Law Commons^™

Legal Guardrails For A Unicorn Crackdown, Alexander I. Platt

Michigan Law Review Online

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is undertaking a historic effort to redraw the boundary between public and private companies. After years of watching—and sometimes encouraging—the explosive growth in less tightly regulated private markets and the proliferation of so-called “unicorns,” the agency is now reasserting its authority.

A key arrow in the agency’s regulatory quiver is its authority under section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) to force private companies to “go public” when they reach a certain size. The provision requires any company whose shares are “held of record” by more than 2,000 persons to …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

Women In Shareholder Activism, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

Even a cursory review of the history of American environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) shareholder activism reveals the presence of women leaders. This Article sketches some of this history and interrogates the role of women in the shareholder activism movement. That movement typically has involved claims by minority shareholders to corporate power; activists are nearly always on the margins of power, though minority shareholders may, collectively, represent a majority interest. This Article ascribes women’s leadership in shareholder activism to their longstanding position as outsiders to corporate organization. Women’s participation in shaping corporate policy—even from the margins—has provided women with …

Gender And The Constitutional Theory Of The Firm, Jamee K. Moudud

Seattle University Law Review

This Article adds to the literature that has linked feminist economics to foreign trade and development. It argues that two key factors need to be in place jointly if efforts to promote gender equity are to succeed. On the one hand it argues that foreign debt is an important constraint to domestic progressive social policies of all kinds as it increases the power of international creditors who generally tend to support austerity policies. On the other hand, while alleviating the burden of foreign debt via exportpromotion policies is necessary, it is by no means a sufficient condition to promote domestic …

A Path Forward: Litigating The Treaty-Based Claims Of Children Sexually Abused In The Indian Health Service System, Peter B. Janci, Stephen F. Crew, Zachary Pangares

Seattle University Law Review

In 1855, representatives for the United States traveled to the Great Plains with orders to seek peace with Blackfoot Nation so the westward expansion of “civilized” white settlers could continue without interruption. After weeks of negotiations, the United States plan materialized. The terms of these promises were memorialized on October 17, 1855, in a treaty between the United States government and Blackfoot Nation.

One hundred and sixty-seven years later, representatives for the United States and the Blackfoot Nation convened in Rapid City, South Dakota to discuss the U.S. government’s breach of the treaty’s terms. Eight Native men, including three from …

“Statistics Are Human Beings With The Tears Wiped Away”: Utilizing Data To Develop Strategies To Reduce The Number Of Native Americans Who Go Missing, Lori Mcpherson, Sarah Blazucki

Seattle University Law Review

On New Year’s Eve night, 2019, sixteen-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid attended a party in Billings, Montana, about fifty miles west of her home in Hardin, Montana, near the Crow Reservation. A junior at the local high school, she was active in her community. The party carried over until the next day, and she caught a ride back toward home with friends in a van the following afternoon. When the van stopped at an interstate rest stop, Selena got out but never made it back to the van. The friends reported her missing to the police and indicated they …

A Synthesis Of The Science And Law Relating To Eyewitness Misidentifications And Recommendations For How Police And Courts Can Reduce Wrongful Convictions Based On Them, Henry F. Fradella

Seattle University Law Review

The empirical literature on perception and memory consistently demonstrates the pitfalls of eyewitness identifications. Exoneration data lend external validity to these studies. With the goal of informing law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and judicial law clerks about what they can do to reduce wrongful convictions based on misidentifications, this Article presents a synthesis of the scientific knowledge relevant to how perception and memory affect the (un)reliability of eyewitness identifications. The Article situates that body of knowledge within the context of leading case law. The Article then summarizes the most current recommendations for how law enforcement personnel should—and …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Woke Capital Revisited, Jennifer S. Fan

Seattle University Law Review

Inclusive corporate leadership is now at the forefront of discussions related to corporate governance. Two corporate theories help to explain the rise in prominence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) efforts in corporate leadership. First, an expanded definition of corporate purpose which elevated the idea of the importance of stakeholders, contributed to the momentum from business and legal quarters for broader corporate inclusion. Second, the increasing publicness of corporations—the social expectation of how large, typically public corporations should act given their position of power—also led to corporations becoming more active in the DEI space. It is against this backdrop that …

Army Commander’S Role—The Judge, Jury, & Prosecutor For The Article 15, Anthony Godwin

Seattle University Law Review

Service members in the armed forces are bound by a different set of rules when compared to other U.S. citizens. Some of the normal safeguards and protections that civilians enjoy are much more restrictive for military service members, and this is generally for a good reason. Such restrictions are partly due to the complex demands and needs of the United States military. Congress and the President have entrusted military commanders with special powers that enable them to handle minor violations of law without needing to go through a full judicial proceeding. Non-judicial punishments (NJP), also known as Article 15s, are …

Giving Shareholders The Right To Say No, Albert H. Choi, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

When a public company releases misleading information that distorts the market for the company’s stock, investors who purchase at the inflated price lose money when (and if) the misleading information is later corrected. Under Rule 10b‑5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, investors can seek compensation from corporations and their officers who make materially misleading statements that the investors relied on when buying or selling a security. Compensation is the obvious goal, but the threat of lawsuits can also benefit investors by deterring managers from committing fraud.

