Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Should Directors Reduce Executive Pay?, Randall Thomas

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This paper examines internal pay disparities in American public corporations and argues that wide gaps between the top and bottom of the pay scale can, in certain circumstances, directly and adversely affect firm value, that corporate boards should be informed about these effects, and that they should, in some cases, reduce internal pay differentials to address them. In support of this thesis, it analyzes numerous empirical studies that have shown that wide disparities in corporate pay scales can adversely affect firm value. These studies demonstrate that, at many types of organizations, as internal pay differentials grow, employees and lower level …

Editor's Observations: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And What Came After, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

On December 2, 2001, the Enron Corporation filed the largest bankruptcy petition in U.S. history. Losses to investors, creditors, employees, and pensioners were in the billions. Criminal investigations are ongoing. On May 1, 2003, the U.S. Sentencing Commission passed a set of amendments to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that will, among other things, prevent a federal district judge from awarding a sentence of straight probation to a defendant convicted at trial of an $11,000 mail fraud. This Issue of FSR tells the story of how the first of these apparently unrelated events led to the second. Put another way, this …

Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal

Washington International Law Journal

After more than a decade of attempting to remedy failing banks, rising unemployment, and a shrinking economy, Japan has taken a new approach to economic reform. With the hope of improving corporate profits and international competitiveness, the Japanese Diet passed legislation in May 2002 amending the Commercial Code to allow corporations to adopt an American-style executive officer system. The amendment establishes a workable new framework for more effective corporate governance in Japan and serves as an important early step in what promises to be a long road to reform. These benefits notwithstanding, its impact will be limited by the Amendment's …

Reforming The Japanese Commercial Code: A Step Towards An American-Style Executive Officer System In Japan?, Matthew Senechal

Washington International Law Journal

After more than a decade of attempting to remedy failing banks, rising unemployment, and a shrinking economy, Japan has taken a new approach to economic reform. With the hope of improving corporate profits and international competitiveness, the Japanese Diet passed legislation in May 2002 amending the Commercial Code to allow corporations to adopt an American-style executive officer system. The amendment establishes a workable new framework for more effective corporate governance in Japan and serves as an important early step in what promises to be a long road to reform. These benefits notwithstanding, its impact will be limited by the Amendment's …

Business Litigation And Cyberspace: Will Cyber Courts Prove An Effective Tool For Luring High-Tech Business Into Forum States?, Jacob A. Sommer

Vanderbilt Law Review

From beginning to end businesses are wed to the law. The life of a corporation typically begins with the filing of articles of incorporation with the secretary of state' and ends with either a merger into another corporation or dissolution. At every point in a corporation's life cycle, the American legal system places its imprimatur on the corporation's activities and governance. Inevitably, because of the sophisticated nature of business and frequent encounters with the law, businesses become engaged in their fair share of litigation and must resort to the judicial system for resolution.

Business, especially high-tech business, moves very quickly, …

Racial Stereotypes, Broadcast Corporations, And The Business Judgment Rule, Leonard M. Baynes

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Director's Fiduciary Obligations: A Fresh Look?, Pearlie Koh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

It is a pillar of equity that a person in a fiduciary position must not make a profit out of his trust which is part of the wider rule that a trustee must not place himself in a position where his duty and his interest may conflict (per Lord Upjohn in Phipps v. Boardman [1967] 2 A.C. 46, 123). The House of Lords in Regal (Hastings) v. Gulliver [1942] 1 All E.R. 378 demonstrated the unrelenting nature, and some have argued inequitable severity (see, e.g., Jones, (1968) 84 L.Q.R. 472), of the director-fiduciary’s obligations to his company. Such absolutism (Lowry …

High Drama And Hindsight: The Llp Shield Post-Anderson, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores several disadvantages associated with limited liability partnerships (LLPs) in the wake of the Anderson-Enron debacle. The article explains how conversion to LLP from a traditional partnership may undercut the incentive for partners to devote time and resources to monitoring and risk management activities. Additionally, the article notes that conflicts may arise regarding the payment of debts when a firm, without sufficient malpractice insurance, converts to an LLP. The article delves into the exodus problem caused by the lack of partners’ commitment to the firm. The article also describes the tension between partners over malpractice insurance decisions that …

Emergence Of A Private Banking Sector In The Czech Republic, Phillip M. Stupak

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Corporate Governance In The Sultanate Of Oman, Ellen Kerrigan Dry

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

While the United States’ capital market has had its headline-grabbing scandals involving companies such as World Com and Entron, the capital markey in the Sultanate of Oman (Oman) has also experienced its share of corporate troubles affecting not onlt large Omani companies such as National Rice Mills SAOG and Oman National Investment Company Holdings SAOG, but also dozens of smaller companies, which have had to turn to the government to assistance.

