Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Licensing Open Government Data, Jyh-An Lee

UC Law Business Journal

Governments around the world create and collect an enormous and wide-ranging amount of data. For various social, political, and economic reasons, open data has become a popular government practice and international movement in recent years. It is estimated that more than 250 national or local governments from around 50 developed and developing countries have launched open government data (OGD) initiatives. Open data policies are widely recognized as a tool to foster government transparency and economic growth. Businesses have also developed innovative applications, products, and services based on OGD. Although OGD is a global movement, it faces a number of unsolved …

The Japanese Business Federation’S Influence On Energy Policy Reform: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, Bridget Cho

UC Law Business Journal

This note focuses on the series of events that were pertinent to the Fukushima Daichii Nuclear Disaster and recommends stringent nuclear power plant license procedures, stronger reform in accident mitigation policies, and heightened transparency between the government and its people. Japan embraces the peaceful use of nuclear technology to provide a substantial portion of its electricity despite being the only country to have suffered the devastating effects of nuclear weapons in wartime.

This note will also discuss how the evolving structure of the Japanese economy has led to a change in the pattern of the business sector’s engagement with energy …

Light On The Mayo: Recent Developments May Diminish The Impact Of Mayo Foundation On Judicial Deference To Tax Regulations, Matthew A. Melone

UC Law Business Journal

It therefore is necessary to consider the possibility that administrative law was an instrument of a class that took a dim view of popularly elected legislatures and a high view of its own rationality and specialized knowledge. This class drew upon popular political power, but primarily to establish another sort of power, which would be exercised by members of its own class, in a manner that reflected the alleged authority that came with their specialized knowledge. Although it did not thereby become the only ruling class, it at least made itself the rulemaking class.

Enterprise Without Entities, Andrew Verstein

Michigan Law Review

Scholars and practicing lawyers alike consider legal entities to be essential. Who can imagine running a large business without using a business organization, such as a corporation or partnership? This Article challenges conventional wisdom by showing that vast enterprises—with millions of customers paying trillions of dollars—often operate without any meaningful use of entities.

This Article introduces the reciprocal exchange, a type of insurance company that operates without any meaningful use of a legal entity. Instead of obtaining insurance from a common nexus of contract, customers directly insure one another through a dense web of bilateral agreements. While often overlooked or …

The Limits Of Gatekeeper Liability, Andrew F. Tuch

Scholarship@WashULaw

Gatekeeper liability – the framework under which actors such as law firms, investment banks and accountants face liability for the wrongs committed by their corporate clients – is one of the most widely used strategies for controlling corporate wrongdoing. It nevertheless faces well-recognized flaws: gatekeepers often depend financially on the clients whose conduct they monitor; to carry out their gatekeeping function, gatekeepers rely on individuals – often their employees – whose interests diverge from their own; and major transactions typically involve multiple gatekeepers, each with specific areas of expertise and information, which produces both gaps and overlaps in the gatekeeping …

Business Income And Business Taxation In The United States Since The 1950s, Conor Clarke, Wojciech Kopczuk

Scholarship@WashULaw

In theory, the U.S. tax system aims to attribute and tax all business income to individuals. But the tax treatment of this income varies. Pass-through income is taxed when earned; capital-gains income is taxed when realized; dividends when distributed; other forms of business income may escape taxation entirely. Business owners often have control over the timing and character of their income: They can often choose, for example, between reporting business income or deducting it as wages or fringe benefits. And laws change, changing the incentive and ability to shift income between the individual and corporate sectors.We integrate a wide variety …

Financing The Benefit Corporation, Dana Brakman Reiser, Steven A. Dean

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Effective Compliance With Antidiscrimination Law: Corporate Personhood, Purpose And Social Responsibility, Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

I begin the essay with an examination of the overlap between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. After doing so, I explore the notions of corporate personhood and purpose in order to suggest ways to make compliance programs less cosmetic and defensive and more meaningful and effective. I conclude that the decision making that is inherent in corporate governance is an important factor in the corporate social responsibility equation. There is a gap that separates the fulfillment of fiduciary duties (including the installation and upkeep of a compliance program) and best practices. Companies and their managers can win litigation, or …

Putting The Substance Back Into The Economic Substance Doctrine, Nicholas Giordano

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The foreign tax credit, which saves U.S. taxpayers from paying both foreign and domestic income taxes on the same income, is critical to facilitating global commerce. However, as savvy taxpayers discover increasingly complicated ways to abuse the foreign tax credit regime through the structuring of business transactions, courts have become increasingly skeptical of the validity of those transactions. Using the economic substance doctrine, a common law doctrine codified in 2010 at I.R.C. § 7701(o), courts will disallow tax benefits stemming from a transaction that is not profitable absent its tax benefits, and which the taxpayer had no incentive to undertake …

From Systemic Risk To Financial Scandals: The Shortcomings Of U.S. Hedge Fund Regulation, Marco Bodellini