Prison Libraries, Intellectual Freedom And Social Justice In Nigeria, Olusegun Adebayo Opesanwo, Oluyomi Abidemi Awofeso Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper deployed a systematic review to examine prison libraries and intellectual freedom towards attaining social justice in Nigeria. Information resources used cover the periods of 2010 and 2020 to articulate the necessary development in prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria. Search engines such as Google scholar, Semantic Scholar, and RefSeek were used to retrieve information and through different queries yielded several results but very few of them were selected to fit in the study due to limited studies directed to address the focus of this study particularly in the Nigeria scenario. Information obtained were subjected to …

Nontraditional Investors, Jennifer S. Fan

BYU Law Review

In recent years, nontraditional investors have become a major player in the startup ecosystem. Under the regulatory regime of U.S. securities law, those in the public realm are heavily regulated, while those in the private realm are largely left alone. This public-private divide, which is a fundamental organizing principle of securities law, has eroded with the rise of nontraditional investors. While legal scholars have addressed the impact of some of these nontraditional investors individually, their collective impact on deal terms, deal timelines, due diligence, and board configuration has not been discussed in a holistic manner; neither has their impact on …

Closing The Auditor Loophole: Towards A More Perfect Work-Product Waiver Doctrine, Evan Mulbry

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The Supreme Court created strong protections for the attorney’s thought processes and analysis in Hickman v. Taylor. However, the Court in Arthur Young & Co. created a loophole enabling opposing lawyers to access the lawyer’s thought processes and legal strategies. This loophole was created when the Court allowed discovery of an auditor’s tax workpapers, and lower courts then interpreted this decision to imply that disclosing information to the outside auditor constitutes a waiver of attorney work-product protections. This loophole can be corrected through a Congressional statute that impacts the Federal Rules of Evidence, which would protect communications between outside auditors …

A Tokenized Future: Regulatory Lessons From Crowdfunding And Standard Form Contracts, Darian M. Ibrahim

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the world of risk investing in the cryptoeconomy. The broader crypto market is booming despite the latest downturn. People and institutions are buying in. The question is now how to regulate it.

This Article first tackles the question of whether coins, tokens, and other investable cryptoassets are securities. Second, for those cryptoassets that are not securities, this Article seeks to find a regulatory solution that balances promoting innovation with investor protection, just as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would do. To strike the right balance, this Article adopts a proposal by Ian Ayres and Alan Schwartz …

Failed Efforts At Harmonization Of Securities Regulation, Roberta S. Karmel

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Article is based on a speech made by Professor Karmel at the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial, & Commercial Law annual symposium in May 2022 titled “Commercial Law Harmonization: Past as Prologue,” analyzing the work done in the past half-century to balance commercial law. The symposium also celebrated the career of Neil B. Cohen of Brooklyn Law School for his teaching and participation in law reform efforts.

Regulatory Outlook For Derivatives Based On Sports Outcomes, Benjamin Augugliaro

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Note dives into the intersection between two distinct areas: sports gambling and derivatives. ErisX had the keen idea to use sports-based futures contracts for hedging purposes, and thought that because of these hedging purposes, it would not be rubbing up against any sports gambling laws. However, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in charge of regulating the trading of futures contracts, still presented a problem for ErisX. The CFTC prohibits futures contracts involving “gaming,” and while the purpose of these contracts are not speculative, they still involve sports. Therefore, a new CFTC body equipped to deal with sports-based contracts …

Financial Innovation And Unforeseen Consequences: Spacs, Sec Lending, And Shorts, Christian A. Johnson

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Although publicly traded “special purpose acquisition companies” (SPAC) have been trading for decades, the effect of the unique shareholder rights found in SPAC shares should be fully studied and compared with the rights of publicly traded non-SPAC shares. Because of their differences, PAC shares will not necessarily behave in the same way as non-SPAC shares in certain situations. The short selling of SPAC shares offers a useful case study as well as lessons for regulators, investors, and short sellers about the unforeseen and unintended consequences of financial innovation in the other-wise understood corner of securities lending and short selling of …

