Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Monopoly Bundling In Cyberspace: How Many Products Does Microsoft Sell?, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reintegrative Shaming In Corporate Sentencing, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

For-Profit Corporations That Perform Public Functions: Politics, Profit, And Poverty, Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Wade argues that the corporate law shareholder-primacy paradigm fails to adequately account for individuals who depend upon for-profit corporations for the educational, medical, correctional, and social services traditionally provided by government. These for-profit corporations, termed "Public Function Companies" by Professor Wade, have two distinct constituencies: shareholders who expect wealth maximization to guide corporate action and "Corporate Dependents" who rely upon the essential services administered by these corporations. Because corporate law generally requires officers and directors to act only in the interest of shareholders, Corporate Dependents may be left with inadequate services and no mechanism to influence …

Liberty And Antitrust In The Formative Era, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward A Practical Estate-Tax Exclusion For Family-Run Businesses: Analysis Of Section 2033a And Proposal For Reform, Eric D. Chason, Robert T. Danforth

Faculty Publications

In a previous work appearing in this Journal, the authors proposed an approach to estate and gift taxation that encourages productive behavior by the recipients of wealth. In this Article, the authors analyze, in the context of their earlier work, the new estate-tax exclusion for closely held businesses (section 2033A) created by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The authors describe the features of a practical family-run business exclusion and conclude that section 2033A, in its present form, fails as a practical exclusion. The authors catalogue those elements of section 2033A that should be retained and propose reforms of those …

What’S Good For General Motors: Corporate Speech And The Theory Of Free Expression, Howard M. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lessons From A Prophet On Vocational Identity: Profit Or Philanthropy?, Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

After sifting through state statutes that codify corporate behavior and the decisions interpreting those statutes, corporate attorneys may serve their clients and improve our society if they also consulted the teachings of a Baptist preacher. The Baptist preacher to whom I refer is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the lessons for attorneys and law professors concerned with social justice that can be derived from his life and teachings were the focus of the 1998 Southeast/Southwest Law Teachers of Color Conference. The utility of Dr. King's instruction and the value of his model for ethical living are obvious for …

The Proper Role Of The Estate And Gift Taxation Of Closely Held Businesses, Eric D. Chason, Robert T. Danforth

Faculty Publications

The authors argue that the goals of estate and gift taxation are not served by taxing closely held businesses when the recipient of the business actively participates in its operation. Further, the authors suggest that taxing closely held businesses tends to harm capital production. The authors propose an approach to estate and gift taxation that encourages productive behavior by the recipients of wealth.

Corporate Philanthropy, Executives' Pet Charities And The Agency Problem, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tying Meets The New Institutional Economics: Farewell To The Chimera Of Forcing, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Convertible Securities In Corporate Finance, George W. Dent

Faculty Publications

This Article examines theories supporting the use of convertible secyrutues and finds them insufficient even for public companies, to which they are supposed to apply. They fare worse yet for private firms which use convertibles even more frequently. Indeed, no one theory explains all uses of convertibles. Convertibles can reduce agency costs by reconciling differences in risk aversion and diminishing managers' exploitation of investors, but they can also promote managers' interests at the expense of shareholders. The mix of factors varies from case to case. Thus, the role of convertibles proves complex and diverse. After describing convertible securities (part II) …

Antitrust Balancing In A (Near) Coasean World: The Case Of Franchise Tying Contracts, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

If The Punishment Fits - Doctored Bmw Paint Job Returns Punitive Damages Issue To The Court, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

A lot more is at stake in BMW of North America v. Gore, 94-896, than the legal cost of repainting luxury automobiles, The case returns the issue of punitive damages to the Supreme Court amid complaints by business interests to a receptive Congress that high punitive awards are helping to stifle U.S. economic growth. At the same time, the case carries overtones of federalism, an issue that seems to lurk throughout the Supreme Court's docket these days.

Educators Who Drive With No Hands: The Application Of Analytical Concepts Of Corporate Law In Certain Cases Of Educational Malpractice, Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The national debate concerning the inadequacies of public schools in the United States and ways to alleviate some of the problems that plague them continues to rage. The performance of children in the United States on standardized tests is dangerously poor, and the rate of illiteracy dangerously high. An alarmingly large number of students do not finish high school. Education is often compromised because of crowded classrooms and shortages in school personnel and textbooks. Part of the debate about the problems in public education involves the search for someone or something to blame. While societal problems contribute to the …

Dynamic Economic Analyses Of Selected Provisions Of Corporate Law: The Absolute Delegation Rule, Disclosure Of Intermediate Estimates And Ipo Pricing, Royce De R. Barondes

Faculty Publications

This Article examines three separate aspects of the relationships between corporations and their securityholders from a dynamic economic perspective: (i) the feasibility of permitting shareholders to participate in the management of their corporations through the exercise of voting rights, (ii) Rule 3b-6, the safe harbor for projections (the Safe Harbor)8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 1934 Act),9 and (iii) the extraordinary returns available from investing in initial public offerings (IPO's). Three particular dynamic aspects are implicated in these situations.

