Law Commons^™

Voice Without Say: Why Capital-Managed Firms Aren’T (Genuinely) Participatory, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Why are most capitalist enterprises of any size organized as authoritarian bureaucracies rather than incorporating genuine employee participation that would give the workers real authority? Even firms with employee participation programs leave virtually all decision-making power in the hands of management. The standard answer is that hierarchy is more economically efficient than any sort of genuine participation, so that participatory firms would be less productive and lose out to more traditional competitors. This answer is indefensible. After surveying the history, legal status, and varieties of employee participation, I examine and reject as question-begging the argument that the rarity of genuine …

Patterns Of Adr Use In Corporate Disputes, David B. Lipsky, Ronald L. Seeber

David B Lipsky

[Excerpt] Is it reasonable to expect that the use of ADR by U.S. corporations will continue to grow in the future? We asked the respondents in our survey a series of questions designed to determine their view on this issue....In general, a large majority of the respondents in our survey believe that they are "likely" or "very likely" to use mediation in the future—38% and 46%, respectively. They were more cautious about the use of arbitration. Only 24% said they were very likely to use it in the future, while 47% said they were likely to do so. More than …

Neoliberalism And The Law: How Historical Materialism Can Illuminate Recent Governmental And Judicial Decision Making, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Neoliberalism can be understood as the deregulation of the economy from political control by deliberate action or inaction of the state. As such it is both constituted by the law and deeply affects it. I show how the methods of historical materialism can illuminate this phenomenon in all three branches of the the U.S. government. Considering the example the global financial crisis of 2007-08 that began with the housing bubble developing from trade in unregulated and overvalued mortgage backed securities, I show how the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which established a firewall between commercial and investment banking, allowed this …

The Merits Of Cooperative Corporate Governance In The Digital Age, Meredith-Anne Kurz

Meredith-Anne Kurz

No abstract provided.

Chinese Investment In Africa: China’S Empathetic Support Of Poor And Despotic Regimes, And The Competition Western Companies Face, Richard W. Gove

Richard W Gove

This paper discusses the recent economic parallels and interconnections between China and the different nations in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, China surpassed the United States to become Africa’s largest trade partner, and China has committed to establishing stronger connections with African economies. Much of the increase in trade is a result of China’s thirst for oil and Africa’s desperate need for foreign investment. However, many legal issues surround Chinese involvement in Africa, especially public corruption, and the instability of African regimes has created political risk that leaves China with little competition and Africa with few alternatives. The main …

Threats Escalate: Corporate Information Technology Governance Under Fire, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

In a previous publication The Board’s Responsibility for Information Technology Governance, (with Kara Altenbaumer-Price) we examined: The IT Governance Institute’s Executive Summary and Framework for Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology 4.1 (COBIT®); reviewed the Weill and Ross Corporate and Key Asset Governance Framework; and observed “that in a survey of audit executives and board members, 58 percent believed that their corporate employees had little to no understanding of how to assess risk.” We further described the new SEC rules on risk management; Congressional action on cyber security; legal basis for director’s duties and responsibilities relative to IT governance; …

Where Did Mill Go Wrong? Why The Capital-Managed Rather Than The Labor-Managed Enterprise Is The Predominant Organizational Form In Market Economies, 73 Ohio State L.J. 219 (2012, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

In this Article, I propose a novel law and economics explanation of a deeply puzzling aspect of business organization in market economies. Why are virtually all firms organized as capital-managed and -owned (capitalist) enterprises rather than as labor-managed and -owned cooperatives? Over 150 years ago, J.S. Mill predicted that efficiency and other advantages would eventually make worker cooperatives predominant over capitalist firms. Mill was right about the advantages but wrong about the results. The standard explanation is that capitalist enterprise is more efficient. Empirical research, however, overwhelmingly contradicts this. But employees almost never even attempt to organize worker cooperatives. I …

Post-Citizens United: Using Shareholder Derivative Claims Of Corporate Waste To Challenge Corporate Independent Political Expenditures, William Alan Nelson Ii