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In the recent past, hedge funds have demonstrated that they can pose and spread systemic risk across the financial markets, and that their managers can use them to commit fraud and misappropriation of fund assets. Even if the first issue now seems to be considered a serious one by the U.S. legislature, which in 2010, as a legislative response to the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, enacted the Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), the current regulation still appears inconsistent and inappropriate to prevent and face it. By contrast, the second issue is not always considered …

Full Disclosure: Moving Beyond Disclosure Regulations To Affirmative Regulation Of Executive Compensation, Christopher Saverino

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In the period following the financial crisis of 2008, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), which compelled the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to engage in substantial rulemaking. The Dodd-Frank mandate in Section 953(b) required the SEC to promulgate a rule, which it eventually finalized and is currently known as Pay Ratio Disclosure. Historically, SEC rulemaking has received great deference when rules are judicially challenged. However, following the passage of Dodd-Frank, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has begun to grant less deference to SEC rulemaking where it has found that the SEC has …

Accountability In Corporate Governance In China And The Impact Of Guanxi As A Double-Edged Sword, Andrew Keay, Jingchen Zhao

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Accountability is an essential aspect of corporate governance and it has been argued that the “wenze” system of accountability in China comes very close to the accountability systems developed in Anglo-American corporate governance. This Article examines the role of cultural factors, namely guanxi and its derivatives, in corporate governance in China to determine what effect, if any, these cultural factors have on the operation and development of the “wenze” system in large listed companies. The Article specifically considers whether the cultural elements affect accountability, and if so, how and to what extent. It also explores whether these cultural factors are …

Challenging Nonbank Sifi Designations: Ge, Metlife, And The Need For Reform, Drita Dokic

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created, among other things, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an entity within the U.S. Department of the Treasury tasked with assessing and mitigating financial risk. Financial institutions with over $50 billion in assets are automatically deemed “systemically important.” However, under the Dodd-Frank Act, FSOC has the authority to designate non-bank companies engaged in financial activity as systemically important as well. Once designated as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI), these companies are subject to enhanced regulation and supervision by the Federal Reserve. Because the costs associated with such enhanced regulation …

Benefit Corporation Law, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

This article compares the approaches to benefit corporation legislation, particularly the Model Legislation proposed by B Lab, on the one hand, and the Delaware and Colorado laws, on the other.

Standing After Snowden: Lessons On Privacy Harm From National Security Surveillance Litigation, Margot E. Kaminski

Publications

Article III standing is difficult to achieve in the context of data security and data privacy claims. Injury in fact must be "concrete," "particularized," and "actual or imminent"--all characteristics that are challenging to meet with information harms. This Article suggests looking to an unusual source for clarification on privacy and standing: recent national security surveillance litigation. There we can find significant discussions of what rises to the level of Article III injury in fact. The answers may be surprising: the interception of sensitive information; the seizure of less sensitive information and housing of it in a database for analysis; and …

Malfunctioned Pacemaker And Business Operator's Liability In Us, Eu And Australia: Implication For Thailand, Peerasak Ounhachoke

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

At the present time, for the purpose of healthcare, pacemakers and other implantable medical devices are playing a significant role. However, the severity of level of damage arising from a malfunctioning pacemaker may be higher when compared with other simple products because when taking into consideration the characteristics and purpose of a pacemaker, it was normally implanted into a patient's body to control an abnormal heartbeat rate; therefore, a malfunctioned pacemaker may potentially cause harmful consequences, and in the worst scenario, death. From the abovementioned issue, the aspects of this research focused on the evolution of the laws and regulations …

Legal Measures For Employer To Reach Fair Practice In Organizational Restructuring In Thailand, Pitsanuchai Thongtha

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Restructuring, a normal managerial task of entrepreneurship, can lift up an enterprises' competitiveness potential in business societies. Restructuring will affect to the rights of all people in the enterprise. Labor laws and regulations not only provide adequate protection for employees, but also promote the flexibility to the business sectors. The employment relationships are involved with the actions of three parties - employees, employers and the government - that must substantially cooperate in order to establish efficient labor regulations. Thai labor laws which relate to working condition adjustment and dismissal are obsolete. It provides too much power for the courts in …

Distributed Governance, Carla L. Reyes, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Bejamin Edwards

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Distributed ledger technology enables disruption of traditional business organizations by introducing new business entities without the directors and officers of traditional corporate entities. Although these emerging entities offer intriguing possibilities, distributed entities may suffer significant collective action problems and expose investors to catastrophic regulatory and governance risks. Our essay examines key considerations for stakeholders and argues that distributed entities must be carefully structured to function effectively.

This essay breaks new ground by critically examining distributed entities. We argue that a distributed model is most appropriate when DLT solves a unique corporate governance problem. We caution against ignoring the lessons painstakingly …

Financing The Benefit Corporation, Dana Brakman Reiser, Steven A. Dean

Faculty Scholarship

The hybrid organizational forms designed with social enterprises in mind have proven to be hothouse flowers. Flourishing in state legislatures, even those with the most distinguished pedigrees-such as Delaware's public benefit corporation'-have so far failed to thrive in the marketplace. Fortunately, hybrid financial instruments offer a source of strength and stability that can help social enterprise to take root.

