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Articles 1 - 30 of 105
Full-Text Articles in Law
Autonomous Corporate Personhood, Carla L. Reyes
Autonomous Corporate Personhood, Carla L. Reyes
Washington Law Review
Several states have recently changed their business organization law to accommodate autonomous businesses—businesses operated entirely through computer code. A variety of international civil society groups are also actively developing new frameworks— and a model law—for enabling decentralized, autonomous businesses to achieve a corporate or corporate-like status that bestows legal personhood. Meanwhile, various jurisdictions, including the European Union, have considered whether and to what extent artificial intelligence (AI) more broadly should be endowed with personhood to respond to AI’s increasing presence in society. Despite the fairly obvious overlap between the two sets of inquiries, the legal and policy discussions between the …
The Federal Option: Delaware As A De Facto Agency, Omari Scott Simmons
The Federal Option: Delaware As A De Facto Agency, Omari Scott Simmons
Washington Law Review
Despite over 200 years of deliberation and debate, the United States has not adopted a federal corporate chartering law. Instead, Delaware is the “Federal Option” for corporate law and adjudication. The contemporary federal corporate chartering debate is, in part, a referendum on its role. Although the federal government has regulated other aspects of interstate commerce and has the power to charter corporations and preempt Delaware pursuant to its Commerce Clause power, it has not done so. Despite the rich and robust scholarly discussion of Delaware’s jurisdictional dominance, its role as a de facto national regulator remains underdeveloped. This Article addresses …
Externalities And The Common Owner, Madison Condon
Externalities And The Common Owner, Madison Condon
Washington Law Review
Due to the embrace of modern portfolio theory, most of the stock market is controlled by institutional investors holding broadly diversified economy-mirroring portfolios. Recent scholarship has revealed the anti-competitive incentives that arise when a firm’s largest shareholders own similarly sized stakes in the firm’s industry competitors. This Article expands the consideration of the effects of common ownership from the industry level to the market portfolio level and argues that diversified investors should rationally be motivated to internalize intra-portfolio negative externalities. This portfolio perspective can explain the increasing climate change related activism of institutional investors, who have applied coordinated shareholder power …
Public Or Private Venture Capital?, Darian M. Ibrahim
Public Or Private Venture Capital?, Darian M. Ibrahim
Washington Law Review
The United States has an unparalled entrepreneurial ecosystem. Silicon Valley startups commercialize cutting-edge science, create plentiful jobs, and spur economic growth. Without angel investors and venture capital funds (VCs) willing to gamble on these high-risk, high-tech companies, none of this would be possible. From a law-and-economics perspective, startup investing is incredibly risky. Information asymmetry and agency costs abound. In the United States, angels and VCs successfully mitigate these problems through private ordering and informal means. Countries without the robust private venture capital system that exists in the United States have attempted to fund startups publicly by creating junior stock exchanges …
Effective Corporate Compliance: A Holistic Approach For The Sec And The Doj, Serena Hamann
Effective Corporate Compliance: A Holistic Approach For The Sec And The Doj, Serena Hamann
Washington Law Review
Today, most global corporations claim to have effective compliance programs that ensure and monitor their compliance with all state, federal, and even international requirements. A growing body of literature and regulatory activity indicates that truly effective compliance programs must incorporate all of the “Seven Elements of an Effective Compliance Program” contained in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Despite these Guidelines and growing industry and regulatory interest in effective compliance, noncompliance continues, and many companies run into trouble when noncompliance brings their actions to the attention of the SEC and the DOJ. In turn, the SEC and the DOJ struggle to encourage …
Taxing Selling Partners, Emily Cauble
Taxing Selling Partners, Emily Cauble
Washington Law Review
When a partner sells a partnership interest, the resulting gain or loss is treated as capital gain or loss, except to the extent that the partnership holds certain items whose sale would result in gain or loss that was not capital. Seemingly, the purpose of this regime is to prevent taxpayers from obtaining more favorable treatment by selling an interest in a partnership than what would result if the partnership were to sell its underlying assets. But given this legislative aim, the existing tax provisions produce results for taxpayers that are both unduly favorable (in that sale of a partnership …
Veil Piercing And The Untapped Power Of State Courts, Catherine A. Hardee
Veil Piercing And The Untapped Power Of State Courts, Catherine A. Hardee
Washington Law Review
