The Facebook Ipo's Face-Off With Dual Class Stock Structure, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
The Facebook Ipo's Face-Off With Dual Class Stock Structure, Anna S. Han
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
The Facebook initial public offering (“Facebook IPO”) is premised on a dual class stock structure, which the media criticizes as a circumvention of regulations designed to protect shareholders. I argue that Facebook’s use of dual class stock not only is likely to benefit its shareholders, but also follows in the footsteps of seasoned, influential companies like Google.
Valuing Derivative Suits In Mergers Of Food And Natural Resource Corporations Through Analyzing The Massey And Alpha Natural Resources Merger: Methods Of Ensuring Corporate Accountability And Maximizing Shareholder Value, 2012 University of Kentucky
Valuing Derivative Suits In Mergers Of Food And Natural Resource Corporations Through Analyzing The Massey And Alpha Natural Resources Merger: Methods Of Ensuring Corporate Accountability And Maximizing Shareholder Value, Robert Proudfoot
Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law
No abstract provided.
The Meaning Of The Market Myth, 2012 University of South Carolina School of Law
The Meaning Of The Market Myth, Benjamin Means
Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
This Book Review contends that the perfectly rational market may be a myth, not just in the sense of a false or over-simplified account of reality, but also in the deeper, anthropological sense of cultural explanation. Part I describes how rational-market theories were developed by financial economists and applied to Wall Street, sometimes without adequate appreciation for the difference between simplified economic models and real-world behavior. Part II contends that if the rational-market theory has met with acceptance that outstrips its empirical support, the favorable reception may be explained in part by the theory’s congruence with broader normative views about …
A Very Quiet Revolution: A Primer On Securities Crowdfunding And Title Iii Of The Jobs Act, 2012 CrowdCheck, Inc.
A Very Quiet Revolution: A Primer On Securities Crowdfunding And Title Iii Of The Jobs Act, Thaya Brook Knight, Huiwen Leo, Adrian A. Ohmer
Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
This essay introduces the complex regulatory regime that governs the public sale of all securities, no matter how small the offeror. It is intended as a rudimentary roadmap for the start-up or its counsel and will, hopefully, help to illuminate the traps for the unwary while providing an overview of the regulatory universe in which securities crowdfunding will operate.
Regulation Llc, 2012 New York Law School
Dodd-Frank's Say On Pay: Will It Lead To A Greater Role For Shareholders In Corporate Governance?, 2012 Wake Forest University School of Law
Dodd-Frank's Say On Pay: Will It Lead To A Greater Role For Shareholders In Corporate Governance?, Randall S. Thomas, Alan R. Palmiter, James F. Cotter
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
"Say on pay" gives shareholders an advisory vote on a company's pay practices for its top executives. Beginning in 2011, Dodd-Frank mandated such votes at public companies. The first year of "say on pay" under the new legislation may have changed the dialogue and give-and-take in the shareholder-management relationship at some companies, particularly on the question of executive pay.
We study the evolution of shareholder voting on "say on pay" - beginning in 2006 as a fledgling shareholder movement to get "say on pay" on the corporate ballot, evolving as a handful of companies and later the financial firms receiving …
Malack V. Bdo Seidman, Llp: Gatekeepers Not So Conflicted In The Fraud-Created-The-Market Theory, 2012 University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Malack V. Bdo Seidman, Llp: Gatekeepers Not So Conflicted In The Fraud-Created-The-Market Theory, Chelsea Ortega
Journal of Business & Technology Law
No abstract provided.
Social Proposals Under Rule 14a-8: A Fall-Back Remedy In An Era Of Congressional Inaction, 2012 University of Georgia School of Law
Social Proposals Under Rule 14a-8: A Fall-Back Remedy In An Era Of Congressional Inaction, Margaret V. Sachs
Scholarly Works
More than a decade ago, institutional investors, notably labor unions and pension plans, began using shareholder proposals as a vehicle for advancing progressive social causes. These proposals have recently garnered heightened levels of shareholder support. While even majority support for a proposal does not insure its adoption by the board of directors, appreciable (even if not majority) support can nonetheless sometimes precipitate adoption, or at least negotiation (which can lead to adoption). This Essay argues, first, that with Congress now largely dysfunctional, social proposals have acquired a whole new role—that of a company-by-company, fall-back mechanism for solving social problems that …
Toward A Public Enforcement Model For Directors' Duty Of Oversight, 2012 Vanderbilt University Law School
Toward A Public Enforcement Model For Directors' Duty Of Oversight, Renee M. Jones, Michelle Welsh
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article proposes a public enforcement model for the fiduciary duties of corporate directors. Under the dominant model of corporate governance, the principal function of the board of directors is to oversee the conduct of senior corporate officials. When directors fail to provide proper oversight, the consequences can be severe for shareholders, creditors, employees, and society at large. Despite general agreement on the importance of director oversight, courts have yet to develop a coherent doctrine governing director liability for the breach of oversight duties. In Delaware, the dominant state for U.S. corporate law, the courts tout the importance of board …
A Brave New World: Credit Default Swaps And Voluntary Debt Exchanges, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1227 (2012), 2012 UIC School of Law
A Brave New World: Credit Default Swaps And Voluntary Debt Exchanges, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1227 (2012), Mark Swantek
UIC Law Review
No abstract provided.
