Securities Law Commons^™

The Property Law Of Tokens, Juliet M. Moringiello, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

Non-fungible tokens—or NFTs, as they are better known—have taken the world by storm. The idea behind an NFT is that by owning a certain thing (specifically, a digital token that is tracked on a blockchain), one can hold property rights in something else (either a real or intangible asset). In the early part of 2021, NFTs for items ranging from a gif of a pop-tart cat with a rainbow tail, to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, to a New York Times column (about NFTs!) have sold for millions of dollars over the internet. Promoters assert that NFTs are the …

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.

Session 4: Plunging Into Deep Water: An Immersion In Fintech, Defi (Decentralized Finance), & Web3, Joseph M. Vincent

SITIE Symposiums

This panel featured entrepreneurs providing their expert insight into the background, workings, and expected developments of the FinTech industry. Moderated by Adjunct Professor of Law Joseph M. Vincent, the panel features Ron Oliveira, Kory Hoang, and Jonathan Blanco.

The panelists provided insight on topics regarding: (1) the fundamental changes in financial services since the advent of FinTech; (2) background on the Stablecoin industry including a background of what Stablecoin is, and why it has been under recent scrutiny; and (3) the NFT market and the direction the NFT space is heading. In a Q&A session, the panelists also offered their …

Session 3: Deep Innovation Dive In Health Equity: Truveta (“Saving Lives With Data”), Steve Tapia, Dave Heiner

SITIE Symposiums

This session is a “deep dive” into health equity and research via a moderated discussion with Truveta, a new data partnership company poised for research breakthroughs in the healthcare sector. In it, Dave Heiner, General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer for Truveta, discusses the company’s healthcare-centered mission and the key role that data plays in the healthcare field.

Session 2: Diversity Perspectives: In-House Counsel, Debbie Akhbari

SITIE Symposiums

This expert panel addressed diversity perspectives in the legal field. Moderated by Debbie Akhbari, six panelists shared their stories. The panelists were Leticia Hernández, Bernadette Lopez, Elida Moran, Catherine Romero, Rachel Seals, and Katina Thornock. Each panelist's stories have been broken into its own section in the summary of proceedings.

Many diverse candidates have incorrect assumptions made about them, resulting in doors being closed by those in positions of power. This panel shared their personal stories and encouraged students and newer attorneys to keep “knocking on those doors” and for those in positions of power to open those doors. Through …

Session 1: Innovation In Legal Services, Steven W. Bender, Michael Cherry, Matthew Spencer

SITIE Symposiums

This panel featured two “disrupters” who detailed their experiences innovating in the legal services space. The first panelist spoke about data-driven regulatory reform and the other spoke as an entrepreneur whose product introduces artificial intelligence (AI) into the legal recruiting process. Two additional panelists provided commentary regarding the second panelist’s presentation.

The panel provided insight on the topics of: (1) the legal regulatory process at large; (2) how a data-driven and feedback-oriented sandbox provides an alternative regulatory process; (3) the legal hiring and recruiting process and (4) how AI allows law firms to consider alternative hiring metrics when assessing candidates …

Introduction To The 5th Annual Innovation And Technology Law Conference, Annette Clark

SITIE Symposiums

Seattle University School of Law’s then dean, now Dean Emerita, Annette Clark, opens the 5^th annual Innovation and Technology Law Conference, co-sponsored by the Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, and Innovation Law (SJTEIL) at Seattle University School of Law. Annette Clark has been involved with the planning and organization of the Innovation and Technology Law Conference since the conference’s inception. The theme of the 5^th annual 2022 conference is “deep innovation dives.”

Annette Clark explains that “This conference is part of our continuing efforts at Seattle [University] Law to expand educational opportunities for our students and community in …

5th Annual Innovation And Technology Law Conference: Deep Innovation Dives, Steven W. Bender

SITIE Symposiums

Steven W. Bender, Seattle University School of Law Professor and organizer of the SITIE Symposium series, details the history of the SITIE symposiums and the 2022 proceedings. He discusses how this year's symposium builds on themes and issues raised in previous symposiums and looks ahead to the 2023 SITIE symposium.