The U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has embraced an anti-majoritarian trend toward providing constitutional protections for the elite who own or control corporations. This trend is especially troubling as it threatens to undermine the balance found in state corporate law between private ordering for internal corporate matters and government regulation to police the negative externalities of the corporate form. The Court’s interventions also have the potential to leave vulnerable groups without the protection of religiously-neutral laws designed to prevent discrimination, protect workers, or provide essential services such as health care. While the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet explicitly …
The Sociedad Por Acciones Simplificada: Suggestions For Further Reform Of Mexico's First Unipersonal Limited Liability Entity, Laura K. Daugherty
The Sociedad Por Acciones Simplificada: Suggestions For Further Reform Of Mexico's First Unipersonal Limited Liability Entity, Laura K. Daugherty
Washington International Law Journal
Mexico introduced its first unipersonal limited liability entity in 2016, the Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada (“SAS”). The introduction of Mexico’s SAS is in line with legal development in Latin America as a whole, where there has been a recent trend towards introducing new unipersonal limited liability entities that are specially designed to reduce barriers to entry for burgeoning business owners and ease the requirements of owning a business entity. However, the Mexican SAS as it currently exists is uniquely overly restrictive. To remedy this, some of the current restrictions on the entity should be lifted to facilitate the functionality of …
The Secret Life Of Priority: Corporate Reorganization After Jevic, Jonathan C. Lipson
The Secret Life Of Priority: Corporate Reorganization After Jevic, Jonathan C. Lipson
Washington Law Review
Academics have long debated whether the order of bankruptcy distributions should be “absolute” or “relative.” Should courts have the flexibility to scramble priority to serve some greater good? The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. holds that the answer is “no”: priority is absolute absent the consent of affected creditors. “Consent” is not self-defining, however, and is largely ignored in debates about priority. This is a problem because consent is hard to pinpoint in corporate reorganizations, a type of aggregate proceeding that can involve hundreds or thousands of creditors and shareholders. Although the Jevic majority …
Forum-Selection Provisions In Corporate "Contracts", Helen Hershkoff, Marcel Kahan
Forum-Selection Provisions In Corporate "Contracts", Helen Hershkoff, Marcel Kahan
Washington Law Review
We consider the emergent practice of including clauses in corporate certificates of incorporation or bylaws that specify an exclusive judicial forum for lawsuits. According to their proponents and most courts that have considered the question, such forum-terms are, and should be, enforceable as contractual choice-of-forum provisions. We argue that treating corporate charter and bylaw forum-terms as a matter of ordinary contract doctrine is neither logical nor justified. Because charters and bylaws involve the state in ways that are at odds with private-ordering principles and because they entail only a limited form of “consent,” an analysis of enforceability must account for …
Anything But Common: New York's "Pending Or Anticipated Litigation" Limitation To The Common Interest Doctrine Creates More Problems Than It Solves, Eric A. Franz
Washington Law Review
New York’s highest court recently handed down Ambac v. Countrywide, a decision that has major ramifications in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) world. Once parties sign a merger or acquisition agreement, they share a common interest in ensuring that both parties comply with applicable laws, a process that requires legal communications with each other’s attorneys. Under the common interest doctrine, Delaware and the majority of federal circuits apply the attorney-client privilege to shield many of these communications from discovery. However, Ambac upset M&A attorneys’ reliance on the common interest doctrine by holding that parties to a merger waive their …
A Quest To Increase Women In Corporate Board Leadership: Comparing The Law In Norway And The U.S., Angela R. Foster
A Quest To Increase Women In Corporate Board Leadership: Comparing The Law In Norway And The U.S., Angela R. Foster
Washington International Law Journal
Gender imbalance is a persistent problem on corporate boards the world over. Women are severely underrepresented in these important leadership positions within public companies. Norway took a big swing at inequality in 2003 by enacting a quota law requiring at least 40% representation of each gender on boards of directors of public companies. Norway now has the highest percentage of women serving on corporate boards. Through Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, the United States enacted a diversity disclosure rule that requires public companies to divulge their policy regarding gender in board hiring. The disclosure rule has proven ineffectual, and at …