Introduction, 2012 Duke Law School
Introduction, Danny Busch, Deborah A. Demott
Faculty Scholarship
Asset management, a distinctive sector within the financial services industry, centers on an agency relationship between a client and an individual manager or firm appointed to manage the client's investment portfolio. Additionally, in many jurisdictions asset managers are subject to a technically complex set of regulatory requirements, which differ across jurisdictions. This book is the only comparative analysis of the law of asset manager liability in the major European jurisdictions, the United States, and Canada, with chapters written by specialists from the relevant jurisdictions plus a comprehensive chapter covering the relevant European law, in particular the MiFID directive. The book's …
Regulatory Techniques And Liability Regimes For Asset Managers, 2012 Duke Law School
Regulatory Techniques And Liability Regimes For Asset Managers, Deborah A. Demott
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Investor Protection Meets The Federal Arbitration Act, 2012 University of Cincinnati College of Law
Investor Protection Meets The Federal Arbitration Act, Barbara Black
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
In the past three decades, most recently in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court has advanced an aggressive proarbitration campaign, transforming the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) into a powerful source of anti-consumer substantive arbitration law. In the aftermath of AT&T Mobility, which upheld a prohibition on class actions in a consumer contract despite state law that refused to enforce such provisions on unconscionability grounds, efforts have been made to prohibit investors from bringing class actions or joining claims, including claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). In the most egregious …
American Legal History Survey: Syllabus, 2012 Saint Louis University School of Law
American Legal History Survey: Syllabus, Anders Walker
All Faculty Scholarship
This syllabus provides an overview of American Legal History, focusing on the manner in which law has been used to organize American society. Several themes will be traced through the semester, including law’s role in encouraging innovation and regulating social relations, in part through the elaboration of legal disciplines like property, tort, contract, criminal law, tax, business associations, administrative law, environmental law, securities regulation, commercial law, immigration, and health law. Emphasis will also be placed on the origins and evolution of constitutional law, from the founding to the present.
Sovereign Debt Restructuring Options: An Analytical Comparison, 2012 Duke Law School
Sovereign Debt Restructuring Options: An Analytical Comparison, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
The recent financial woes of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and other nations have reinvigorated the debate over whether to bail out defaulting countries or, instead, restructure their debt. Bailouts are expensive, both for residents of the nation being bailed out and for parties providing the bailout funds. Because the IMF, which is subsidized by most nations (including the United States), is almost always involved in country debt bailouts, we all share the burden. Yet bailouts are virtually inevitable under the existing international framework; defaults are likely to have systemic consequences, whereas an orderly debt restructuring is currently impractical. This article analyzes …
The Emperor Has No Clothes: Confronting The Dc Circuit’S Usurpation Of Sec Rulemaking Authority, 2012 Duke Law School
The Emperor Has No Clothes: Confronting The Dc Circuit’S Usurpation Of Sec Rulemaking Authority, James D. Cox, Benjamin J.C. Baucom
Faculty Scholarship
In The Emperor Has No Clothes: Confronting the D.C. Circuit’s Usurpation of SEC Rulemaking Authority, Professor James D. Cox of Duke University School of Law & Benjamin J.C. Baucom, recent law clerk to Justice Don R. Willett of the Supreme Court of Texas, argue “that the level of review invoked by the D.C. Circuit in Business Roundtable and its earlier decisions is dramatically inconsistent with the standard enacted by Congress.” They conclude “that the D.C. Circuit has assumed for itself a role opposed to the one Congress prescribed for courts reviewing SEC rules.”
The 2011 Diane Sanger Memorial Lecture Protecting Investors In Securitization Transactions: Does Dodd–Frank Help, Or Hurt?, 2012 Duke Law School
The 2011 Diane Sanger Memorial Lecture Protecting Investors In Securitization Transactions: Does Dodd–Frank Help, Or Hurt?, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
Securitization has been called into question because of its role in the recent financial crisis. Schwarcz examines the potential flaws in the securitization process and compare how the Dodd–Frank Act treats them. Although Dodd–Frank addresses one of the flaws, it underregulates or fails to regulate other flaws. It also overregulates by addressing aspects of securitization that are not flawed.
Shadow Banking, Financial Markets, And The Real Estate Sector, 2012 Duke Law School
Shadow Banking, Financial Markets, And The Real Estate Sector, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
This is a relatively brief “firestarter” talk prepared by the author for the World Economic Forum’s Industry Partnership Strategists Meeting 2012 (held on October 3, 2012) on transformation of the real estate sector in light of ongoing shifts in the financial markets and broader global trends.
The Eurozone Debt Crisis: The Options Now, 2012 Duke Law School
The Eurozone Debt Crisis: The Options Now, Mitu Gulati, Lee C. Bechheit
Faculty Scholarship
The Eurozone debt crisis is entering its third year. The original objective of the official sector’s response to the crisis -- containment -- has failed. All of the countries of peripheral Europe are now in play; three of them (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) operate under full official sector bailout programs.
The prospect of the crisis engulfing the larger peripheral countries, Spain and Italy, has sparked a new round of official sector containment measures. These will involve active intervention by official sector players such as the European Central Bank in order to preserve market access for the affected countries.
This article …
The Evolution Of Contractual Terms In Sovereign Bonds, 2012 Duke Law School
The Evolution Of Contractual Terms In Sovereign Bonds, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, Eric A. Posner
Faculty Scholarship
In reaction to defaults on sovereign debt contracts, issuers and creditors have strengthened the terms in sovereign debt contracts that enable creditors to enforce their debts judicially and that enable sovereigns to restructure their debts. These apparently contradictory approaches reflect attempts to solve an incomplete contracting problem in which debtors need to be forced to repay debts in good states of the world; debtors need to be granted partial relief from debt payments in bad states; debtors may attempt to exploit divisions among creditors in order to opportunistically reduce their debt burden; debtors may engage in excessively risky activities using …