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Full-Text Articles in Law
Survivor Funds, Jonathan Barry Forman, Michael J. Sabin
Survivor Funds, Jonathan Barry Forman, Michael J. Sabin
Pace Law Review
This Article explains how to create “survivor funds”—short-term investment funds that would pay more to those investors who live until the end of the fund’s term than to those who die before then. For example, instead of just investing in a ten-year bond and dividing the proceeds among the investors at the end of the bond term, a survivor fund would invest in that ten-year bond but divide the proceeds only among those who survived the full ten years. These survivor funds would be attractive investments because the survivors would get a greater return on their investments, while the decedents, …
Resolving The Conflict Between Fiduciary Duties And Socially Responsible Investing, William Sanders
Resolving The Conflict Between Fiduciary Duties And Socially Responsible Investing, William Sanders
Pace Law Review
Part I of this Article clarifies and strictly defines the frequently nebulous idea of socially responsible investing (“SRI”), explaining its history, trends, and current status. To give perspective and perhaps temper hype, Part II discusses the efficacy of SRI as a method of change, concluding that while SRI may not have much effect on air quality or oppressive foreign governments, there are situations where SRI is useful and even necessary. Part III looks at the conflict between SRI and the fiduciary duties of trustees, investment advisers, and broker-dealers. It shows the contractual nature of fiduciary duties and why this is …
Too Complex To Perceive? Drafting Cash Distribution Waterfalls Directly As Code To Reduce Complexity And Legal Risk In Structured Finance, Master Limited Partnership, And Private Equity Transactions, Ralph C. Mayrell
Pace Law Review
This Article proposes that complex structured finance transactions involving sophisticated investors should adopt an analogous solution to the home construction agreements’ strategy of contracting by reference to blueprints. First, dealmakers should, preferably by choice, place as much of their waterfall distribution specification and related inputs as possible into automated, programmatic representations that will be used to make the actual distribution. In many cases, these agreements already have programmatic representations, so this change should pose relatively few practical challenges logistically. Second, they should, like their counterparts in construction contracts, define the terms of those waterfalls by reference to their functional representations. …
What Went Wrong: Prudent Management Of Endowment Funds And Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies, James J. Fishman
What Went Wrong: Prudent Management Of Endowment Funds And Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies, James J. Fishman
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Most colleges and universities of all sizes have an endowment, a fund that provides a stream of income and maintains the corpus of the fund in perpetuity. Organizations with large endowments, such as colleges, universities, and private foundations, all finance a significant part of their operations through the return received from the investment of this capital. This article examines the legal framework for endowment investing, endowment investing policies, their evolution to more sophisticated and riskier strategies, and the consequences evinced during the financial crisis of 2008 and beyond. It traces the approaches to endowment investing and chronicles the rise and, …
Securities Mediation: Dispute Resolution For The Individual Investor, Jill I. Gross
Securities Mediation: Dispute Resolution For The Individual Investor, Jill I. Gross
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Part I of this article will provide a brief history of ADR in the securities industry (primarily arbitration), and then will describe the emergence of mediation as an alternative to arbitration. Part II will explore the state and federal statutory regulations that arguably govern the securities mediation process, and their impact on procedural and substantive justice. In particular, this section will review the applicability to and impact on securities mediation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (1934 Act), the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), and state mediation statutes, including the Uniform Mediation Act. In this section, I will argue that …
Economic Suicide: The Collision Of Ethics And Risk In Securities Law, Barbara Black, Jill I. Gross
Economic Suicide: The Collision Of Ethics And Risk In Securities Law, Barbara Black, Jill I. Gross
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The first part of this article looks at whether there are any legal principles derived from regulation or the case law to support an “economic suicide” claim. The second part of the article reviews arbitrators' awards to determine whether arbitrators do, in fact, decide favorably on economic suicide claims. The article also looks at some arbitrators' awards that appear to recognize an economic suicide claim to identify any factors that may lead arbitrators to award damages to the claimant. Finally, in the third part, we address whether policy considerations support an extension of recognized brokers' duties to include a duty …
Prudence, Information, And Trust Investment Law, John A. Humbach
Prudence, Information, And Trust Investment Law, John A. Humbach
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Professors Langbein and Posner recently proposed that fiduciaries be allowed to invest in market funds under a relaxation of the prudent investor standard. But a relaxation of the selectivity requirements may be destructive of capital market efficiency and perhaps of the capital markets themselves.
The Foreign Direct Investment Regulations: Constitutional Questions And Operational Aspects Examined, Jeffrey G. Miller
The Foreign Direct Investment Regulations: Constitutional Questions And Operational Aspects Examined, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article examines the constitutionality of the FDIR and similar regulations issued pursuant to section 5 (b), and comments upon the basic propriety and desireability of delegations of broad emergency powers to the President. The development of executive powers under section 5(b) will first be discussed with an eye toward determining, through the legislative history, congressional intent underlying the section. The role of judicial review of the exercise of executive emergency powers will be examined, followed by an analysis of the theory underlying the delegation of such powers to the President. Finally, the constitutional limitations on the emergency powers of …