Substance Overload: A Comparative Examination Of Japanese Corporate Governance Law Through The Lens Of The Daiwa Bank Case, A. Reid Monroe-Sheridan
Substance Overload: A Comparative Examination Of Japanese Corporate Governance Law Through The Lens Of The Daiwa Bank Case, A. Reid Monroe-Sheridan
Washington International Law Journal
Japanese corporate governance law is facing a period of remarkable change. In light of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for corporate governance reforms and the explosive news of Olympus Corporation’s $1.7 billion accounting scandal in 2011, academics and practitioners alike are devoting renewed attention to the rules that govern Japan’s boardrooms. This increased focus brings to the fore two key questions about Japan’s modern corporate governance principles: how have they evolved and how are they applied in practice? To answer these questions, this article revisits the Daiwa Bank case, one of Japan’s most stunning business scandals. This international criminal conspiracy …
Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Marian
Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Marian
Washington Law Review
This Article develops a framework for the study of the unique effects of corporate inversions (meaning, a change in corporate residence for tax purposes) in the jurisdictions from which corporations invert (“home jurisdictions”). Currently, empirical literature on corporate inversions overstates its policy implications. It is frequently argued that in response to an uncompetitive tax environment, corporations may relocate their headquarters for tax purposes, which, in turn, may result in the loss of positive economic attributes in the home jurisdiction (such as capital expenditures, research and development activity, and high-quality jobs). The association of tax-residence relocation with the dislocation of meaningful …
Outsourcing Corporate Accountability, Kishanthi Parella
Outsourcing Corporate Accountability, Kishanthi Parella
Washington Law Review
This Article addresses the problem of preventing human rights violations abroad that result from the globalization of business. It specifically explores the challenge of improving labor standards in global value chains. The modern business has changed dramatically and has “gone global” in order to court foreign markets and secure resources, including labor. Familiar household names, such as Nike and Apple, have “outsourced” many of their functions to suppliers overseas. As multinational buyers, they dominate one end of the global value chain. At the opposite end of the value chain are the local managers and owners of the factories and workhouses …
The Globalization Of Corporate Law: The End Of History Or A Never-Ending Story?, Franklin A. Gevurtz
The Globalization Of Corporate Law: The End Of History Or A Never-Ending Story?, Franklin A. Gevurtz
Washington Law Review
Considerable scholarship during the last few decades addresses the question of whether corporate laws are becoming global by converging on commonly accepted approaches. Some scholars have asserted that such convergence is occurring around the most efficient laws and institutions, thereby marking the “End of History” for corporate law. This Article responds to such assertions by developing three claims not previously given due attention in the convergence literature. First, it demonstrates that the history of corporations and corporate law has been one of seemingly constant movement toward global convergence, yet the resulting convergence is always incomplete or transitory. Next, it points …
Directors' Liability For Corporate Faults And Defaults—An International Comparison, Helen Anderson
Directors' Liability For Corporate Faults And Defaults—An International Comparison, Helen Anderson
Washington International Law Journal
Australia’s new Rudd Government has indicated to business leaders that it intends to review various aspects of corporate law, including the imposition of personal liability on directors for corporate fault. Their concern is that the present corporate law regime is causing directors to be overly cautious in making decisions, to the detriment of the efficient operation of companies and the well-being of our economy. At the same time, the government acknowledges the importance of imposing appropriate sanctions where a company or its officers fail to meet required standards. These are universal concerns. To inform this debate, this article will look …
Transitioning The Family Business, Dwight Drake
Transitioning The Family Business, Dwight Drake
Washington Law Review
By any measure, family-dominated businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Although a large majority of family businesses are managed by senior family members who are older than age 55 and more than 80 percent of such senior family members claim that they want the business to remain in the family, less than 30 percent of such businesses have tackled the challenge of developing a plan for transitioning the business to the next generation. For over 90 percent of such families, this planning challenge is aggravated by the fact that they have no diversified wealth: the family’s wealth is …
The Representative Power Of The Shareholders' General Meeting Under Chinese Law, Charles Zhen Qu
The Representative Power Of The Shareholders' General Meeting Under Chinese Law, Charles Zhen Qu
