Securities Law Commons^™

State Enforcement Of National Policy: A Contextual Approach (With Evidence From The Securities Realm), Amanda Rose

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article addresses a topic of contemporary public policy significance: the optimal allocation of law enforcement authority in our federalist system. Proponents of competitive federalism have long argued that assigning concurrent enforcement authority to states and the federal government can lead to redundant expense, policy distortion, and a loss of democratic accountability. A growing literature responds to these claims, trumpeting the benefits of concurrent state-federal enforcement - most notably the potential for state regulators to remedy under-enforcement by captured federal agencies. Both bodies of scholarship are right, but also incomplete. What is missing from this rather polarized debate is a …

The Multienforcer Approach To Securities Fraud Deterrence: A Critical Analysis, Amanda Rose

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Participants in the U.S. capital markets can be sued for securities fraud by a mishmash of enforcers, including the SEC, class action plaintiffs, and state regulators. Does this multi-enforcer approach make sense from a deterrence perspective? This Article suggests that the answer is probably no. Although in theory there are conditions under which a multi-enforcer approach would promote optimal deterrence, it is unclear at best that those conditions exist in the United States. And further empirical research, while warranted, is unlikely to resolve the issue definitively. The status quo tends to persevere in the face of this sort of irreducible …

Using State Inspection Statutes For Discovery In Federal Securities Fraud Actions, Randall Thomas, Kenneth J. Martin, Erin O'Connor

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

We propose that plaintiffs in securities fraud actions should use state inspections statutes to obtain discovery about potential securities fraud cases. First, we argue that the Private Securities Law Reform Act has substantially increased shareholders' difficulty in uncovering securities fraud. Next, we show that shareholders have an alternative method of investigating fraud: state inspections statutes. We then analyze cases filed under the Delaware inspection statute to examine the costs to plaintiffs of pursuing claims under this statute. We find that the statutory inspection process is a largely successful, although expensive and time-consuming, process. Nevertheless, potential plaintiffs could realize substantial benefits …

Swiss Bank Secrecy And United States Efforts To Obtain Information From Swiss Banks, Elliot A. Stultz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States has utilized numerous techniques to penetrate bank secrecy, with varying degrees of success. The United States and Switzerland have signed several agreements relating to bank secrecy and its role in United States criminal investigations. These efforts have allowed United States authorities to obtain normally privileged information in numerous investigations over the past ten years, although some confusion as to what information is available still exists today.

Two recent events have expanded the scope of information available to United States investigators and alleviated some of the confusion. In November 1987 the United States and Switzerland exchanged a Memorandum …

Recent Cases, Susan E. Dominick, Robert D. Butters, Walter T. Eccard

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion, although couched in absolute terms, has never been considered an absolute right. The first significant free exercise case, Reynolds v.United States,' upheld the conviction of a Mormon polygamist who claimed a religious exemption from the bigamy laws on the basis of the first amendment. The Court held that while Congress was left powerless to legislate in matters of mere opinion, it was nonetheless" left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order."'

Susan E. Dominick

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The instant decision appears to be the …