Emerging Technologies And Perfection Of Security Interests: A Financial University Of Uncertainty, 2024 Brooklyn Law School
Emerging Technologies And Perfection Of Security Interests: A Financial University Of Uncertainty, Elizabeth M. Wagenbach
Brooklyn Law Review
Since the founding of Bitcoin in 2009, digital assets, such as cryptocurrency, have exploded in popularity. Cryptocurrency has been associated with stories of immense profit and immense loss. The lucky transactors have been able to capitalize on the price fluctuations of cryptocurrency, while the unlucky transactors became victims of the same volatility, losing tremendous amounts of money. The novelty and ingenuity of cryptocurrency has been coupled with mass confusion to transactors and regulators alike. These early days of cryptocurrency have been characterized by a sort of regulatory tug of war that is a direct result of confusion of what cryptocurrency …
Jarkesy V. Sec: Are Federal Courts Pushing The U.S. Toward The Next Financial Crisis?, 2024 Pepperdine University
Jarkesy V. Sec: Are Federal Courts Pushing The U.S. Toward The Next Financial Crisis?, Jennifer Hill
Pepperdine Law Review
In the wake of both the Great Depression and the Financial Crisis of 2008, Congress established and expanded the powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As part of this expansion, the SEC in-house administrative proceedings, designed to adjudicate SEC violations before the SEC’s administrative law judges (ALJs), were born. These in-house proceedings have faced multiple constitutional attacks in the past decade. In the most recent iteration of such challenges, Jarkesy v. SEC, the Fifth Circuit held that the SEC’s in-house proceedings were unconstitutional on three grounds: (1) the in-house proceedings deprived petitioners of their constitutional right to jury …
Covid-19 Risk Factors And Boilerplate Disclosure, 2024 New York University
Covid-19 Risk Factors And Boilerplate Disclosure, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, Xuan Liu, Adam C. Pritchard
Law & Economics Working Papers
The SEC mandates that public companies assess new information that changes the risks that they face and disclose these if there has been a “material” change. Does that theory work in practice? Or are companies copying and repeating the same generic disclosures? Using the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore these questions. Overall, we find considerable rote copying of boilerplate disclosures. Further, the factors that correlate with deviations from the boilerplate seem related more to the resources that companies have (large companies change updated disclosures more) and litigation risks (companies vulnerable to shareholder litigation update more) rather than general …
Where You Lead, I Will Follow: Professional Athletes' Ability To Influence Loyal Fans' Cryptocurrency Investments And The Broader Need For Cryptocurrency Regulation, 2024 Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Where You Lead, I Will Follow: Professional Athletes' Ability To Influence Loyal Fans' Cryptocurrency Investments And The Broader Need For Cryptocurrency Regulation, Anna D'Eramo
Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Retail Investors And Corporate Governance: Evidence From Zero-Commission Trading, 2024 Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Retail Investors And Corporate Governance: Evidence From Zero-Commission Trading, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, Yoon-Ho Alex Lee
Law & Economics Working Papers
We examine the effects of the sudden abolition of trading commissions by major online brokerages in 2019, which lowered stock market entry costs for retail investors, on corporate governance. Firms already popular with retail investors experienced positive abnormal returns around the abolition of commissions. Firms with positive abnormal returns in response to commission-free trading subsequently saw a decrease in institutional ownership, a decrease in shareholder voting, and a deterioration in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) metrics. Finally, these firms were more likely to adopt bylaw amendments to reduce the percentage of shares needed for a quorum at shareholder meetings. …
Q&A: A Conversation With Sec Comissioner Hester Peirce, 2024 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Q&A: A Conversation With Sec Comissioner Hester Peirce, Hester M. Peirce
Arkansas Law Review
A Conversation with SEC Comissioner Hester Peirce
Keynote Address By Cftc Commissioner Kristin Johnson, 2024 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Keynote Address By Cftc Commissioner Kristin Johnson, Kristin N. Johnson
Arkansas Law Review
Today, our markets are witnessing a transformative moment marked by exceptional, rapidly evolving innovation. To better understand this transformation, we might inquire about the nature of these novel financial instruments, intermediaries, and the underlying technologies that fuel an ever-expanding adoption. Thinking critically about these issues may inform our understanding of the intermediaries or lack thereof, and financial products that characterize this moment in the history and evolution of financial markets.