Washington International Law Journal
Under China’s company law regime, the power to represent the company resides not in the board of directors but in an individual person called a legal representative (fading daibiaoren) who is a senior officer of the company. The mechanism of legal representative, however, is often rendered ineffective as it is inherently susceptible to abuse. The mechanism becomes dysfunctional when the legal representative is unavailable. The legal representative’s unavailability, especially when the board of directors is also ineffective, raises the question of whether the general meeting has the power to control corporate actions. To answer this question, this Article considers the …
The Nireco Poison Pill: The Impact Of A Court Injunction, Toshihiko Shimizu, Toshihiro Igi, Christopher J. Kodama
The Nireco Poison Pill: The Impact Of A Court Injunction, Toshihiko Shimizu, Toshihiro Igi, Christopher J. Kodama
Washington International Law Journal
The emergence of a market for corporate control in Japan is a phenomenon that many commentators on Japan’s business and legal environs had been anticipating since the turn of the new millennium. A gradual decline in corporate crossshareholding and stable shareholding by financial institutions along with a concomitant increase in foreign and individual shareholders, a significant number of inefficient firms still being affected by Japan’s prolonged recession until recent years and trading at prices below their market value, and Commercial Code revisions making the legal environment more conducive to merger and acquisition activity and providing for more flexible restructuring mechanisms, …
Perverse Main Bank Rescue In The Lost Decade: Proof That Unique Institutional Incentives Drive Japanese Corporate Governance, Dan W. Puchniak
Perverse Main Bank Rescue In The Lost Decade: Proof That Unique Institutional Incentives Drive Japanese Corporate Governance, Dan W. Puchniak
Washington International Law Journal
Two of the most prominent Japanese corporate governance scholars, Professors Miwa and Ramseyer (“M&R”), have recently published numerous articles and a book setting out their contrarian free-market theory of Japanese corporate governance. According to their theory, contemporary Japanese corporate governance is, and always has been, driven by free-market forces and not government incentives. M&R’s theory is enchanting in its simplicity and universality, as it uses standard economic theory to provide a single, and seemingly logical, solution to a myriad of complex legal, institutional, historical and cultural conundrums that have challenged observers of Japanese corporate governance for decades. Unfortunately, M&R’s theory …
Introduction To The New Company Law Of The People's Republic Of China, Steven M. Dickinson
Introduction To The New Company Law Of The People's Republic Of China, Steven M. Dickinson
Washington International Law Journal
This article briefly analyzes the new Company Law and its effects on doing business in China. After a brief history of the previous version of the law, this article examines the many changes to management and articles of association, capital requirements, limited liability companies, access to corporate information, piercing the corporate veil, third party loans, and legal remedies for improper actions. It goes on to look at the impact on the structure of foreign investments and discusses the likely effects of the new law in actual practice.
Strengthening Auditor Independence: Reestablishing Audits As Control And Premium Signaling Mechanisms, Sean M. O'Connor
Strengthening Auditor Independence: Reestablishing Audits As Control And Premium Signaling Mechanisms, Sean M. O'Connor
Washington Law Review
As recent scandals have demonstrated, ensuring the independence of auditors from the publicly traded clients whose books they inspect is one of the most vexing problems in the financial world today. Arguably, the imposition of a mandatory audit system through the 1930s federal securities laws created the modem problem of auditor independence. The core issue is that the statutory audit is simply a commodified cost of doing business for issuers that imposes an impossible obligation to serve an unspecified "investing public" on the auditors. Yet, this investing public neither hires, fires, nor controls the auditors. Instead, the audit relationship is …
The Current State Of Equity Investments By Foreign Funds [In South Korea] And Related Legal Issues, Hee Chul Kang, Eugene Kim
The Current State Of Equity Investments By Foreign Funds [In South Korea] And Related Legal Issues, Hee Chul Kang, Eugene Kim
Washington International Law Journal
On September 15, 2004, the South Korean press gave extensive news coverage to a series of private individual “Question & Answer” session meetings which the Capital Group Companies Fund (“Capital Group”) held with many of the top chief executive officers (“CEOs”) of major Korean corporations. Known worldwide as a top U.S. private equity management company, the Capital Group is currently the largest institutional investor in South Korea. As a major shareholder of large corporations such as Samsung Electronics, the Shin Han Financial Group, SK Group, and Hyundai Motors, the U.S. investment firm invited their CEOs to address questions and seek …
