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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Law
A Skeptic's View Of Benefit Corporations, Kent Greenfield
A Skeptic's View Of Benefit Corporations, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Over the last few years there has been a shift in the core ideas of business with respect to corporate responsibility. A new type of business classification called benefit corporations is gaining popularity in the United States. Benefit corporations are required to have a positive impact on society and the planet, and to meet a higher level of accountability and transparency. However, will benefit corporations truly change the industry and world positively? This article provides for skepticism about the positive affects benefit corporations are purported to have on business. One reason is that benefit corporations are completely voluntary; thus, the …
Corporate Citizenship: Goal Or Fear?, Kent Greenfield
Corporate Citizenship: Goal Or Fear?, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
No abstract provided.
The Third Way: Beyond Shareholder Or Board Primacy, Kent Greenfield
The Third Way: Beyond Shareholder Or Board Primacy, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
There is a third possibility in corporate governance: real duties imposed on boards, but which run to all the company's stakeholders not just shareholders.
Amended Brief Of Professor Nancy Gertner And Professor Kent Greenfield As Amici Curiae In Support Of Plaintiff, Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System V. The Hershey Company, C.A. No. 7996-Ml, Nancy Gertner, Kent Greenfield
Amended Brief Of Professor Nancy Gertner And Professor Kent Greenfield As Amici Curiae In Support Of Plaintiff, Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System V. The Hershey Company, C.A. No. 7996-Ml, Nancy Gertner, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Amicus brief filed by Nancy Gertner and Kent Greenfield in the case of Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System v. The Hershey Company, C.A. No. 7996-ML.
Unconscionability And Consent In Corporate Law (A Comment On Cunningham), Kent Greenfield
Unconscionability And Consent In Corporate Law (A Comment On Cunningham), Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Lawrence Cunningham has written an insightful and persuasive article calling on courts to apply the contract-law doctrine of unconscionability in evaluating executive compensation. According to Cunningham, this additional doctrinal tool will allow courts to engage in genuine and meaningful oversight of excessive compensation. He argues that such oversight is valuable because existing corporate-law doctrine too often prompts courts to defer too much and too often to management’s decisions. Cunningham’s argument is modest yet impactful. It is modest in that it simply proposes that courts take account of a well-established area of contract law to analyze and evaluate the compensation contracts …
The Puzzle Of Short-Termism, Kent Greenfield
The Puzzle Of Short-Termism, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
From the Introduction: When pondering the question of the “sustainable corporation,” as we did in this symposium, one of the intractable problems is the nature of the corporation to produce externalities. By noting this characteristic, I am not making a moral point but an economic one. The nature of the firm is to create financial wealth by producing goods and services for profit; without regulatory or contractual limits, the firm has every incentive to externalize costs onto those whose interests are not included in the firm’s current financial calculus. In fact, because of the corporation’s tendency to create benefits for …
The Unjustified Absence Of Federal Fraud Protection In The Labor Market, Kent Greenfield
The Unjustified Absence Of Federal Fraud Protection In The Labor Market, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Federal law offers significant protection against fraud in the capital market, based on the compelling rationale that accurate information is important in allowing the securities markets to allocate financial capital to real capital. Notwithstanding some recent statutory adjustments, federal securities law remains committed to a central idea: it is wrong for a company or a corporate official knowingly to make a misrepresentation in order to take value from another in a securities transaction. This article argues that rationales analogous to those justifying fraud protection in the capital market also hold true in the labor market. Fraud may in fact be …
Should Corporations Have First Amendment Rights?, Kent Greenfield, Daniel Greenwood, Erik Jaffe
Should Corporations Have First Amendment Rights?, Kent Greenfield, Daniel Greenwood, Erik Jaffe
Kent Greenfield
As Professor Winkler correctly stated, current doctrine emphasizes the rights of listeners rather than the identity of corporate speakers. My argument is, in effect, that this emphasis misses the key point. But I will not deal with listeners directly. I am simply going to assume, rather than argue, that if corporate advertising were ineffective in influencing voters or legislators, normal market processes would eliminate it. I'm going to take it for granted that when corporations speak, it makes a difference in the actual results.
