Business Organizations Law Commons^™

The Lion Awakens: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - 1977 To 2010, Michael B. Bixby

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article discusses the history, purposes and provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and traces its use and enforcement activity from 1977 to the present. This once little-used law has in recent years become the focus of aggressive activity by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The manuscript also includes numerous charts reporting on key cases and enforcement activities over the last thirty-three years by the DOJ and SEC, as well as other information and statistics regarding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Planning And Practice - The Rooftops Project: Report Summarizing Results Of A Survey Of Not-For-Profit Organizations, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

The Rooftops Project's first national field study of the attitudes and approaches of not-for-profit organizations with respect to the owned, leased or hosted real estate that supports their core missions and operations.

Is The Eu Taking Shareholder Rights Seriously? An Essay On The Impotence Of Shareholdership In Corporate Europe, Pavlos E. Masouros

Pavlos E. Masouros

This article critically analyzes the Shareholder Rights Directive ("SRD") (Directive 2007/36/EC). It is essentially an attempt to show that the deficit in the European corporate governance model with regard to the status of the shareholders persists even in the post-SRD era and that we still have a long distance to cover in order to truly empower shareholders in the EU. The SRD along with certain other Company Law Directives and the various European national corporate laws form a synthesis that falls short of providing shareholders with the full potential of getting their corporate governance voice through within listed corporations.

First …

La Prescripción Adquisitiva De Dominio, David García

David García

No abstract provided.

The Equity Trustee, Kelli A. Alces

Scholarly Publications

As we reel from the effects of a recent financial disaster, it is apparent that there is a significant gap in corporate governance and accountability for management. One reason we have experienced this financial cataclysm is the inability of shareholders to do the "shareholderj ob. " Shareholders, as the putative owners of corporations, hold a venerated place in corporate governance. They are responsible for electing directors and monitoring management as well as valuing companies through trades in a vigorous market. The shareholder collective action problem and resulting rational apathy have kept shareholders from effectively fulfilling their role in corporate governance. …

Shotgun Weddings: Director And Officer Fiduciary Duties In Government-Controlled And Partially-Nationalized Corporations, David M. Barnes

Vanderbilt Law Review

Corporate law considers the affairs of a corporation to be private activity. The prevailing concept of the firm is a nexus of private contract rights among participants in an economic enterprise. But for many U.S. auto and financial services corporations, the events of the fall of 2008 and the winter of 2009 turned this presumption on its head. The U.S. government's $700 billion bailout injected an alien actor-the United States Treasury-into this once-private enterprise. The bailout enabled the Treasury to take a direct equity stake in many of the nation's struggling auto and financial services corporations. In the fall of …

The New Financial Deal: Understanding The Dodd-Frank Act And Its (Unintended) Consequences, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

Contrary to rumors that the Dodd-Frank Act is an incoherent mess, its 2,319 pages have two very clear objectives: limiting the risk of the shadow banking system by more carefully regulating derivatives and large financial institutions; and limiting the damage caused by a financial institution’s failure. The new legislation also has a theme: government partnership with the largest Wall Street banks. The vision emerged almost by accident from the Bear Stearns and AIG bailouts of 2008 and the commandeering of the bankruptcy process to rescue Chrysler and GM in 2009. Its implications for derivatives regulation could prove beneficial: Dodd-Frank will …

Debt As Venture Capital, Darian M. Ibrahim

Faculty Publications

Venture debt, or loans to rapid-growth start-ups, is a puzzle. How are start-ups with no track records, positive cash flows, tangible collateral, or personal guarantees from entrepreneurs able to attract billions of dollars in loans each year? And why do start-ups take on debt rather than rely exclusively on equity investments from angel investors and venture capitalists (VCs), as well-known capital structure theories from corporate finance would seem to predict in this context? Using hand-collected interview data and theoretical contributions from finance, economics, and law, this Article solves the puzzle of venture debt by revealing that a start-up’s VC backing …

Pennsylvania's Sales And Use Tax: Has Nearly $1 Billion Been 'Zapped' Away In Fraud?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The Sales and Use Tax is an essential part of Pennsylvania’s revenue profile. Not only is it the State’s second largest revenue source, it has historically played a critical role in reducing the volatility of Pennsylvania’s overall tax collections. The sales tax is also critical to the city of Philadelphia, and Allegheny County. During the current economic downturn both the revenue and structural attributes of this levy should be pushing it to the front of the tax policy line.

The two topics that should rest atop Pennsylvania’s tax policy agenda should be: (1) joining the Streamlined Sales Tax initiative and …

Panelist, Unexplored Terrain: Companies, Trade Associations And Risk, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Not Biting The Hand That Feeds You: Public Accounting Firms And Conflicts Of Interest, Gregory L. Paul

Golden Gate University Law Review

Section I of this Comment will discuss the role and responsibilities of public accounting firms and provide a brief background of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section II will explore the mandatory audit firm rotation and other proposals seeking to remedy the inherent conflicts of interest problem. Lastly, Section III proposes a competitive bidding system overseen by the SEC as a potential remedy for this problem.

