Law Commons^™

Law, Bubbles, And Financial Regulation, Erik F. Gerding

Erik F. Gerding

This introductory chapter of the book "Law, Bubbles, and Financial Regulation" outlines how financial regulation can fail when it is needed the most. The dynamics of asset price bubbles weaken financial regulation just as financial markets begin to overheat and the risk of crisis spikes. At the same time, the failure of financial regulations adds further fuel to a bubble.

This book examines the interaction of bubbles and financial regulation through over three centuries of history of financial crises. This perspective reveals that law is crucial to the story of bubbles and that the legal history of the current global …

Le Pattuizioni Di Co-Vendita Quali Limiti Alla Circolazione Di Azioni E Quote, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

E-Commerce And Electronic Payment System Risks: Lessons From Paypal, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

What are the major risks perceived by those engaged in e-commerce and electronic payment systems? What development risks, if they become reality, may cause substantial increases in operating costs or threaten the very survival of the enterprise? This article utilizes the relevant annual report disclosures from eBay (parent of PayPal), along with other eBay and PayPal documents, as a potentially powerful teaching device. Most of the descriptive language to follow is excerpted directly from eBay’s regulatory filings. My additions include weaving these materials into a logical presentation and providing supplemental sources for those who desire a deeper look (usually in …

Why Does Executive Greed Prevail In The United States And Canada But Not In Japan? The Pattern Of Low Ceo Pay And High Worker Welfare In Japanese Corporations, Alberto R. Salazar V.

Alberto R. Salazar V.

According to a list of the 200 most highly-paid chief executives at the largest U.S. public companies in 2013, Oracle’s Lawrence J. Ellison remained the best paid CEO and earned $96.2 million as total annual compensation last year. He has received $1.8 billion over the past 20 years. The lowest paid on the same list is General Motors’ D. F. Akerson who earned $11.1 million. The average national pay for a non-supervisory US worker was $51,200 last year and a CEO made 354 times more than an average worker in 2012. Hunter Harrison, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., was the best …

Lessons From Metaethics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Moral Psychology, And Behavioral Economics: The Use Of Ethical Intuition In Legal Compliance For Business Entities, Eric C. Chaffee

Eric C. Chaffee

This article challenges the widely held view in legal education and in practice that what lawyers should be doing in providing legal advice consists solely of engaging in legal research and analytic reasoning. This article suggests that ethical intuition—i.e., the unconscious recognition that a specific action is good, evil, or morally neutral—may have a useful role to play in making legal compliance decisions for business entities.

Although largely ignored by the legal academy, scholars in numerous disciplines have acknowledged the role that intuition plays in decision making. Philosophers and religious scholars initially recognized role of intuition in moral decision making …

Corporate “Soul”: Legal Incorporation Of Catholic Ecclesiastical Property In The United States - A Historical Perspective, Vicenç Feliú

Vicenç Feliú

This work is a revision and update of a study carried out in 1933 by Monsignor Patrick J. Dignan. Dignan’s purpose in his study was to outline the history of how the Roman Catholic Church secured laws for the protection of church property in accordance with the hierarchical nature of the Church. The purpose of the present article is to bring up to date Dignan’s work and complete a survey of the law in its present state. The article analyzes the differences in the law since the original survey to determine if Dignan’s conclusion that the Church should operate to …

Régimen De Ofertas Públicas Y De Declaración Unilateral De Adquisición En La Nueva Ley De Mercado De Capitales, Gaston Mirkin

Gaston Mirkin

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Establishment And The Effective Participation Of Companies In Economic Life, Michala Meiselles Ms

Michala Meiselles Ms

Though the freedom of establishment has its roots in the provisions of the Treaty of Rome, it is the work of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) that has been instrumental in the evolution of this freedom. In a succession of cases, the Court has transformed this otherwise largely theoretical concept into a functional tool responsive to the needs of business. By so doing, the Court has transformed this freedom into one that is attractive not only to businesses based in the European Union (EU) but also to those based outside it. This paper starts off …

The Plaintiffs' Lawyer's Transaction Tax: The New Cost Of Doing Business In Public Company Deals, Neva Browning Jeffries

Neva B Jeffries

This article addresses the proliferation of frivolous litigation in the context of public company deals. In 2012 93% of public company mergers and acquisitions valued at over $100 million and 96% of such transactions valued over $500 million incurred litigation. Through these “merger objection suits,” plaintiffs’ attorneys have successfully attached a transaction tax – in the form of attorneys’ fees – as the cost of doing business for public company mergers and acquisitions. Armed with the knowledge that time is of the essence in these transactions, plaintiffs’ attorneys understand the leverage they have to force a quick settlement with a …