William Alan Nelson II

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United v. FEC allows companies to spend unlimited sums from their treasuries on advertisements that promote or oppose political candidates. This issue has taken the main stage in American politics, especially with the current Republican primary race and the Presidential election in November. This article discusses how shareholders may use derivative claims of corporate waste to challenge independent political expenditures that they believe are detrimental to the corporation. The article begins by discussing the history of the corporate waste doctrine and looks at the standard for pleading a claim of corporate waste. The …

"Because That's Where The Money Is": A Theory Of Corporate Legal Compliance, William Bradford

william bradford

Upon his capture in 1934, the legendary bank robber Willie Sutton was asked by FBI agents, Why do you rob banks, Willie? Sutton, who believed the question to be rhetorical, replied, dryly, Because that's where the money is. In other words, Sutton understood his interrogator to be inquiring as to why he robbed banks rather than, say, homes, or gas stations, or church offering plates. Had he understood the query as intended - i.e., what was it about Willie Sutton the impelled Willie Sutton to crime when many others, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were not? - Sutton could …

Corporate Governance And Accountability, Renee M. Jones

Renee Jones

This book chapter on Corporate Governance and Accountability is a contribution to the book CORPORATE GOVERNANCE - SYNTHESIS OF THEORY, RESEARCH, AND PRACTICE (Wiley, forthcoming 2010), edited by Ronald Anderson and H. Kent Baker. This chapter describes the sources of corporate governance standards for American corporations and analyzes the accountability mechanisms designed to ensure that corporate officials act faithfully in their management of corporate affairs. The chapter focuses on the financial reporting system under the U.S. securities laws which forms the foundation of the accountability system, and discusses structures and rules designed to ensure the integrity of financial reporting. The …

The Misuse Of Tax Incentives To Align Management-Shareholder Interests, James R. Repetti

James R. Repetti

The U.S. tax system contains many provisions which are intended to align management of large publicly traded companies more closely to stockholders. This article shows that many of the tax provisions that have been adopted are of questionable effectiveness because they fail to address the complexities of stockholder-management relations in attempting to motivate management to act in the best interests of stockholders. The article proposes that rather than Congress attempting to identify the best way that it can use the tax system to motivate management, Congress should eliminate tax provisions which subsidize management's inefficiencies in order to encourage stockholders, themselves, …

Understanding Csr: An Empirical Study Of Private Self-Regulation, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: The article is a study of an important burgeoning form of regulation—private self-regulation—in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Rather than taking a purely theoretical approach or a social scientific study relying publicly reported data, the article addresses the issue by way of interview based case studies. As a study in regulation it clarifies the difference between various types of self-regulation, trade associations’ codes as private self-regulation and government sponsored self-regulation. This distinction hampers efforts to understand the important aspects of motivation and compliance. This study provides empirical examination of compliance in private self-regulation. Given the impact and …

Llcs And Corporations: A Fork In The Road In Delaware?, Joshua P. Fershee

Joshua P Fershee

As Vice Chancellor Laster explained in CML V, LLC v. Bax, 6 A.3d 238 (Del. Ch. Nov. 3, 2010): '[T]here is nothing absurd about different legal principles applying to corporations and LLCs.'" This short paper argues that courts should respect the LLC as a business form distinct from corporations and that Delaware courts have taken the first step toward doing just that.

Where legislatures have decided that distinctly corporate concepts should apply to LLCs—such as allowing piercing the veil or derivative lawsuits—those wishes (obviously) should be honored by the courts. But where state LLC laws are silent, courts should carefully …

No More Abuse: The Dodd-Frank And Consumer Financial Protection Act's "Abusive" Standard, Tiffany S. Lee

Tiffany S Lee

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act creates the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. This consumer watchdog will be responsible for the most powerful consumer protections in American history. Under section 1031(d) of the Act, the Bureau may ban acts and practices that are unfair, deceptive, or abusive. While the unfair and deceptive standards have existed for some time, “abusive” is a relatively new legal standard with limited jurisprudential history. Thus, ironically, critics assert that the inclusion of the abusive standard is itself an abuse of legislative power. This Article asserts that despite some criticism to …

What Determines Professionals’ Bankruptcy Fees: An Empirical Investigation, Gijs Van Dijk, Martin Gramatikov