After Enron: Remembering Loyalty Discourse In Corporate Law, Lyman P.Q. Johnson

Scholarly Articles

The demise of monetary damages as a remedy for breach of the corporate director duty of due care means that only a breach of the duty of loyalty or good faith affords the possibility of holding corporate directors personally liable for wrongdoing. The author argues that the fiduciary duty of loyalty contains both a widely appreciated, but rather minimal, "non-betrayal" aspect and a less appreciated, but more affirmative, "devotion" dimension. The affirmative. thrust of loyalty, grounded in widely-shared cultural norms and finding expression in myriad literary and religious stories, offers a doctrinal avenue for addressing a potentially broader range of …

Janssen V. Best & Flanagan: At Long Last, The Beginning Of The End For The Auerbach Approach In Minnesota?, Eric J. Moutz

William Mitchell Law Review

This May, the Minnesota Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of special litigation committees for the first time in Janssen v. Best & Flanagan. The Janssen decision provides some confusing but tantalizing hints that the Minnesota courts may be ready to increase their scrutiny of internal corporate governance. This article describes the history, substance, and holding of Janssen and explores what it might mean for the business judgment rule in Minnesota. The article concludes by arguing that the Minnesota courts should abandon the deferential approach they have traditionally taken to special litigation committee decisions and that the Janssen decision …

Corporate Governance In The Emerging Markets Of The Global Village: Latin And South America, Rhoda Karpatkin

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Corporate governance scandals in America have focused public attention once again on global governance issues. Issues that are not solely corporate or business concerns, they have become public, political, and ethical concerns. They have become economic concerns, particularly due to the erosion of public confidence in the integrity of corporate leadership and the institutions that are charged with their oversight.

Not Our Grandparents' Partnership Statute, Mark Anderson

Articles

No abstract provided.

When Good Mergers Go Bad: Controlling Corporate Managers Who Suffer A Change Of Heart, Celia R. Taylor

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the tension between corporate fiduciary duties and traditional contract doctrine that arises when corporate managers agree to a merger and then suffer a change of heart. Specifically, it uses the Delaware case of IBP, Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc, to demonstrate how the obligations imposed on corporate managers by corporate law doctrine and by contract law doctrine may conflict in the merger context. In that context, a seller seeking to avoid a binding merger agreement must either honor their commitment or pay the price of their breach under contract doctrine, while corporate law doctrine may demand that …

Bring On 'Da Noise: The Sec's Proposals Concerning Professional Conduct For Attorneys Under Sarbanes-Oxley, Marilyn Blumberg Cane, Sarah Smith Kelleher

Faculty Scholarship

In the wake of Enron's and numerous other corporate scandals, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which empowered the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) to establish rules of professional conduct for attorneys who appear before it. In November 2002, the Commission released a proposal where attorneys would be required to report perceived violations of corporate governance and Commission rules up-the-ladder. Additionally, if the company failed to make an appropriate response, the attorney would be required to make a noisy withdrawal. After an onslaught of comments against the proposal, the Commission issued an alternative proposal for comment.

Under the alternative rule, …

Into The Abyss: How Party Autonomy Supports Overreaching Through The Exercise Of Unequal Bargaining Power, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 421 (2003), Pamela Edwards

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Behind The Words: Interpreting The Hobbs Act Requirement Of "Obtaining Of Property From Another", 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 295 (2003), Kristal S. Stippich

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cornering The Market In A Post-9/11 World: The Future Of Horizontal Restraints, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 557 (2003), Daniel Goldberg

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Changing World: A Commercial Landlord's Duty To Prevent Terrorist Attacks In Post-September 11th America, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 669 (2003), Thomas C. Homburger, Timothy J. Grant

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Impossible, Impracticable, Or Just Expensive? Allocation Of Expense Of Ancillary Risk In The Cmbs Market, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 653 (2003), Georgette Chapman Poindexter

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Title Vii Retaliation, A Unique Breed, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 925 (2003), David Anthony Rutter

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Americans With Disabilities Act (Ada), Seventh Circuit Review, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 953 (2003), Paul Cherner, Abel Leon

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Back To Basics: A Call To Reevalute The Unemployment Insurance Disqualification For Misconduct, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 27 (2003), Lisa Lawler Graditor

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Low Can You Go (Down The Ladder): The Vertical Reach Of Rico, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (2003), Scott Paccagnini

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreigners At The Gate: Foreign Direct Investment Regulations & Dispute Resolution Mechanisms In The People’S Republic Of China, George O. White Iii

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

The elevation of law over politics is very new in China and the extent to which it is to be taken seriously is not always clear to the Chinese involved. The Chinese official and the Chinese citizen are part of a political structure in which the Party’s will and policies have been the most effective law… Laws and regulations have to be understood in this wider context of a society in which the formal legal position is only one consideration and still often not the most important.

Rebuilding Accountability In The Boardroom, Stephen M. Davis

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

So, You Want To Be A Partner At Sidley & Austin?, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

One of the effects of the “industrialization” of professional organizations has been a shift in the business forms that these organizations adopt. Some organizations have shifted from partnership associations into professional corporations. Other organizations have remained partnerships in form, but have significantly restructured the roles of partners.

Using Environmental Insurance To Manage Risk Encountered In Non-Traditional Transactions, Janice E. Falini

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And The Reinvention Of Corporate Governance, Lawrence E. Mitchell

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.