, Stuart R. Cohn Aug 2015

Securities Markets For Small Issuers: The Barrier Of Federal Solicitation And Advertising Prohibitions, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

How can small issuers find potential investors and stay within the confines of federal securities laws? That is a perplexing question given the very strong prohibitions against advertising and solicitation found in SEC rules and no-action letters. What the registration exemptions purport to give with one hand, i.e. ability to raise capital without the cost and delay of registration, the anti-solicitation rules take away with the other. These rules need to be lifted or modified if small businesses are to have a viable opportunity to seek potential investors.


Demise Of The Director's Duty Of Care: Judicial Avoidance Of Standards And Sanctions Through The Business Judgment Rule, Stuart R. Cohn Aug 2015

Demise Of The Director's Duty Of Care: Judicial Avoidance Of Standards And Sanctions Through The Business Judgment Rule, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

Courts love the so-called business judgment rule. It dispenses quickly and easily with derivative actions against corporate directors and officers, and other challenges to corporate conduct. Unfortunately, the business judgment rule has come to mask its underlying premise, i.e. that there must have been a business judgment made. This article examines the dominance of the business judgment rule over the underlying requirement of the duty of care and suggests reform measures that will bring the duty of care back to its appropriate role in determining the merits of management decision-making processes.


The Impact Of Securities Laws On Developing Companies: Would The Wright Brothers Have Gotten Off The Ground?, Stuart R. Cohn Aug 2015

The Impact Of Securities Laws On Developing Companies: Would The Wright Brothers Have Gotten Off The Ground?, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

Suppose the Wright brothers, to pursue their dreams of manned flight, needed outside financing. Confronted with the intimidating regulatory requirements of today 's state and federal securities laws, would they ever have gotten off the ground? With historical illustrations, this Essay presents an entertaining look at the serious problems that would be encountered today by entrepreneurs who have ideas but need capital to develop them. It analyzes the regulatory maze and prohibitions of state and federal securities laws and concludes that, in today's marketplace, the Wright brothers probably would have violated several laws to obtain essential financing for their venture.