Martin Gramatikov

Countries have adopted different approaches to compensate bankruptcy trustees for winding up the estate. The approaches vary from state trustees to funding mechanisms where bankruptcy trustees receive a fixed fee, to a system where their fees depend on the size of the assets. Few studies have addressed the cost-effectiveness of the different approaches. This study contributes to this topic by examining the fees of the winding up, including an analysis of the determinants of these fees. After analyzing 289 Dutch bankruptcies consisting of short-term and medium-term cases, we find substantial differences in the mean hourly remuneration fees of bankruptcy trustees. …

Veil-Piercing, Peter B. Oh

Peter B. Oh

From its inception veil-piercing has been a scourge on corporate law. Exactly when the veil of limited liability can and will be circumvented to reach into a shareholder’s own assets has befuddled courts, litigants, and scholars alike. And the doctrine has been bedeviled by empirical evidence of a chasm between the theory and practice of veil-piercing; notably, veil-piercing claims inexplicably seem to prevail more often in Contract than Tort, a finding that flouts the engrained distinction between voluntary and involuntary creditors. With a dataset of 2,908 cases from 1658 to 2006, this study presents the most comprehensive portrait of veil-piercing …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Workers’ Rights, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Corporate social responsibility (CSR) brings an important dimension to the global economy. CSR can enhance human rights, labor rights, and labor standards in the workplace by joining consumer power and socially responsible business leadership—not just leadership in Nike headquarters in Oregon or Levi Strauss headquarters in California, but leadership in trading house headquarters in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and leadership at the factory level in Dongguan and Shenzhen. Ten years ago, I would not have said this. I viewed corporate social responsibility and corporate codes of conduct as public relations maneuvers to pacify concerned consumers. Behind a facade of …

International Strategic Alliance, Mohd Arif

Mohd Arif

A Strategic Alliance is a relationship between firms to creat more value than they can on their own

The Use Of Special Committees In Mergers And Acquisitions, Benjamin James, Jeffrey Chapman

Benjamin James

It is critical for boards of directors to address properly conflicts of interest in business combinations. Many boards have appointed special committees of independent directors to ensure that stockholders’ interests are protected in mergers and acquisitions and, in certain circumstances, to shift the burden from directors, who must establish the "entire fairness" of the transaction, to the stockholder-plaintiffs, who must establish unfairness. This paper addresses the fiduciary framework governing mergers and acquisitions and the requirements to appoint and conduct the activities of a special committee under Delaware law.

The Trouble With Stockjobbers: The South Sea Bubble, The Press And The Legislative Regulation Of The Markets, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: The South Sea Bubble Act of 1721 is often taken as the first securities legislation. Further it is understood to be a response to a stock market scandal. In fact, the Act was enacted prior to the scandal and indeed the likely cause of the collapse of the stock bubble itself. This article reviews the historical context, including the finance of government of the era, the development of the South Sea Company and its bubble, the legislation, burst and subsequent effects. It places securities legislation in its historical context as part of a broader movement in corporate law, shifting …

Shareholders, Unicorns And Stilts: An Analysis Of Shareholder Property Rights, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: Shareholders rights advocates argue that shareholders have the right to control the corporation. This article examines the basis for the claims. It begins with an analysis of rights, then moves to an analysis of legal rights, which is followed by an analysis of property rights as a species of legal rights. The article then examines the historical context, rationale and development of shareholder rights which leads to the analysis of current shareholders’ rights. The article concludes with some comments and suggestions concerning future development of corporate governance thinking.

Scrooge—The Reluctant Stakeholder, Benedict C. Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: Corporations law around the world is moving in the direction of the shareholder primacy model, common in the USA and other common law countries. Lawyers, academics and public policy analysts are divided as to the merits of the model and its main competitor, the stakeholder model. The gist of arguments usually hinge on economics. This article examines the claims for and against the two models on their own terms, and suggests that law has a unique contribution to make to the development of the corporation and society.

Australia’S Eggleston Principles In Takeover Law: Social And Economic Sense?, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Australia has yet to give up its distinctive approach to take-over law. Although there has been and continues to be pressure to submit to the US model, this article argues that to do so is not likely to produce the desired effect while giving up something of particular value to Australians.