Failing To Learn The Lessons Of Madoff: Problems With Applying Iqbal To Fraud Claims, 2024 University of Massachusetts School of Law
Failing To Learn The Lessons Of Madoff: Problems With Applying Iqbal To Fraud Claims, Howard Gutman, Chris Garino
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The Iqbal standard requires all civil actions filed in federal courts to provide detailed proof at the pleading stage for the claim to proceed. Under this standard, cases are adjudicated without the aid of discovery or deposition of witnesses. Cases are decided at the pleading stage based on the documents and statements provided by the one accused of fraud. The tools to uncover deception are not available at this stage. This article argues that the Iqbal pleading standard fails to allow civil courts to adequately detect and adjudicate fraud claims. This article explores fraudulent financial schemes, the Iqbal standard, the …
No Peeking: Addressing Pretextual Inspection Demands By Competitor-Affiliated Shareholders, 2024 University of Cincinnati College of Law
No Peeking: Addressing Pretextual Inspection Demands By Competitor-Affiliated Shareholders, Lin (Lynn) Bai, Sean Meyer
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
This article exposes how Delaware private companies are vulnerable to pretextual inspections under the guise of valuation by shareholders who are affiliated with competitors of the companies. The Delaware Court of Chancery’s 2020 decision in Woods v. Sahara Enterprises, Inc., which deviated from established law by switching the initial burden of proof of the shareholder’s motive to the target company, exacerbated this vulnerability. This article argues for reversing that decision and proposes changes in multiple areas of law to help companies fend off prying competitors who abuse statutory shareholder inspection rights for unfair advantages in competition.
Bridging The Gap In Corporate Governance For Interlocking Directors In Colombia, 2024 Emory University School of Law
Bridging The Gap In Corporate Governance For Interlocking Directors In Colombia, Juan D. Ovalle
Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review
No abstract provided.
Climate, Clarity, Controversy: A Constitutional, Statutory, And Policy Analysis Of The Sec’S Proposed Climate Disclosure Rules, 2024 Emory University School of Law
Climate, Clarity, Controversy: A Constitutional, Statutory, And Policy Analysis Of The Sec’S Proposed Climate Disclosure Rules, Astoneia O. Moss
Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review
The burgeoning ESG movement has heightened investors’ interest in how companies steward the environment in which they operate; manage their human capital; and implement strategies to effectively manage and fulfill the desires of stakeholders. As a result, the SEC has sought to implement a mandatory climate-related disclosure regime to provide investors with public companies’ climate-related data to assist in the investment decision-making process. The proposed climate-related disclosure rule has faced criticism from businesses, politicians, and legal scholars on constitutional, statutory, and policy grounds. This Comment concludes that based on the statutory language of the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities …
Shareholder Primacy Versus Shareholder Accountability, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Shareholder Primacy Versus Shareholder Accountability, William W. Bratton
Seattle University Law Review
When corporations inflict injuries in the course of business, shareholders wielding environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) principles can, and now sometimes do, intervene to correct the matter. In the emerging fact pattern, corporate social accountability expands out of its historic collectivized frame to become an internal subject matter—a corporate governance topic. As a result, shareholder accountability surfaces as a policy question for the first time. The Big Three index fund managers, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, responded to the accountability question with ESG activism. In so doing, they defected against corporate legal theory’s central tenet, shareholder primacy. Shareholder primacy builds …
Public Primacy In Corporate Law, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Public Primacy In Corporate Law, Dorothy S. Lund
Seattle University Law Review
This Article explores the malleability of agency theory by showing that it could be used to justify a “public primacy” standard for corporate law that would direct fiduciaries to promote the value of the corporation for the benefit of the public. Employing agency theory to describe the relationship between corporate management and the broader public sheds light on aspects of firm behavior, as well as the nature of state contracting with corporations. It also provides a lodestar for a possible future evolution of corporate law and governance: minimize the agency costs created by the divergence of interests between management and …
Corporate Law In The Global South: Heterodox Stakeholderism, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Corporate Law In The Global South: Heterodox Stakeholderism, Mariana Pargendler
Seattle University Law Review
How do the corporate laws of Global South jurisdictions differ from their Global North counterparts? Prevailing stereotypes depict the corporate laws of developing countries as either antiquated or plagued by problems of enforcement and misfit despite formal convergence. This Article offers a different view by showing how Global South jurisdictions have pioneered heterodox stakeholder approaches in corporate law, such as the erosion of limited liability for purposes of stakeholder protection in Brazil and India, the adoption of mandatory corporate social responsibility in Indonesia and India, and the large-scale program of Black corporate ownership and empowerment in South Africa, among many …