Partnership Profits Share For Services: An Aggregate Exegesis Of Revenue Procedure 93-27 (Part 2), John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

In this article, Professor Lee charts two alternative methods for implementing an aggregate solution to the problem of partnership profits share for services. The functional, or judicial, method is to handle (1) the exchange of partner-capacity services for a profit share subject to the risk f the venture with the Culbertson "common law relation of partnership," nonrealization event doctrine, implicitly contemplated by the 1984 legislative history to section 707(a)(2), (2) the classic Diamond transitory partner with a substance-over-form rule or step-transaction rule, and (3) a sale of the partnership interest in circumstances that would result in ordinary income in a …

Partnership Profits Share For Services: An Aggregate Exegesis Of Revenue Procedure 93-27 (Part 1), John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

In this article, Lee charts two alternative methods for implementing an aggregate solution to the problem of partnership profits share exchanged for services. The functional, or judicial, method, he explains, is to handle (1) the exchange of partner-capacity services for a profit share subject to the risk of the venture with the Culbertson "common law relation of partnership," nonrealization event doctrine, implicitly contemplated by the 1984 legislative history to section 707(a)(2); (2) the classic Diamond transitory partner with a substance-over-form rule or step-transaction rule; and (3) a sale of the partnership interest in circumstances that would result in ordinary income …

Corporate Tax Policy For The Twenty-First Century: Integration And Redeeming Social Value, Glenn E. Coven

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Private Practice For Public Consumption: Two Views Of Corporate Law, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Improved Choice: The Virginia Limited Liability Company, James J. Wheaton

Faculty Publications

When the General Assembly adopted the Virginia Limited Liability Company Act (the "Act")' in 1991, Virginia joined just four other states in recognizing the potential of a relatively obscure business entity, the limited liability company ("LLC"). The LLC concept has spread rapidly since the adoption of the Virginia Act early last year. Three other states enacted LLC legislation in 1991, and in just the first few months of 1992, six more states followed the trend.

[...]

Although the number of LLCs formed in Virginia since the Virginia Act took effect last July displays the willingness of Virginia attorneys to recommend …

When Is A Corporate Executive "Substantially Unfit To Serve"?, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

The recently enacted Securities Enforcement Remedies and Penny Stock Reform Act of 1990 provides that, in an SEC enforcement action, a federal court may enjoin or "disbar" the defendant from serving in the future as an officer or director of a public company. A court may enter such an order if it finds that the defendant is "substantially unfit" to serve as a corporate executive; the Act, however, does not define "substantial unfitness." In this Article Professor Jayne Barnard provides a framework for defining this term and identifying the defendants to which the Remedies Act should apply. Professor Barnard begins …

Institutional Investors And The New Corporate Governance, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

During the last decade, American capital markets have experienced a marked shift from a constituency made up primarily of household investors to one made up primarily of institutional investors. Institutional investors are fiduciary bodies such as pension funds, mutual funds, and employee stock ownership plans, representing large numbers of beneficiaries. As collective entitites, institutional investors often amass billions of dollars in assets, thus giving them the potential for substantial influence on the companies in which they invest. In recent years, some institutional investors have sought to use this influence to challenge traditional patterns of corporate governance, claiming that new patterns …

Time Changes: A Review Of To The End Of Time: The Seduction And Conquest Of A Media Empire, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Shareholder Access To The Proxy Revisited, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exxon Collides With The "Valdez Principles", Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Giving Voice To Shareholder Choice, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Regulation Drafting: Structured Discretionary Justice Under Section 355, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the 35-year evolution of the section 355 regulations from the perspectives of the jurisprudential dichotomy between general principles and detailed rules and administrative law theory as to agency discretion.

Proxy Regulation In Search Of A Purpose, George W. Dent

Faculty Publications

Changing conditions often force us to rethink the role of a law. Professor Ryan's scholarly article, Rule 14a-8, Institutional Shareholder Proposals, and Corporate Democracy,underscores this need. His article is useful for both its successes and its failures. Its principal failure is its inability to identify a general justification for the rule. This is helpful; the failure of an intelligent and deter- mined advocate to find a persuasive defense of the rule confirms that no defense is possible. The article succeeds principally in showing how institutional investors have recently used the rule in ways that put the rule in a new …

Toward Unifying Ownership And Control In The Public Corporation, George W. Dent

Faculty Publications

In 1932, Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means published the seminal book, The Modern Corporation and Private Property. This work set forth the thesis that corporate law's central dilemma has been the separation of ownership and control in publicly held corporations. Over the years, the Berle-Means thesis has been tossed aside by critics who argue that economic forces compel managers to act as if the shareholders were in control and by those who welcome the idea that managers are able to exercise their more enlightened business acumen. On the other hand, those who share concerns over the separation of ownership and …

Taxing Corporate Acquisitions: A Proposal For Mandatory Uniform Rules, Glenn E. Coven

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.