Business Organizations Law Commons^™

The Ultra Vires Doctrine As Applied To Companies: A Comparative Study, Kasinathan K. Ganesan

Student Works (2000-2009)

A comparative dissertation presented on the history and development of the doctrine of Ultra Vires as applied to companies, beginning with the origins of the doctrine and its development in England, up until the Companies Act 1989 (UK), covering reforms of the Ultra Vires doctrine in English law; its application and position in Malaysia, and a consideration and development of Ultra Vires in Australia particularly in respect of the Corporation Law.

Limited Liability Companies In Kentucky, Second Edition, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Scott W. Dolson, John S. Egan, Charles Fassler, Glenn D. Gunnels, C. Bradford Harris, Charles R. Keeton, Charles J. (Chaz) Lavelle, Alan K. Macdonald, Debbie R. Reiss, Thomas E. Rutledge, James C. Seiffert, William G. Strench

Continuing Legal Education Materials

The Kentucky Limited Liability Company Act, KRS Chapter 275, went into effect July 15, 1994, allowing Kentuckians to conduct business under the LLC form. With over 10,000 LLCs formed in the Commonwealth since the Act's inception, this flexible business entity has become the most popular way to conduct business in Kentucky.

The LLC has become so pervasive that business law practitioners, accountants, tax advisors and estate planners must all be well-versed in the myriad of issues and creative applications that accompany this business entity. With flexible tax-treatment and the liability protection of a traditional corporation this entity is utilized not …

Human Rights And Corporate Responsibility, 8 Tulsa. J. Comp. & Int'l L. 1 (2000), Mark E. Wojcik

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Corporate Transparency And Human Rights, 8 Tulsa. J. Comp. & Int'l L. 15 (2000), William B.T. Mock

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Reorganization: Legal Dynamics Associated With Economic Discontinuity, Young Rock Noh

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis attempts to discover the factors leading to such failures and to propose a cure. It argues that the basic structure of Chapter 11 of the Code, the debtor in possession structure, is one of the essential factors causing such a high rate of failure. The thesis further asserts that it is possible to reduce the rate of unsuccessful reorganization if the bankruptcy court exercises its power of case management more actively and expeditiously. For example, the court can screen the debtors' filing for relief before the reorganization case proceeds too far. Chapter II of this thesis examines the …

Trade Secrets And Mutual Investments, Gillian L. Lester, Eric L. Talley

Faculty Scholarship

This paper employs an optimal contracting framework to study the question of how courts should adjudicate disputes over valuable trade secrets (such as customer lists). We focus principally on contexts where trade secrets are formed endogenously, through specific, non-contractible investments that could potentially come from either employers or employees (or both). Within such contexts, we argue, an "optimal" trade secret law diverges in many important respects from existing doctrine. In particular, an optimal doctrine would (1) expressly consider the parties' relative skills at making value enhancing investments rather than the mere existence of a valuable informational asset; (2) tend to …

The Promise And Perils Of Strategic Publication To Create Prior Art: A Response To Professor Parchomovsky, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

In a provocative recent article in the Michigan Law Review, Professor Gideon Parchomovsky observes that a firm racing with a competitor to make a patentable invention might find it strategically advantageous to publish interim research results rather than risk losing a patent race. This strategy exploits legal rules limiting patent protection to technological advances that are new and "nonobvious" in light of the "prior art" or preexisting knowledge in the field. By publishing research results, a firm adds to the prior art and thereby limits what may be patented in the future. Parchomovsky posits that, before it is able to …

Poison Pills And The European Case, Jeffrey N. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Coates has given us a welcome opportunity to revisit the question of shareholder rights plans, or poison pills. It is interesting to evaluate a revisionist's view of an important empirical debate – but less because of the role that empirical evidence may have played in the evolution of U.S. corporate law doctrine and more because of the relevance of that debate to a world, especially Europe, that is waking up to the vigorous market in corporate control. If contested takeovers involving target firms such as Gucci, Telecom Italia, Paribas, and Mannesman are headline grabbing events in 1999 and 2000, …

Corporate Governance Lessons From Russian Enterprise Fiascos, Merritt B. Fox, Michael A. Heller

Articles

This Article draws on a rich array of deviant behavior in Russian enterprises to craft lessons for corporate governance theory. First, Professors Fox and Heller define corporate governance by looking to the economic functions of the firm. Based on this definition, they develop a typology that comprehensively shows all the channels through which bad corporate governance can inflict damage on a country's real economy. Second, they explain the causes of Russian enterprise fiascoes by looking to the particular initial conditions prevailing at privatization-untenable firm boundaries and insider allocation of firm shares-and the bargaining dynamics that have followed. This focus offers …