This Article examines the valuable role that financial instruments can play in providing social enterprises with the capital they need to grow. Debt with equity features and equity with debt characteristics constitute the lion's share of such financial tools. More exotic …

Recognizing Women's Rights At Work: Health And Women Workers In Global Supply Chains, Erika R. George, Candace D. Gibson, Rebecca Sewall, David Wofford

Faculty Scholarship

The Guiding Principles mandate that businesses respect the human fights enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights and in the International Labour Organization (ILO)'s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Due diligence processes and risk impact assessments are the main recommended means for ensuring compliance with companies' commitments to respect international human fights. Because OSH as a conceptual framework and regulatory order is not sufficient to identify the risk of health fights violations to women workers, we argue companies should not anchor their due diligence and risk assessment in OSH conventions and settle for a check-the-box solution …

To Thine Own Ceo Be True: Tailoring Ceo Compensation To Individual Personality And Circumstances, William O. Fisher

Law Faculty Publications

Eight-figure compensation. Cash. Restricted stock. Options. Performance shares. And more. Companies shower their CEOs with pay in large amounts, delivered in multiple ways, and dependent on complex and intricate formulae. It is all intended to motivate the top officers to make decisions that will best benefit their companies. Common sense tells us that the value of a complicated, multifaceted pay package- and hence its ability to motivate- will depend on the psychological characteristics and financial circumstances of the particular executive being paid. Economic theory and empirical studies confirm this intuition. Yet, companies generally ignore these vital factors. Substantive and disclosure …

Restoring Pre-Existing Compliance Through The Fcpa Pilot Program, Andrew B. Spalding

Law Faculty Publications

For a quarter-century, incentives to invest in corporate compliance programs have been a cornerstone of federal white-collar enforcement. But the U.S. Department of Justice's most recent announcement of anti-bribery enforcement policy-the FCPA Pilot Program-takes a peculiar and possibly inadvertent turn. In providing newly transparent and explicit penalty reductions, and rolling out the Department's declination policy, the program neglects to incentivize investments in pre-existing compliance. Though remedial, or postviolation, compliance receives a newly heightened importance, pre-existing compliance receives virtually no attention. This is strange, but should not be understood as a new policy change on the benefits of pre-existing compliance; no …

Piling On? An Empirical Study Of Parallel Derivative Suits, Jessica M. Erickson

Law Faculty Publications

Using a sample of all companies named as defendants in securities class actions between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2008, we study parallel suits relying on state corporate law arising out of the same allegations as the securities class actions. We test several ways that parallel suits may add value to a securities class action. Most parallel suits target cases involving obvious indicia of wrongdoing. Moreover, we find that although a modest percentage of parallel suits are filed first, over 80 percent are filed after a securities class action (termed “follow-on” parallel suits). We find that parallel suits and, …

Business Responsibilities For Human Rights And Climate Change - A Contribution To The Work Of The Study Group On Business And Human Rights Of The International Law Association, Sara L. Seck

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This contribution to the work of the International Law Association’s Study Group on Business and Human Rights considers the relationship between business responsibilities for human rights and climate change. While it is now widely accepted that the adverse effects of climate change undermine the enjoyment of human rights, and that businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, the relationship between business responsibilities for human rights and climate change is unclear. This paper first considers state duties to protect human rights from climate change harms, including harms arising from business activities, and second, considers how the business responsibility to respect …

In Pursuit Of Good & Gold: Data Observations Of Employee Ownership & Impact Investment, Christopher Greczy, Jessica S. Jeffers, David K. Musto, Anne M. Tucker

Scholarly Works

A startup’s path to self-sustaining profitability is risky and hard, and most do not make it. Venture capital (VC) investors try to improve these odds with contractual terms that focus and sharpen employees’ incentives to pursue gold. If the employees and investors expect the startup to balance the goal of profitability with another goal—the goal of good—the risks are likely to both grow and multiply. They grow to the extent that profits are threatened, and they multiply to the extent that balancing competing goals adds a dimension to the incentive problem. In this Article, we explore contracting terms specific to …

The Fiduciary Enterprise Of Corporate Law, Christopher Bruner

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Why Delaware Courts Should Abolish The Schnell Doctrine, Mary Siegel

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Is It Necessary For Corporations To Be Essentially At Home: An Exploration Of Exceptional Cases, Pricilla Heinz

Law Student Publications

This comment examines the current state of the law surrounding the exercise of general jurisdiction and forecasts the circumstances under which the Supreme Court is likely to clarify its recent decisions. Its purpose is to explore the principles announced in Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown and Daimler AG v. Bauman and consider whether the due process rationales offered in the past coincide with the new essentially at home standard imposed for general jurisdiction. Moreover, this comment analyzes the reactions of the lower courts in the wake of these decisions and predicts where the Supreme Court is headed in …

Corporate Transparency And The First Amendment: Compelled Disclosures In The Wake Of National Association Of Manufacturers V. Sec, Emma Land

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Objections To Disclosure Settlements: A How-To Guide, Sean J. Griffith, Anthony A. Rickey

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.