Breathing New Life Into Old Technological Infrastructure: Broadband Internet As A Means Of Jump-Starting The Economy And Connecting The Country, Elizabeth Chernow

Legislation and Policy Brief

This paper examines the current structure of universal service and the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, recent pushes to expand the definition of and funding for universal service to include broadband access, and how broadband internet can contribute to saving the ailing economy. This paper concludes by calling for the inclusion of broadband internet in the Universal Service Fund.

Committee Capture? An Empirical Analysis Of The Role Of Creditors' Committees In Business Reorganizations, Michelle Harner, Jamie Marincic

Michelle M. Harner

The number of businesses experiencing financial distress increased significantly during the past several years. The number of Chapter 11 reorganization cases likewise rose. And many of these business failures were spectacular, leaving little value for creditors and even less for shareholders. Consequently, how the business debtor’s limited asset pie is divided and who gets to allocate the pieces are very relevant and important questions.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Code generally contemplates the appointment of a committee of the debtors’ unsecured creditors to serve as a fiduciary for all general unsecured creditors and as a statutory watchdog over the debtor and its …

The Amalgamating Reorganization Provisions: The Asymmetry In Treatment Of Forward And Reverse Triangular Mergers And Other Problems, Tad Ravazzini

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment will discuss the amalgamating reorganizations generally (types A through C as well as some D's) and, specifically, triangular reorganizations. This comment will first provide an overview of the general requirements of the amalgamating reorganization provisions. It will then continue to the following topics: (1) a discussion of the Code's triangular reorganization provisions, giving attention to both forward and reverse triangular mergers; (2) an analysis of the asymmetry in treatment of triangular mergers based on whether they take the form of a forward or reverse triangular merger; (3) an exploration of the Congressional desire for tax-parity among the reorganization …

Corporate Philanthropy And The Business Benefit: The Need For Clarity, Shelby D. Green

Golden Gate University Law Review

It is supposed that corporations give to charitable causes out of self-interest - indeed, it is argued that this is all that the law permits - as a measured business response to political pressures and public hostility.s But can corporations give out of altruism - simply on the basis that giving is the social responsibility of all citizens, including corporate citizens? Case law and some commentary appear to answer no. Nevertheless, the actual giving practices of corporations seem, difficult to explain otherwise. Recently, the American Law Institute ("ALI"), as part of its Corporate Governance Project, proposed a rule to define …

Citizens United And The Threat To The Regulatory State, Tamara R. Piety

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Although Citizens United has been roundly criticized for its potential effect on elections and its display of judicial immodesty (or "activism"), the effect of the case which may be both most profound and perhaps most pernicious is its effect on the commercial speech doctrine. This is an aspect of the case which has been largely overlooked. Most people seem to be unaware of any connection between election law and the commercial speech doctrine-except, that is, those who have been working long and hard to accomplish the change it foreshadows. They are keenly aware of its implications.

Registros Acelerados: Emissores Com Grande Exposição (Egems) Já Podem Acessar O Mercado Mais Rapidamente, Luiz Rafael De Vargas Maluf

Luiz Rafael de Vargas Maluf

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Warm Glow, Usha Rodrigues

Scholarly Works

Professor Brian Galle’s Keep Charity Charitable is a thoughtful contribution to the ongoing conversation about the proper tax treatment of charitable organizations. I largely agree with Galle’s arguments, but I would like to offer two criticisms of his positions: first, Galle overstates the problem posed by for-profit firms offering charitable services; and second, he understates the power of “warm glow” in the nonprofit organization.

Demand And Supply Forces In The Market For Law Interplaying Through Jurisdictional Competition: Basic Theories And Cases, Chang-Hsien Tsai

Chang-hsien (Robert) TSAI

Inspired by corporate charter competitions in the 19th-century U.S. and contemporary Europe as well as the negative impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on the U.S. cross-listing market, this article draws positive lessons from the above stories that demand and supply forces underlying jurisdictional competition constrains regulating jurisdictions from disregarding business demands and from imposing excessive regulation, and that jurisdictional competition brought about by mobility or exit would push for legal flexibility. Through the positive arguments developed in this article, regulatory jurisdictions in East Asia could, to an extent, understand the true costs and benefits of regulation in the …

Choice Of Form And Network Externalities, Larry E. Ribstein, Bruce H. Kobayashi

William & Mary Law Review

This Article provides the first detailed empirical analysis of firms' choice of organizational form. It provides important evidence on whether there is an efficient market in organizational forms or firms' choice of form is impeded by network externalities. We focus on formations of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited liability companies (LLCs) in examiningthe effect of various factors on firms' choice of business form. Our data provides important evidence against the network externalities hypothesis. Because the LLP and LLC forms are similar except for the LLPs link to the existing "network" of partnership law, firms would prefer the LLP to …