Law Commons^™

A Comparative Assessment Of Eu, Uk, French, Australian And Japanese Responses To Auditor Independence: The Case Of Non-Audit Tax Services, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Auditor independence was a global concern of financial regulators in the 1990's. Some observers saw this in a positive light, a natural development. Adjusting auditor independence rules was a manifestation of global convergence in corporate governance structures. New rules, especially rules leaning toward a harmonized system were welcome.

There was a more sobering view. This view held that global regulators were less concerned with convergence than they were with a sense of impending disaster. Things had gone too far. Significant, maybe even radical change was needed. The independence of corporate auditors had eroded; trust had been fundamentally compromised in the …

Brief Of Keith N. Hylton As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioners In Greg Johnson, Et Al. V. Ford Motor Company, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This Court last addressed the legal framework for setting the amount of punitive damages in Adams v. Murakami (1991) 54 Cal.3d 105. In Adams, this Court declined to reach the argument advanced by the Association for California Tort Reform advocating “the profitability of the defendant’s misconduct” as the appropriate financial measure in fixing punitive damages. Id. at 116 n.7. For this argument to be advanced by such a pro-defendant trade association is hardly an anomaly. It appears typical, evidently based on the sensible assumption that in the setting of punitive damages, a focus on a defendant’s illicit profits will frequently …

Law, Economics, And The Theory Of The Firm, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

Economic analysis of the law assumes the "shadow of the law" influences the behavior of businesses. Thus, business people consider the costs and benefits of contract litigation when they make decisions about contract performance, they consider the costs of tort litigation when they make investments in safety, they consider the costs of violating a regulation when they make decisions about regulatory compliance, and so on. Economic models of law typically abstract from organizational detail and treat businesses as if they are represented by a single manager who controls the firm's behavior and acts to maximize its profit. This abstraction simplifies …