Securities Law Commons^™

Inside Out (Or, One State To Rule Them All): New Challenges To The Internal Affairs Doctrine, Ann Lipton

Publications

The internal affairs doctrine provides that the law of the organizing state will apply to matters pertaining to a business entity's internal governance, regardless of whether the entity has substantive ties to that jurisdiction. The internal affairs doctrine stands apart from other choice of law rules, which usually favor the jurisdiction with the greatest relationship to the dispute and limit parties' ability to select another jurisdiction's law. The doctrine is purportedly justified by business entities' unique need for a single set of rules to apply to governance matters, and by the efficiency gains that flow from allowing investors and managers …

Nontraditional Investors, Jennifer S. Fan

BYU Law Review

In recent years, nontraditional investors have become a major player in the startup ecosystem. Under the regulatory regime of U.S. securities law, those in the public realm are heavily regulated, while those in the private realm are largely left alone. This public-private divide, which is a fundamental organizing principle of securities law, has eroded with the rise of nontraditional investors. While legal scholars have addressed the impact of some of these nontraditional investors individually, their collective impact on deal terms, deal timelines, due diligence, and board configuration has not been discussed in a holistic manner; neither has their impact on …

Spac Attack, Justin Kuehn

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Top Ten Issues In De-Spac Securities Litigation, Wendy Gerwick Couture

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

I am delighted to contribute to this symposium on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). The securities litigation associated with the de-SPAC transaction is at an early stage, but courts are already wrestling with a number of unsettled issues that cast a mirror on SPACs and the securities laws more broadly. As these issues are resolved, they will affect the future of de-SPAC transactions as well as the regulatory environment in which they operate. In this essay, I identify ten such issues, drawing from the pleadings, briefings, and hearings in pending de-SPAC securities cases, with the goal of highlighting the key …

Spac Regulation—Past, Present And Future, E. Ramey Layne, K. Stancell Haigwood

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Financial Innovation And Unforeseen Consequences: Spacs, Sec Lending, And Shorts, Christian A. Johnson

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Although publicly traded “special purpose acquisition companies” (SPAC) have been trading for decades, the effect of the unique shareholder rights found in SPAC shares should be fully studied and compared with the rights of publicly traded non-SPAC shares. Because of their differences, PAC shares will not necessarily behave in the same way as non-SPAC shares in certain situations. The short selling of SPAC shares offers a useful case study as well as lessons for regulators, investors, and short sellers about the unforeseen and unintended consequences of financial innovation in the other-wise understood corner of securities lending and short selling of …

Corporate Response To The War In Ukraine: Stakeholder Governance Or Stakeholder Pressure?, Anete Pajuste, Anna Toniolo

Emory Business Law Review

This Article empirically investigates the corporate response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the framework of the stakeholder capitalism debate. Some describe corporate leaders’ decision to withdraw from Russia as an example of stakeholder governance, maintaining that they placed social responsibility over profits. Others question the authenticity of corporate support for Ukraine and argue that companies left Russia mainly driven by operational and reputational concerns.

Against this backdrop, we conduct an empirical study of reactions to the outbreak of the war from companies in the S&P500 and STOXX600 indices. We explore whether managers effectively decided mostly on ethical and …

Heyman Center Book Talk: Going Public, Heyman Center On Corporate Governance, Rachel Landy, Dakin Campbell, Megan Baier

2022–2023 Flyers

No abstract provided.

Heyman Center Book Talk: Going Public, Heyman Center On Corporate Governance

2022 Event Invitations

Join us for a lively discussion with Dakin Campbell, author of Going Public: How Silicon Valley Rebels Loosened Wall Street’s Grip on the IPO and Sparked a Revolution and Megan Baier, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, moderated by Rachel Landy, Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of the Heyman Center at Cardozo Law School.