Robo-Voting: Does Delegated Proxy Voting Pose A Challenge For Shareholder Democracy?, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Robo-Voting: Does Delegated Proxy Voting Pose A Challenge For Shareholder Democracy?, John Matsusaka, Chong Shu
Seattle University Law Review
Robo-voting is the practice by an investment fund of mechanically voting in corporate elections according to the advice of its proxy advisor— in effect fully delegating its voting decision to its advisor. We examined over 65 million votes cast during the period 2008–2021 by 14,582 mutual funds to describe and quantify the prevalence of robo-voting. Overall, 33% of mutual funds robo-voted in 2021: 22% with ISS, 4% with Glass Lewis, and six percent with the recommendations of the issuer’s management. The fraction of funds that robo-voted increased until around 2013 and then stabilized at the current level. Despite the sizable …
The Esg Information System, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
The Esg Information System, Stavros Gadinis, Amelia Miazad
Seattle University Law Review
The mounting focus on ESG has forced internal corporate decision-making into the spotlight. Investors are eager to support companies in innovative “green” technologies and scrutinize companies’ transition plans. Activists are targeting boards whose decisions appear too timid or insufficiently explained. Consumers and employees are incorporating companies sustainability credentials in their purchasing and employment decisions. These actors are asking companies for better information, higher quality reports, and granular data. In response, companies are producing lengthy sustainability reports, adopting ambitious purpose statements, and touting their sustainability credentials. Understandably, concerns about greenwashing and accountability abound, and policymakers are preparing for action.
In this …
Stakeholder Governance On The Ground (And In The Sky), 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Stakeholder Governance On The Ground (And In The Sky), Stephen Johnson, Frank Partnoy
Seattle University Law Review
Professor Frank Partnoy: This is a marvelous gathering, and it is all due to Chuck O’Kelley and the special gentleness, openness, and creativity that he brings to this symposium. For more than a decade, he has been open to new and creative ways to discuss important issues surrounding business law and Adolf Berle’s legacy. We also are grateful to Dorothy Lund for co-organizing this gathering.
In introducing Stephen Johnson, I am reminded of a previous Berle, where Chuck allowed me some time to present the initial thoughts that led to my book, WAIT: The Art and Science of Delay. Part …
Franchising Law In The United States Between Theory And Practice: Heads Up For Foreign Investors, 2024 Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
Franchising Law In The United States Between Theory And Practice: Heads Up For Foreign Investors, Radwa Elsaman
Touro Law Review
As a dynamic vehicle for fostering investment opportunities, both domestically and internationally, franchising spans a diverse array of industrial sectors, encompassing both goods and services. The United States plays a highly influential role in global franchise industry promotion, with a vast majority of International Franchise Association members representing American companies. Present data underscores that franchising has extended its reach to virtually every sector of the American economy. Notably, the United States stands among just four common law nations that have established dedicated franchise legislation, operating at both state and federal levels. This framework includes provisions for pre-sale disclosure, registration of …
Stakeholder Capitalism’S Greatest Challenge: Reshaping A Public Consensus To Govern A Global Economy, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Stakeholder Capitalism’S Greatest Challenge: Reshaping A Public Consensus To Govern A Global Economy, Leo E. Strine Jr., Michael Klain
Seattle University Law Review
The Berle XIV: Developing a 21st Century Corporate Governance Model Conference asks whether there is a viable 21st Century Stakeholder Governance model. In our conference keynote article, we argue that to answer that question yes requires restoring—to use Berle’s term—a “public consensus” throughout the global economy in favor of the balanced model of New Deal capitalism, within which corporations could operate in a way good for all their stakeholders and society, that Berle himself supported.
The world now faces problems caused in large part by the enormous international power of corporations and the institutional investors who dominate their governance. These …
Delegated Corporate Voting And The Deliberative Franchise, 2024 Seattle University School of Law
Delegated Corporate Voting And The Deliberative Franchise, Sarah C. Haan
Seattle University Law Review
Starting in the 1930s with the earliest version of the proxy rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gradually increased the proportion of “instructed” votes on the shareholder’s proxy card until, for the first time in 2022, it required a fully instructed proxy card. This evolution effectively shifted the exercise of the shareholder’s vote from the shareholders’ meeting to the vote delegation that occurs when the share-holder fills out the proxy card. The point in the electoral process when the binding voting choice is communicated is now the execution of the proxy card (assuming the shareholder completes the card …