Spac Regulation—Past, Present And Future, E. Ramey Layne, K. Stancell Haigwood

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Spac Attack, Justin Kuehn

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Top Ten Issues In De-Spac Securities Litigation, Wendy Gerwick Couture

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

I am delighted to contribute to this symposium on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). The securities litigation associated with the de-SPAC transaction is at an early stage, but courts are already wrestling with a number of unsettled issues that cast a mirror on SPACs and the securities laws more broadly. As these issues are resolved, they will affect the future of de-SPAC transactions as well as the regulatory environment in which they operate. In this essay, I identify ten such issues, drawing from the pleadings, briefings, and hearings in pending de-SPAC securities cases, with the goal of highlighting the key …

Foreign Judgments And Foreign Arbitral Awards Enforceability As A Factor And A Guarantee For Foreign Investments: The Case Of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Rashed Mohammed Arhama Alshamsi

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

Foreign investments are considered an efficient and effective instrument to diversify and strengthen the economy; foreign investors generally need guarantees before entering a new market. One of these guarantees is a stable, transparent, predictable legal and judicial system. Such a system must be open to foreign laws and judgments as well as foreign arbitral awards, and it must also be flexible to increase foreign investments. Saudi Arabia has tried since the 50s’ to be more attractive to foreign investors and investments by enacting legislation and creating a modern court system to diversify their economy. However, the discretion of Saudi judges …

Lawyers On The Edge: What Happened To Rudy Giuliani?, Jacob Burns Center For Ethics In The Practice Of Law

Flyers 2022-2023

Click here to view the event invitation.

Lawyers On The Edge: What Happened To Rudy Giuliani?, Jacob Burns Center For Ethics In The Practice Of Law

Event Invitations 2022

Please join The Jacob Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law for the second in their series of book talks, Lawyers on the Edge, with Andrew Kirtzman, author of Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor.

Andrew Kirtzman, journalist and author, has been following the career of Rudy Giuliani since the 1990s. His new biography traces Giuliani from the beginning of his rise to his role as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Professor Jessica Roth, Co-Director of the Jacob Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law, will lead a discussion with Kirtzman about his …

Ftx And The Future Of Crypto, Heyman Center On Corporate Governance

Event Invitations 2022

Join cryptocurrency and blockchain expert Aaron Wright, bankruptcy attorney Allen Kadish, securities regulation and fintech expert Professor Yuliya Guseva, and white collar crime expert Professor Andrew Jennings for a lively online conversation moderated by Cardozo Professor Matthew Wansley. We'll dive into cryptocurrency exchanges, the issues faced by FTX, why it collapsed, how bankruptcy will play out, and whether its executives face any legal liability.

Corporate Response To The War In Ukraine: Stakeholder Governance Or Stakeholder Pressure?, Anete Pajuste, Anna Toniolo

Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review

This Article empirically investigates the corporate response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the framework of the stakeholder capitalism debate. Some describe corporate leaders’ decision to withdraw from Russia as an example of stakeholder governance, maintaining that they placed social responsibility over profits. Others question the authenticity of corporate support for Ukraine and argue that companies left Russia mainly driven by operational and reputational concerns.

Against this backdrop, we conduct an empirical study of reactions to the outbreak of the war from companies in the S&P500 and STOXX600 indices. We explore whether managers effectively decided mostly on ethical and …

Dynamic Disclosure: An Exposé On The Mythical Divide Between Voluntary And Mandatory Esg Disclosure, Lisa Fairfax

All Faculty Scholarship

In March 2022, for the first time in its history, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed rules mandating disclosure related to climate change. The proposed rules are remarkable because heretofore many in the business community, including the SEC, vehemently resisted climate-related disclosure, based primarily on the argument that such disclosure is not material to investors. This resistance is exemplified by the current lack of any SEC disclosure mandates for climate change. The proposed rules have sparked considerable pushback including allegations that the rules violate the First Amendment, would be too costly, and focus on “social” or “political” issues …

Ftx: How The Sec Should React, Darian M. Ibrahim

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Omshehe Wins Top National Prize With Securities Regulation Article 11-4-2022, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Heyman Center Book Talk: Going Public, Heyman Center On Corporate Governance

Event Invitations 2022

Join us for a lively discussion with Dakin Campbell, author of Going Public: How Silicon Valley Rebels Loosened Wall Street’s Grip on the IPO and Sparked a Revolution and Megan Baier, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, moderated by Rachel Landy, Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of the Heyman Center at Cardozo Law School.