Taming Unicorns, Matthew Wansley

Indiana Law Journal

Until recently, most startups that grew to become valuable businesses chose to become public companies. In the last decade, the number of unicorns—private, venture-backed startups valued over one billion dollars—has increased more than tenfold. Some of these unicorns committed misconduct that they successfully concealed for years. The difficulty of trading private company securities facilitates the concealment of misconduct. The opportunity to profit from trading a company’s securities gives short sellers, analysts, and financial journalists incentives to uncover and reveal information about misconduct the company commits. Securities regulation and standard contract provisions restrict the trading of private company securities, which undermines …

The Corporate Forum, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci, Christina M. Sautter

Faculty Works

In this response to Professor Jill Fisch’s article "GameStop and the Reemergence of the Retail Investor," we focus on one of the risks associated with the growth of retail investing that Fisch surveys, uncontrolled information sourcing. Drawing on our work on retail investors, we revisit an instrument dear to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, whose potential has not been unleashed so far, the corporate forum. Our response succinctly discusses the main mechanics of the corporate forum, the benefits the corporate forum could provide, and the feasibility hurdles that might undermine the success of corporate forums.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (Spacs) And The Sec, Neal Newman, Lawrence J. Trautman

Faculty Scholarship

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are simply enterprises that raise money from the public with the intention of purchasing an existing business and becoming publicly traded in the securities markets. If the SPAC is successful in raising money and the acquisition takes place, the target company takes the SPAC’s place on a stock exchange in a transaction that resembles a public offering. Also known as “blank-check” or “reverse merger” companies, this process avoids many of the pitfalls of a traditional initial public offering.

During late 2020 and 2021 an unprecedented surge in the popularity and issuance of Special Purpose Acquisition …

A Proposed Sec Cyber Data Disclosure Advisory Commission, Lawrence J. Trautman, Neal Newman

Faculty Scholarship

Constant cyber threats result in: intellectual property loss; data disruption; ransomware attacks; theft of valuable company intellectual property and sensitive customer information. During March 2022, The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposed rule addressing Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure, which requires: 1. Current reporting about material cybersecurity incidents; 2. Periodic disclosures about a registrant’s policies and procedures to identify and manage cybersecurity risks; 3. Management’s role in implementing cybersecurity policies and procedures; 4. Board of directors’ cybersecurity expertise, if any, and its oversight of cybersecurity risk; 5. Registrants to provide updates about previously reported cybersecurity …

Taming Unicorns, Matthew Wansley

Articles

Until recently, most startups that grew to become valuable businesses chose to become public companies. In the last decade, the number of unicorns—private, venture-backed startups valued over one billion dollars—has increased more than tenfold. Some of these unicorns committed misconduct that they successfully concealed for years. The difficulty of trading private company securities facilitates the concealment of misconduct. The opportunity to profit from trading a company’s securities gives short sellers, analysts, and financial journalists incentives to uncover and reveal information about misconduct the company commits. Securities regulation and standard contract provisions restrict the trading of private company securities, which undermines …

Corporate Governance Guidelines: How To Improve Disclosure And Promote Better Corporate Governance In Public Companies, Jennifer O'Hare

Faculty Publications

If you are a shareholder of a public corporation, you may think it would be easy to find basic information about your shareholder rights, such as whether shareholders have the right to call special stockholder meetings. You would probably assume that the information would be disclosed in the company’s “Corporate Governance Guidelines,” (CGGs) which, according to a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rule, must be posted on the company’s website for shareholder review. But, as this article shows, companies are not required to disclose information about shareholder rights in their corporate governance guidelines, and most companies have chosen not to …

Don't Get Burned: Why The De-Spac Transaction Must Be Excluded From The Pslra's Safe Harbor Provision For Forward-Looking Statements, Jean-Claire Perini

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Don't Forget The "G" In Esg: The Sec And Corporate Governance Disclosure, Jennifer O'Hare

Faculty Publications

For years, many shareholders—both institutional and individual investors—have pressured the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to require public companies to disclose more information about the environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) risks facing the company. However, the SEC has generally refused calls to require public corporations to disclose, for example, how they are addressing climate change or workforce diversity challenges. With a new president in the White House and a new administration at the SEC, the SEC will soon propose new ESG disclosure rules, requiring more information about the “E” and the “S” in ESG. But the SEC has forgotten the …

