Securities Law Commons^™

The Paradox Of Financial Services Regulation: Preserving Client Expectations Of Loyalty In An Industry Rife With Conflicts Of Interest, Andrew F. Tuch

Scholarship@WashULaw

This paper considers the implications of Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Citigroup [2007] FCA 963, a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Australia. The case highlights an apparent paradox in financial services regulation: at the same time as allowing, or even fostering, the development of financial services conglomerates, regulation in multiple jurisdictions preserves potentially incompatible general law obligations that arise from client expectations of loyalty. The paradox is most evident in the context of the modern investment bank.

The paper discusses the dynamic nature of investment banks, their organizational structure, the types of conflicts they typically face and …

Workers, Information, And Corporate Combinations: The Case For Non-Binding Employee Referenda In Transformative Transactions, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

Employees present a curious puzzle for corporate law. The success of a corporation depends on its employees, from the chief executive officer down to the front-line production or service worker. But for the most part, corporate law relegates employees to the sidelines. Perhaps nowhere is this difference as dramatic as in the realm of mergers, acquisitions, and other transformative transactions. Such transactions are usually negotiated at the highest levels of management, approved by the board, and ultimately approved by the shareholders. In contrast, employees at most may be able to bargain about the effects of the merger through union representatives; …

The False Promise Of One Share, One Vote, Grant M. Hayden, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

Shareholder democracy has blossomed. The once moribund shareholder franchise is now critical in takeover contests, merger decisions, and board oversight. However, the mechanisms of this vote remain largely under theorized. In this Article, we use voting rights and social choice theory to develop a new approach to the corporate franchise. Political democracies typically tie the right to vote to the level of a person's interest in the outcome of the election. Corporate democracies, on the other hand, tend to define the requisite institutional interest quite narrowly, and thus restrict the right to vote to shareholders alone. This restriction has found …

Accountability And Competition In Securities Class Actions: Why "Exit" Works Better Than "Voice", John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

A sizable literature on class actions has long suggested that the plaintiff’s attorney is an independent entrepreneur over whom the class members have only limited control. But the analysis cannot stop here. Why does this state of affairs exist? This essay will give two connected answers to this question as a prelude to evaluating what reforms are likely to work:

(1) The rules of "litigation governance" differ diametrically from those of corporate governance. An entrepreneur seeking capital for a business venture must convince investors to "opt in" and buy the securities of the entrepreneur's start-up corporation. In contrast, a plaintiffs …

Reputational Sanctions In China's Securities Market, Benjamin L. Liebman, Curtis J. Milhaupt

Faculty Scholarship

Literature suggests two distinct paths to stock market development: an approach based on legal protections for investors, and an approach based on self-regulation of listed companies by stock exchanges. This Essay traces China's attempts to pursue both approaches, while focusing primarily on the role of the stock exchanges as regulators. Specifically, the Essay examines a fascinating but unstudied aspect of Chinese securities regulation – public criticism of listed companies by the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges. Based on both event study methodology and extensive interviews of market actors, we find that the public criticisms have significant effects on listed companies and …

Domestic Bonds, Credit Derivatives, And The Next Transformation Of Sovereign Debt, Anna Gelpern

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Not long ago, financial markets in most poor and middle-income countries were shallow to nonexistent, and closed to foreigners. Governments often had to rely on risky borrowing abroad; the private sector had even fewer options. But between 1995 and 2005, domestic debt in the emerging markets grew from $1 trillion to $4 trillion. In Mexico, domestic debt went from just over 20% of the total government debt stock in 1995 to nearly 80% in 2007. Foreign and local investors are buying. Over the same period, derivative contracts to transfer emerging market credit risk surpassed the market capitalization of the benchmark …

Fending For Themselves: Creating A U.S. Hedge Fund Market For Retail Investors, Houman B. Shadab

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

There Are Plaintiffs And … There Are Plaintiffs: An Empirical Analysis Of Securities Class Action Settlements, James D. Cox, Randall S. Thomas, Lynn Bai

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we examine the impact of the PSLRA and more particularly the impact the type of lead plaintiff on the size of settlements in securities fraud class actions. We thus provide insight into whether the type of plaintiff that heads the class action impacts the overall outcome of the case. Furthermore, we explore possible indicia that may explain why some suits settle for extremely small sums - small relative to the "provable losses" suffered by the class, small relative to the asset size of the defendant-company, and small relative to other settlements in our sample. This evidence bears …

A Structural Critique Of Trader Taxation, Shu-Yi Oei

Faculty Scholarship

This article scrutinizes the structural elements underlying the unusual tax treatment of securities traders under current law. After summarizing the distinguishing features of trader taxation, this article explains how the treatment of securities traders today has occurred due to a long-standing, legislatively created disjuncture at the point where the “to customers” requirement in the capital asset rules (i.e., the requirement that traders must sell “to customers” in order to escape capital asset classification and court findings that they do not) and the “trade or business” concept intersect. The article reviews some of the traditional critiques that have been levied against …

Securities Class Actions As Pragmatic Ex Post Regulation, Elizabeth C. Burch

Georgia Law Review

Securities class actions are on the chopping block--again. Traditional commentators continue to view class actions with suspicion; they see class suits as nonmeritorious byproducts of self-interest and the attorneys who bring them as rent-seekers. This approach has popularized securities class actions' negative effects. High-profile commissions capitalizing on this rhetoric, such as the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, have recently recommended eliminating or severely curtailing securities class actions. But this approach misses the point: in the ongoing push and pull of securities regulation,corporations are winning the battle. Thus, understandingthe complete picture of securities class actions necessitates a positive pragmatic account. This …

Last Ditch Options: An Assessment Of Independent Director Liability And A Proposal For Congressional Action In Light Of The Employee Stock Option Backdating Scandal, Matthew S. Chambers

Georgia Law Review

The employee stock option backdating scandal that came to light in 2006 affected over 100 public companies in the United States. Greedy executives, auditing oversight, and even faulty accounting software systems have been blamed for allowing backdating to happen. This Note, however, examines how some corporate directors, in derogation of their fiduciary duties, may have assisted stock option backdating. The Note concludes with a proposal for congressional action that will curb further stock option manipulation.

Sarbanes-Oxley Five Years Later: Will Criticism Of Sox Undermine Its Benefits?, Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act1 ("SOX" or the "Act") not only changed the details relating to financial reporting, internal controls, and corporate governance in general, but also changed the discussion about corporate climates and cultures, at least temporarily. The political discourse leading up to SOX's enactment in the aftermath of the accounting debacles of 2001 and 2002 was replete with discussions about more ethical and responsible corporate governance. The Act's passage, accompanied by the get-tough-on-Corporate-America speeches made by President George W. Bush and others changed the way corporate actors discuss their ethical obligations. The Act's strict requirements regarding financial …

Retail Investor Remedies Under Rule 10b-5, O'Hare Jennifer

Faculty Publications

This paper assesses the private remedies available under Rule 10b-5 to retail investors who have been defrauded by false corporate disclosures. After comparing the treatment received by retail investors to the treatment received by institutional investors, I identify several areas in which the federal securities laws disfavor retail investors who have been defrauded by false corporate disclosures, including the creation of a two-tiered system of investor remedies for securities fraud. Institutional investors are permitted to pick and choose which law and forum offers them the most attractive chance for recovery, but retail investors typically do not have this opportunity. They …