Financial Armageddon Routs Law Again, Nicholas L. Georgakopoulos

Nicholas L Georgakopoulos

This essay, after highlighting the unique aspects of financial markets, offers a mostly rational account for financial crises, centering on the 2008 crisis as an example. The thesis is that market participants overestimate the duration of high productivity growth due to new technologies and produce occasional—and likely unavoidable—bubbles. Considering potential changes in the regulation of financial markets, the conclusion is grim. Regulators appear to have exhausted the effective legal levers against overestimations of continued high growth. The legislative responses to the last few crises were likely unproductive. The sole (but still unrealistic) effective protection would be the constitutional development of …

Trasformazione In S.A.S., Cessione Della Quota E Fallimento In Estensione Dell'accomandatario, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Need For Federal Preemption Of Executive Compensation Reform: How Corporate Governance And Economic Justice Objectives Are Only Achievable Through Comprehensive Federal Regulation Of Executive Compensation, Cory Howard

Cory Howard

Since the beginning of the most recent economic downturn, there has been an increased level of attention on the pay that executives at publicly traded companies have received. Numerous reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Act and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), imposed transient, although included some permanent limitations, on executive compensation packages. However, given the importance of executive compensation reform to both corporate governance and economic/social justice initiatives, it is imperative that the federal legislature do more. This article will explore some of the patchwork of regulations that the federal government has enacted and the methods that the states use …

Re-Envisioning The Controlling Shareholder Regime: Why Controlling Shareholders And Minority Shareholders Embrace Each Other, Sang Yop Kang

Sang Yop Kang

According to conventional corporate governance scholarship, controlling shareholder regimes exist in jurisdictions where minority shareholders are not well protected by controlling shareholders’ expropriation. However, Professor Ronald Gilson raises a critical point against the conventional view; if laws are inefficient and do not protect investors, as the conventional view explains, why do we observe any minority shareholders at all in such “bad-law” countries? One possible reason is that in response to controlling shareholders’ expropriation, minority shareholders discount severely shares that corporations issue. Then, a related question is: if it is true, why do some controlling shareholders in bad-law countries have many …

Present At The Creation: Reflections On The Early Years Of The National Association Of Corporate Directors, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

Effective corporate governance is critical to the productive operation of the global economy and preservation of our way of life. Excellent governance execution is also required to achieve economic growth and robust job creation in any country. In the United States, the premier director membership organization is the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Now over 36 years old, NACD plays a major role in fostering excellence in corporate governance in the United States and beyond. Over the past thirty-six years NACD has grown from a mere realization of the importance of corporate governance to become the only national membership …

A Corporation Has No Soul - The Business Entity Law Response To Challenges To The Contraceptive Mandate Under The Ppaca, Thomas E. Rutledge

Thomas E. Rutledge

The most contentious matter in the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “PPACA”) is not a question of health care, but rather one of the law of business organizations. The dispute has been over the requirement that group health insurance plans provide, on a no-cost sharing basis, coverage for a variety of procedures and prescription medicines involving contraception and what are described as “abortificants.”

The class of suits subject to this discussion were filed by what are not religious organizations but rather for-profit business ventures, asserting that they should be exempt from the requirements of the …

Lessons From Metaethics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Moral Psychology, And Behavioral Economics: The Use Of Ethical Intuition In Legal Compliance Decision Making For Business Entities, Eric C. Chaffee

Eric C. Chaffee

This article challenges the widely held view in legal education and in practice that what lawyers should be doing in providing legal advice consists solely of engaging in legal research and analytic reasoning. This article suggests that ethical intuition—i.e., the unconscious recognition that a specific action is good, evil, or morally neutral—may have a useful role to play in making legal compliance decisions for business entities.

Although largely ignored by the legal academy, scholars in numerous disciplines have acknowledged the role that intuition plays in decision making. Philosophers and religious scholars initially recognized role of intuition in moral decision making …

Foreign Investment-Induced Migration In Colombia: Rethinking The Legal Schemes Of Protection And Accountability, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

This paper intends to explore the relation between foreign investment and forced Migration in the context of Colombian armed conflict. Through the illustration of recent cases, it shows the various forms in which the operation of multinational corporations has generated adverse effects to the vulnerable communities located at their area of influence, thus generating processes of involuntary human mobility. In that way, it is established that there is a symbiotic relation between conflict and development, affecting the structure and scope of the norms for both the protection of forced migrants and accountability for human rights violations. This is so because …

Notable Partnership Tax Articles Of 2012, Bradley T. Borden

Bradley T. Borden

This Article reviews several partnership tax articles published by academic journals in 2012. The subjects of the articles range from broad reform proposals to taxation of reorganizations to taxation of carried interest to issues affecting partnership liabilities.