Corporate Law And The Rhetoric Of Choice, Kent Greenfield
Corporate Law And The Rhetoric Of Choice, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Rhetorically, the notion of choice has always been a powerful one in politics and law. This essay is intended to offer a note of caution about its use. Despite its progressive hue of individual freedom, the rhetoric of choice increasingly tends to be a notion used to defend and uphold existing matrices of economic and social power. This is because the rhetoric of choice is an excellent way to support exiting power relationships. The assertion that people acting within such power relationships are simply choosing their current situation undermines efforts to change those relationships. The powerful stay powerful; the weak …
Corporate Ethics In A Devilish System, Kent Greenfield
Corporate Ethics In A Devilish System, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Prepared for a roundtable on corporate ethics at the University of Maryland School of Law, this essay argues that discussions of corporate ethics that focus on mere compliance with law are too narrow. While an emphasis on legal compliance is indeed crucial, a dedication to legality standing alone is hardly a robust sense of ethics, corporate or otherwise. Whether one takes guidance from religious norms or from secular philosophers, there are significant areas of agreement as to what amounts to ethical behavior: acting with due care for others; taking responsibility for the effect of one's actions; being honest; considering broadly …
The Disaster At Bhopal: Lessons For Corporate Law?, Kent Greenfield
The Disaster At Bhopal: Lessons For Corporate Law?, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Prepared for a conference at New England Law School marking the upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of the disaster at Bhopal, this essay asks whether we have anything still to learn from what occurred in the early morning hours in Bhopal on December 3, 1984, and in the hours, days, and weeks that followed. Is there reason to believe, for example, that corporations have a tendency to create the context in which such disasters are more likely? More recent corporate behavior poses the same question, whether it pertains to environmental destruction, injuries to consumers, collusion with illegal governmental activities, or financial malfeasance. …
The Impact Of "Going Private" On Corporate Stakeholders, Kent Greenfield
The Impact Of "Going Private" On Corporate Stakeholders, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
As capital markets in the United States increasingly "go private," it is unclear how the privatization of corporate finance will affect non-shareholder stakeholders of firms, most centrally employees, communities, and the environment. Some scholars and public policy experts believe that concern for such stakeholders should not hold any relevance in the discussion of corporate law in general, and thus may be presumed to believe the same about a conversation about privatization. In such a view, these concerns lie outside the realm of corporate governance law; they therefore should be of no great moment in the debate over whether public policy …
New Principles For Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield
New Principles For Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
The fundamental assumptions of corporate law have changed little in decades. Accepted as truth are the notions that corporations are voluntary, private, contractual entities, that they have broad powers to make money in whatever ways and in whatever locations they see fit. The primary obligation of management is to shareholders, and shareholders alone. Corporations have broad powers but only a limited role: they exist to make money. Those who maintain these principles – a group that includes most of the legal scholars who teach and write in the area – have derived the narrow role of corporations in one of …
Debate: Saving The World With Corporate Law?, Kent Greenfield, D. Gordon Smith
Debate: Saving The World With Corporate Law?, Kent Greenfield, D. Gordon Smith
Kent Greenfield
The current debate within corporate law is as fundamental as any time since the New Deal, when the great exchange between Merrick Dodd and A.A. Berle defined the issues for a generation of scholars. Today, the community of corporate law scholars in the United States is split between two groups. The first, heavily influenced by economic analysis of corporations, argues the merits of increasing shareholder power vis-à-vis directors. Another group, animated by concern for economic justice, challenges the traditional, shareholder-centric view of corporate law, arguing instead for a model of “stakeholder governance.” The enclosed article is an untraditional method to …
Law, Politics, And The Erosion Of Legitimacy In The Delaware Courts, Kent Greenfield
Law, Politics, And The Erosion Of Legitimacy In The Delaware Courts, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
One of the putative benefits of incorporation in Delaware is the expertise and knowledge of the Delaware courts. Professor Jonathan Macey says that Delaware “offers current and prospective charterers . . . a judiciary with particularized experience and expertise in corporate law.” Professor Faith Stevelman cites the “expertise” of Delaware’s judges as “fostering the state’s leading reputation in corporate law,” which “safeguard[s] the financial returns which flow to Delaware from its chartering business.” Professor Michael Klausner argues that Delaware’s dominance will likely be permanent in part because of the corporate expertise of Delaware’s judiciary. In fact, “[s]ome see the quality …
Democracy And The Dominance Of Delaware In Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield
Democracy And The Dominance Of Delaware In Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield
Kent Greenfield
Among the grandest debates within corporate law is whether the dominance of Delaware is the result of a “race to the bottom” -- toward a legal regime that benefits managers at the expense of the shareholders -- or a “race to the top” -- toward an efficient, shareholder-centric governance framework. This paper argues that this debate is largely beside the point. Even if Delaware’s dominance is the result of a competition resulting in law that efficiently serves the interests of shareholders, it is nevertheless illegitimate. This is because the internal affairs doctrine, on which Delaware’s preeminence depends, in effect allows …
New Principles For Company Law, Kent Greenfield