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Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics

2019

Fiduciary Duties

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Legal Accountability And Nonprofit Governance: An Exploratory Quantitative Study Of Board Member And Executive Knowledge Of Fiduciary Duties, Crystal Trull May 2019

Legal Accountability And Nonprofit Governance: An Exploratory Quantitative Study Of Board Member And Executive Knowledge Of Fiduciary Duties, Crystal Trull

Dissertations

United States nonprofits are governed by boards of directors who have legal responsibilities based on the fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and obedience. Boards, along with the chief executive, are held responsible to fulfill these standards which are designed to hold nonprofits legally accountable to carry out their tax exempt purpose by using organizational resources for the intended purpose, avoid conflict of interest, and ensure compliance. However, despite this weighty responsibility and the voluntary nature of nonprofits, no standardized process exists to educate nonprofit leaders about their legal responsibilities.

While governance is a key area of nonprofit research, there is …


Loyalty Loses Ground To Market Freedom In The U.S. Supreme Court, Daniel Harris Apr 2019

Loyalty Loses Ground To Market Freedom In The U.S. Supreme Court, Daniel Harris

William & Mary Business Law Review

In the last decade, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken a much less moralistic and much more market-oriented approach to questions of fiduciary loyalty. In cases involving fiduciaries with conflicts of interest, the Court has shifted the burden of proof to the party claiming unfair treatment, thereby protecting deals and making loyalty harder to enforce. The Court has also struck down or narrowly construed laws designed to prevent disloyalty by fiduciaries on the theory that broad prohibitions on business conduct encroach on constitutionally protected freedoms.

This Article discusses how the Supreme Court’s new approach represents a departure from the Court’s …