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Full-Text Articles in Law

Corporate Culture And Erm, Michelle M. Harner Jul 2013

Corporate Culture And Erm, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

The attitudes and actions of those viewed as leaders within a company (commonly referred to as “tone at the top”) help to define corporate culture and are critical to implementing a successful enterprise risk management (ERM) program. This paper explores the challenges and benefits of creating a risk-aware corporate culture, including the potential legal implications for boards of directors.


Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle Harner Jun 2010

Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle Harner

Michelle M. Harner

“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”** This now infamous quote by Charles Prince, Citigroup’s former Chief Executive Officer, captures the high-risk, high-reward mentality and overconfidence that permeates much of corporate America. These attributes in turn helped to facilitate a global recession and some of the largest economic losses ever experienced in the financial sector. They also represent certain cognitive biases and cultural norms in corporate boardrooms and management suites that make implementing a meaningful risk culture and thereby mitigating the impact of future economic downturns a challenging proposition. The …


Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle M. Harner Jun 2010

Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”** This now infamous quote by Charles Prince, Citigroup’s former Chief Executive Officer, captures the high-risk, high-reward mentality and overconfidence that permeates much of corporate America. These attributes in turn helped to facilitate a global recession and some of the largest economic losses ever experienced in the financial sector. They also represent certain cognitive biases and cultural norms in corporate boardrooms and management suites that make implementing a meaningful risk culture and thereby mitigating the impact of future economic downturns a challenging proposition. The …


Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle M. Harner Jun 2010

Barriers To Effective Risk Management, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”** This now infamous quote by Charles Prince, Citigroup’s former Chief Executive Officer, captures the high-risk, high-reward mentality and overconfidence that permeates much of corporate America. These attributes in turn helped to facilitate a global recession and some of the largest economic losses ever experienced in the financial sector. They also represent certain cognitive biases and cultural norms in corporate boardrooms and management suites that make implementing a meaningful risk culture and thereby mitigating the impact of future economic downturns a challenging proposition. The …


Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken Dec 2008

Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

The recent controversy over the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to bail out some of the nation’s largest corporations has illuminated a debate about the nature and role of corporations in our society. This debate involves fundamental questions about what or who it is exactly we are trying to save with bailout money. Has the corporation’s presence become such an integral part of our lives that its status obligates us to treat it as a “person” worth saving. Legal theorists have long puzzled over the nature of the corporate person and the value of calling the corporation a person …


Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken Dec 2008

Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

The recent controversy over the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to bail out some of the nation’s largest corporations has illuminated a debate about the nature and role of corporations in our society. This debate involves fundamental questions about what or who it is exactly we are trying to save with bailout money. Has the corporation’s presence become such an integral part of our lives that its status obligates us to treat it as a “person” worth saving. Legal theorists have long puzzled over the nature of the corporate person and the value of calling the corporation a person …


Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken Jul 2008

Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

One of the most intriguing debates in corporate law is over the personhood of corporations. For years, corporate theorists have tried to construct a complete and coherent theory of the corporate person. Some have argued that the corporation is merely a fictional, artificial person that exists only as a concession of state law. Others have asserted that the corporation is a real, independent person that has an ontological existence and identity of its own. The popular theoretical paradigm today is that the corporation is neither an artificial nor a real person; it is merely a nexus of contracts among the …


Characteristics Of Soulless Persons: The Applicability Of The Character Evidence Rule To Corporations, Susanna Ripken Jan 2000

Characteristics Of Soulless Persons: The Applicability Of The Character Evidence Rule To Corporations, Susanna Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

The article discusses the nature of corporate personhood and the propriety of using certain types of evidence to prove corporate misconduct. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 404, the character evidence rule, evidence of a person's bad character generally is not admissible to prove that a person acted in conformity with that character on a particular occasion. Although the rule serves to protect individuals in both criminal and civil cases, no consensus exists as to whether the character evidence rule should apply with equal force to corporations. This article argues that the ban on character evidence should not be extended to …