Dodd-Frank Regulators, Cost-Benefit Analysis, And Agency Capture, Paul Rose, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) has raised the stakes for financial regulation by requiring more than twenty federal agencies to promulgate nearly 400 new rules. Scholars, regulated entities, Congress, courts, and the agencies themselves have all recognized — even before Dodd-Frank — the lack of rigorous cost-benefit analysis in the context of financial rulemaking. The D.C. Circuit has struck down several financial regulations because of inadequate cost-benefit analysis, with three more challenges to be decided this summer. Members of Congress have introduced legislation to address this problem, including a call for the President to intervene …

Holding Corporations To Account. Crafting Ats Suits In The Uk, Simon J. Baughen

Simon J Baughen

This is an updated version of the existing publication which has been amended in the light of the decision of the US Supreme Court on 17 April 2013 in Kiobel. It will be published in the Fall 2013 edition of the British Journal of American Legal Studies

Will Law Firms Go Public?, Roberta S. Karmel

Roberta S. Karmel

Law in the United States is a big business and big law firms are a global business. Currently, under rules of the American Bar Association (ABA) and most states law, firms are not allowed either to include non-lawyers as partners or accept equity investments from non-lawyers. This Article will argue that (even if law firms retain the form of partnerships) they eventually will accept investments from third parties, and possibly even go public, but this development could lead to a loss of professionalism, as it has with other industries, and could also lead to the end of self-regulation. Among the …

Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance Of The Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching To Public School Pupils & Why It Persists, Casey S. Mckay

Casey Scott McKay

After reviewing the history of the religious war on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, my article, “Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance of the Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching to Public School Pupils & Why it Persists,“ examines why such a seemingly well-settled issue survives and, to some extent, succeeds.

First, by exploiting common misconceptions among the American public, lawmakers are able to take advantage of ignorance driven by strong emotions. Next, religious special interests groups, with seemingly unlimited funds, thrust propaganda supported by worldwide media reinforcement on an already vulnerable American public. Thus, irresponsible state legislators, caught between a rock and …

Avoiding Surprise Activism At Your Annual Shareholders Meeting: Adopting Advance Notice By-Laws, Jean-Francois Seguin

Jean-Francois Seguin

Highlights: Advance Notice By-Laws limit the ability of shareholders to surprise the issuer by nominating alternative directors at the annual general meeting without prior notice to the issuer; Advance Notice By-Laws increasingly seen as the best tool to defend against activist shareholders planning a surprise nomination of alternative directors at an annual shareholders meeting; Growing support for and use of Advance Notice By-Laws by Canadian issuers; ISS and Glass Lewis support Advance Notice By-Laws under certain conditions; Advance Notice By-Laws have already been tested in a Canadian court and were validated and enforced; Advance Notice By-Laws are more common in …

The Importance Of Cost-Benefit Analysis In Financial Regulation, Paul Rose, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

This report reviews the role, history, and application of cost-benefit analysis in rulemaking by financial services regulators.

For more than three decades — under both Democratic and Republican administrations — cost-benefit analysis has been a fundamental tool of effective regulation. There has been strong bipartisan support for ensuring regulators maximize the benefits of proposed regulations while implementing them in the most cost-effective manner possible. In short, it is both the right thing to do and the required thing to do.

Through the use of cost-benefit analysis in financial services regulation, regulators can determine if their proposals will actually work to …

Falência De Empresas Coligadas, Jorge Lobo

Rafaela Loureiro Pinheiro Furlan

No abstract provided.

Constitucionalidade Da Vedação Para Aquisição De Terras Rurais Por Estrangeiros, Felipe Chagas Villasuso Lago

Felipe Chagas Villasuso Lago Mr.

No abstract provided.

Slump Sale Transactions - Taxation Issues In India, Mubashshir Sarshar

Mubashshir Sarshar

No abstract provided.

Going Once . . . Going Twice . . . Sold: The Continued Use Of "Don't Ask, Don't Waive" Standstills In Corporate Auctions, Kamaal Patterson

Kamaal Patterson

“Don’t ask, don’t waive” standstills in confidentiality agreements prevent potential bidders in a corporate auction from: (1) submitting an offer to purchase the target corporation before receiving permission; and (2) asking the target corporation to waive the standstill. These are powerful contractual provisions that can help satisfy Revlon value maximization duties, but they also create concerns about satisfaction of other fiduciary duties, such as remaining fully informed about potential offers. Recent rulings from the Delaware Court of Chancery have criticized the use of this standstill. My article attempts to address these criticisms and clarify how to properly use the standstill.

Corporate Indemnification And Advancement Provisions, Good Faith, And The Responsibility Of Corporate Attorneys To Protect The Corporation From Misconduct, Markena Diane Peavy

Markena D. Peavy

The last decade of corporate scandals has exposed that corporations are vulnerable to corruption and exploitation, which has significant and lasting effects on the national and global economy. This article examines the corporate attorney’s responsibility to serve as “gatekeeper” for the corporation, primarily in circumstances where the interests of corporate officials and the interests of the corporation are in direct conflict, and Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which governs the indemnification and advancement rights of corporate officers and the confines of the corporation’s power to confer such rights. Delaware courts have long established that indemnification is to …