Corporate Governance Lessons From Russian Enterprise Fiascoes, Merritt B. Fox, Michael A. Heller

Faculty Scholarship

This Article draws on a rich array of deviant behavior in Russian enterprises to craft lessons for corporate governance theory. First, Professors Fox and Heller define corporate governance by looking to the economic functions of the firm. Based on this definition, they develop a typology that comprehensively shows all the channels through which bad corporate governance can inflict damage on a country's real economy. Second, they explain the causes of Russian enterprise fiascoes by looking to the particular initial conditions prevailing at privatization – untenable firm boundaries and insider allocation of firm shares – and the bargaining dynamics that have …

Determining A Partner's Share On Unrealized Receivables At The Liquidation Of The Partner's Interest, Stephen Utz

Faculty Articles and Papers

Partnership law allows partners great freedom to vary the terms on which they share partnership profits from different sources. Partnership tax law, however, seems to presume, for purposes of the collapsible partner rules, that partners will share the revenue from the collection of receivables always in proportion to the value of their partnership interests. This counterfactual presumption exposes both the government and partner/taxpayers to unfortunate consequences. A substance-over-form approach to the attribution of unrealized receivables would certainly be unworkable, because too costly and intrusive to administer. Something between substance-over form and form-over-substance would best implement the policy of Subchapter K …

Cash Balance Plans: They Work For Employers But Do They Work For Employees?, 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 345 (2000), Deana Saxinger

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of Piercing The Veil In An Era Of Multiple Limited Liability Entities: An Opportunity To Codify The Test For Waiving Owners' Limited-Liability Protection, John H. Matheson, Raymond B. Eby

Washington Law Review

The use of the corporate form of business organization has always provided a firm's owners/shareholders with a presumptive shield from personal liability for the debts of the business. Case-by-case exceptions to this limited-liability shield have developed in each state under the general rubric of "piercing the veil." Courts and commentators alike have noted the vagueness of the piercing analysis and have questioned the appropriateness of some of the factors employed in that analysis. In addition, new forms of business entities, such as limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships, have been legislatively created over the past several decades, raising the …

Apology And Organizations: Exploring An Example From Medical Practice, Jonathan R. Cohen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article focuses on injuries committed by members of organizations, such as corporations, and examines distinct issues raised by apology in the organizational setting, in particular: the process of learning to prevent future errors, the divergent interests stemming from principal-agent tensions in employment, risk preferences and sources of insurance, the non-pecuniary benefits to corporate morale, productivity and reputation, the standing and scope of apologies, and the articulation of policies toward injuries to others.

Apology And Organizations: Exploring An Example From Medical Practice, Jonathan R. Cohen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article focuses on injuries committed by members of organizations, such as corporations, and examines distinct issues raised by apology in the organizational setting, in particular: the process of learning to prevent future errors, the divergent interests stemming from principal-agent tensions in employment, risk preferences and sources of insurance, the non-pecuniary benefits to corporate morale, productivity and reputation, the standing and scope of apologies, and the articulation of policies toward injuries to others.

Governments, Citizens, And Injurious Industries, Hanoch Dagan, James J. White

Articles

In this Article, Professors Hanoch Dagan and James White study the most recent challenge raised by mass torts litigation: the interference of governments with the bilateral relationship between citizens and injurious industries. Using the tobacco settlement as their case study, Dagan and White explore the important benefits and the grave dangers of recognizing governments' entitlement to reimbursement for costs they have incurred in preventing or ameliorating their citizens' injuries. They further demonstrate that the current law can help capture these benefits and guard against the entailing risks, showing how subrogation law can serve as the legal foundation of the governments' …

Credit Derivatives: An Overview Of Regulatory Initiatives In The United States And Europe, Andre Scheerer

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Losing The Audit Lottery: Corporate Tax Shelters And Judicial Doctrine, Elena Eracleous

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The International Symposium On Derivatives And Risk Management, Carl Felsenfeld, Alan N. Rechtschaffen, Carolyn H. Jackson, Ruth W. Ainslie, Michael N. Brosnan, Darcy Bradbury, Denis M. Forster, Martin Bienenstock, David A.P. Brower, Aaron Rubinstein, David Morris, Eric Seiler, Peter D. Morgenstern, Michael J. Malone, John Lovi, Alvin K. Hellerstein, Charles E. Ramos

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Delaware Corporation Law And Transaction Cost Engineering, Charles O'Kelley