Theranos: Case Study And Examination Of The Fraud Triangle, Abbey Jennings

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fraud is a serious issue which carries significant implications. Fraud committed by top level managers is particularly grievous, as it ripples through a firm, harming the company’s shareholders, employees, and credibility, while posing a threat to individuals and society (Zahra, et al.). A common framework in auditing, the fraud triangle, outlines three factors that if present, increase the risk or enable fraud to occur. The three factors are incentive, opportunity, and rationalization to commit fraud (Barlow).

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of a supposedly groundbreaking health tech company, Theranos, with what …

How Discretionary Decision-Making Impacts The Financial Performance And Legal Disclosures Of S&P 500 Funds, Bernard S. Sharfman, Vincent Deluard

Brooklyn Law Review

When investment funds track the S&P 500, the index becomes more than just a list of 500 companies. The focus then becomes the financial and regulatory issues that arise from the discretionary decision-making power of the Index Committee that governs the S&P 500. Based on our empirical research and analysis, this article recommends a new principal risk disclosure under SEC Form N-1A, which we refer to as “selection risk,” to be included in the statutory and summary prospectuses of investment funds that track the S&P 500. This type of risk results when the Index Committee uses its discretionary decision-making power …

The Sec's Ice-Cold Take On Climate Disclosure: Is The 2010 Interpretive Climate Guidance Working?, Patrick Dunbar

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Federally Mandated Online Sales Tax: A Logistical Solution For The Future Of E-Commerce, Daniel O'Connor

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Economic Structural Transformation And Litigation: Evidence From Chinese Provinces, To Economic Change And Restructuring, Doug Bujakowski, Joan Schmit

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The "Business Interruption" Insurance Coverage Conundrum: Covid-19 Presents A Challenge, Paul E. Traynor

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Misalighned Incentives In Markets: Envisioning Finance That Benefits All Of Society, Dr. Ryan Clements

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

What’S A Nice Company Like Goldman Sachs Doing In The Supreme Court? How Securities Fraud Class Actions Rip Off Ordinary Investors–And What To Do About It, Richard A. Booth

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

What’S In The Forecast For The Spac Boom & The Pslra?, Nick Krone

SLU Law Journal Online

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have exploded in popularity. These so-called “blank check” companies are used as vehicles to take companies public without going through a traditional IPO process. Financial projections in SPACs are currently protected by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA). In this article, Nick Krone examines whether SPACs should be protected by the PSLRA.

Monsanto: Creator Of Cancer Liability

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Corporate Response To Controversial Presidential Statements Or Policies

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Virtual Annual Meetings: A Path Toward Shareholder Democracy And Stakeholder Engagement, Yaron Nili, Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Faculty Scholarship

From demanding greater executive accountability to lobbying for social and environmental policies, shareholders influence how managers run modern companies. In corporate doctrine, the principal venue reserved for shareholders to influence and engage with management and each other is the annual share-holders meeting. Historically, the annual meeting was a vibrant forum for share-holder democracy and occasionally even a platform for debating pressing social issues. For decades, however, the role of the annual meeting in corporate governance has been in decline, resulting in today’s largely pro forma annual meetings. This Article explores how technological integration can resurrect the annual meeting as the …

Taking Corwin Seriously, Itai Fiegenbaum

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Corporate law’s most important development is founded on a misunderstanding of the channels and consequences of shareholder empowerment. The Article’s title references the seminal Delaware Supreme Court decision that ruled that a positive shareholder vote effectively insulates a friendly sale from judicial oversight. Central to Corwin’s reasoning is the notion that the shareholder vote provides an effective restraint against insider overreaching. Yet every deal that includes a premium over the market price is assured of shareholder approval. The doctrinal lynchpin’s real-life insignificance exposes a baffling inconsistency in contemporary takeover jurisprudence.

This Articles makes two novel contributions to the bourgeoning scholarship …