Risky Business: Directors Making Business Judgments In Washington State, Adam J. Richins
Risky Business: Directors Making Business Judgments In Washington State, Adam J. Richins
Washington Law Review
Section 23B.08.300 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) defines the general standards of conduct for directors in discharging corporate duties. The Washington State Legislature developed these standards to govern the manner in which directors perform their duties, rather than to impose liability on directors for negligent business decisions under the business judgment rule. Indeed, the business judgment rule, as defined by leading corporate-law jurisdictions and the American Bar Association, generally protects directors from liability associated with negligent business decisions so long as the director makes decisions in good faith, on an informed basis, without self-interest, and in accordance with …
Does Delaware's Section 102(B)(7) Protect Reckless Directors From Personal Liability? Only If Delaware Courts Act In Good Faith, Matthew R. Berry
Does Delaware's Section 102(B)(7) Protect Reckless Directors From Personal Liability? Only If Delaware Courts Act In Good Faith, Matthew R. Berry
Washington Law Review
Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware Corporate Code allows a corporation to amend its certificate of incorporation to exculpate directors from all duty of due care violations. The Delaware General Assembly enacted this law in response to the shrinking pool of qualified directors, which was caused by the Delaware State Supreme Court's decision in Smith v. Van Gorkom that imposed personal liability on directors for gross negligence. Delaware courts have unequivocally stated that section 102(b)(7) protects directors against personal liability arising from gross negligence, but not against liability arising from a lack of good faith. However, Delaware courts have not provided …
Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal
Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal
Washington International Law Journal
After more than a decade of attempting to remedy failing banks, rising unemployment, and a shrinking economy, Japan has taken a new approach to economic reform. With the hope of improving corporate profits and international competitiveness, the Japanese Diet passed legislation in May 2002 amending the Commercial Code to allow corporations to adopt an American-style executive officer system. The amendment establishes a workable new framework for more effective corporate governance in Japan and serves as an important early step in what promises to be a long road to reform. These benefits notwithstanding, its impact will be limited by the Amendment's …
Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal
Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal
Washington International Law Journal
After more than a decade of attempting to remedy failing banks, rising unemployment, and a shrinking economy, Japan has taken a new approach to economic reform. With the hope of improving corporate profits and international competitiveness, the Japanese Diet passed legislation in May 2002 amending the Commercial Code to allow corporations to adopt an American-style executive officer system. The amendment establishes a workable new framework for more effective corporate governance in Japan and serves as an important early step in what promises to be a long road to reform. These benefits notwithstanding, its impact will be limited by the Amendment's …
E-Proxies For Sale? Corporate Vote-Buying In The Internet Age, Douglas R. Cole
E-Proxies For Sale? Corporate Vote-Buying In The Internet Age, Douglas R. Cole
Washington Law Review
Advances in electronic communications technology promise to invigorate shareholder voting as a viable tool for corporate governance, for example by decreasing the cost, and thereby increasing the frequency and effectiveness, of proxy fights. Increased use of shareholder voting, though, forces renewed focus on issues related to the shareholder voting process. One such issue is vote-buying. Traditionally, courts have treated vote-buying in the corporate context as per se illegal. More recently, however, courts have relaxed their attitude toward such transactions, a move generally applauded by commentators. This article argues that the newfound judicial acceptance of vote-buying is problematic, at least for …
Conversion And Mergers Of Disparate Business Entities, Robert C. Art
Conversion And Mergers Of Disparate Business Entities, Robert C. Art
Washington Law Review
Legislation permitting a business organized in one form, such as a corporation, to merge with a business of a different form, such as a limited liability company, is relatively recent, but reasonable and beneficial. A logical extension of this legislation is to permit a single business entity to convert its organizational form without involving a second entity. Recognition of these cross-entity transactions flows naturally from the expansion of organizational options in recent years, particularly the introduction of limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships. Conversion and merger of disparate entities are already available in a few states, with varying degrees …