Faculty Articles

Professor O’Kelley believes that a very good way to teach Corporations is to structure the course around a core goal – to teach Delaware corporate law systematically – not just bits and pieces of it, but the entire system, much the way the teaching of constitutional law is approached. This essay is an elaboration of his reasoning and strategies, organized as a presentation and discussion of the core rationales for organizing the course in this way. The first justification flows axiomatically from the following proposition: we create value for many of our students, and harm none, by giving them an …

Foreword: The Many Passions Of Teaching Corporations, Charles R.T. O'Kelley

Scholarly Works

This Symposium belies such skeptical views of the Corporations course and those of us who teach it. The 1999 Teaching Corporate Law Conference was organized around teachers' self-identified passions in teaching Corporations--the themes, insights, skills or puzzles about which they are most intrigued or enthused. Thirty-seven professors made presentations at the Conference; twenty-eight have converted their presentations into the essays in this Symposium edition, which have been grouped substantively rather than in the exact order presented at the Conference.

Delaware Corporation Law And Transaction Cost Engineering, Charles R.T. O'Kelley

Scholarly Works

I have a passionate belief that a very good way to teach Corporations is to structure the course around a core goal--to teach Delaware corporate law systematically--not just bits and pieces of it, but the entire system, much the way we approach the teaching of constitutional law. This Essay is an elaboration of my reasoning and strategies, organized as a presentation and discussion of the core rationales for organizing the course in this way. The first justification flows axiomatically from the following proposition: we create value for many of our students, and harm none, by giving them an opportunity to …

The Direction Of Corporate Law: The Scholars' Perspective, John C. Coffee Jr., Richard A. Booth Marbury Research Professor Of Law, R. Franklin Balotti, David C. Mcbride, Edward P. Welch

Faculty Scholarship

Transcript of a panel on a scholar's approach to corporation law.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Corporate And Business Law, Peter E. Broadbent Jr., John E. Russell

University of Richmond Law Review

Virginia corporate and business law changes in the last year continue to challenge the practitioner to stay abreast of such developments in order to provide accurate advice to clients. This article summarizes the developments in the law in Virginia occurring from June 1999 through May 2000, with the legislative changes described based on Virginia General Assembly action in the 2000 session. Part II examines those legislative changes in corporate and business law (excluding public service corporation/public utility law issues). While many of the legislative changes are not significant, three new uniform laws (revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code …

Alliance Management: The Journey Towards Partnerships, Robert E. Spekman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Mr. Spekman discusses corporate alliances.

Delaware As Demon: Twenty-Five Years After Professor Cary's Polemic, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

No abstract provided.

Freezing The Company Charter, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

When legislatures alter corporate, partnership, and other business entity statutes, they simultaneously amend the governing document of all entities of that type formed within the jurisdiction. In many circumstances these business entities may wish to retain existing rules for internal governance. This Article offers a novel tool for firms wishing to so manage their own legal transitions: the "charter freeze." A freeze provision in the company charter declares that future (non-mandatory) changes in relevant statutes have no effect on the firm. Owners may affirmatively adopt the new rules, but choose to exercise complete control over their adoption vel non of …

A Populist Political Perspective Of The Business Tax Entities Universe: Hey The Stars Might Lie, But The Numbers Never Do, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Symposium: Regulatory And Liability Considerations, Michael S. Baram, Ellen Flannery, Patricia Davis, Gary Marchant

Faculty Scholarship

You can tell from remarks by prior speakers that regulatory approvals and liability prevention are of critical importance to progress in biomaterials. Gene therapy trials and the tragic outcomes of some of those trials have raised the specter of government suspension of clinical studies, termination of funding, and potential liability for personal injury under malpractice or products liability doctrines. Regulatory requirements and the terms of research grants and contracts have to be very carefully addressed by organizations testing, developing, making, selling and using biomaterials, biotechnology, and medical devices. However, many regulatory requirements are incomplete, ambiguous and confusing because the agencies …

Foreword: The Many Passions Of Teaching Corporations, Charles O'Kelley

Faculty Articles

Teachers of Corporations share a passion for their subject and consider this first course in the business law curriculum to have fundamental importance for all law-trained professionals. Seemingly, however, we agree on little else, including the substantive focus of the course, the nature of the course materials, and the insights that teachers should convey. In fact, Corporations differs dramatically from school to school. Some teachers focus substantial attention on unincorporated business associations, while others cover only corporation law. Some who teach exclusively about the corporation emphasize closely held firms, while others highlight the law related to publicly traded entities. Likewise, …