Bardy Diagnostics V. Hill-Rom: New Lessons On Material Adverse Effect Clauses, Robert T. Miller

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. v. Hill-Rom, Inc., the Delaware Court of Chancery once again had to apply a Material Adverse Effect clause to determine whether an acquirer was required to close an acquisition. The case develops the law of MAEs in several important ways. First, the agreement between the parties substituted for the customary MAE objects (e.g., the company’s business, financial condition, and results of operations) a bespoke defined term. The court interpreted the definition of that term in a way that made it functionally equivalent to more customary MAE objects; then, consistent with an unacknowledged trend in Delaware law, …

Freeing Cryptoassets From Howey: A Defense Of Genuine Token Offering, Kathryn A. Daly

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is the most powerful regulator of the U.S. securities market and serves to “protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.” The agency’s task of protecting retail investors and regulating market participants has been, at times, reduced to a binary choice between “Main Street” investors and “Wall Street” insiders. Some regulators and legislators rely on this binary to put pressure on cryptoassets, claiming that more regulation leads to more effective investor protections. This Note rejects that premise. Genuine tokens offerings (i.e., unregistered security offerings not designed to defraud investors) must be …

A Continental Rift? The United States And European Union's Contrasting Approaches To Regulating The Monopolistic Behavior Of Gatekeeper Platforms, Peter R. Enia

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Over the past decade, gatekeeper platforms, such as Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), have created highly monopolistic business models to benefit themselves while undermining third-party merchants on digital marketplaces. To illustrate, Amazon collects third-party merchant and consumer data on its marketplace to improve its private-label brands while simultaneously selling them alongside third-party merchant products, creating a significant conflict of interest business model. To address this anticompetitive behavior, the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (E.U.) have proposed contrasting approaches. The U.S., through the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, offers a structural separation remedy, giving the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission …

In Vogue Again: The Re-Rise Of Spacs In The Ipo Market, Maria Lucia Passador

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

If the capital markets described the year 2020 in a few words, it would certainly be Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPACs), which - although to a different extent - are now gaining momentum on both shores of the pond. While, in the United States, SPACs are really enjoying a new lease on life due to the pandemic, the outlook seems positive in Europe too, although data are not comparable to those registered across the Atlantic. This article focuses on SPACs in the United States prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (between January 2010 and December 2019), in order to understand their …

Targeted Regulation Of Proxy Voting Advice: Balancing Monitoring With Information Flow In The Age Of Esg, Jara R.Y. Jacobson

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Proxy voting advice businesses have historically been guided by disjointed rules and regulations based on their relationship to other entities, but under a 2020 rulemaking they were officially brought under the auspices of the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, after a change in presidential administrations, the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021 issued a proposed amendment which, if adopted, would rescind some of the more contentious elements of the initial 2020 rulemaking. This Note considers how, even if the 2021 proposed amendments are adopted, the Securities and Exchange Commission can simultaneously regulate and protect proxy voting advice businesses through the …

Mutual Fund Advisory Fees: Forty Years Of Failure, Stewart L. Brown Phd., Cfa

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In the 1960s, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attempted to correct an oversight in the Investment Company Act of 1940 (ICA) that allowed investment management firms to overcharge investors, namely, the absence of enforceable protections over excessive fees. Congress, in the 1970 amendments to the ICA, was influenced by the investment management industry and the resultant legislation sent ambiguous signals to the judicial system. Lacking clear guidance from Congress, in the seminal fee case Gartenberg v. Merrill Lynch, the Second Circuit fashioned a fiduciary standard favorable to the investment management industry. Under this standard, no plaintiff has ever won …

How Existing Securities Law Authorizes The Sec To Mandate And Regulate Sustainability Reporting, Kenya Rothstein

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Regulatory Budget For The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, J.W. Verret

Georgia State University Law Review

The Public Company Accounting Standards Board (PCAOB) was created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002 in response to the Enron and WorldCom auditing scandals. The PCAOB regulates the $20 billion annual auditing industry, which itself provides assurance for the financial integrity of $27 trillion in outstanding global publicly traded equity. The PCAOB is uniquely a quasi-private entity overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which approves its budget and must approve any changes in its rules. The PCAOB has undertaken initiatives to attenuate the cost–benefit calculus of its rules, most notably in a change from Auditing Standard 2 …

Universalizing Fraud, Parmida Enkeshafi

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

The criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes has reanimated public interest in fraud. Holmes, once a Silicon Valley prodigy, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and eleven counts of wire fraud. A jury found Holmes guilty on four counts, potentially subjecting her to 80 years in prison. This Note uses the example of Elizabeth Holmes's case to examine more broadly the role of morality in fraud and argues for a new framework by which to articulate and prosecute fraud.

Criminal jurisprudence has struggled to construct a satisfactory definition of "white-collar crime" since sociologist Edwin H. Sutherland …

Rule 10b-5 Meets Wagon Mound: A New Perspective On Loss Causation, Meiring De Villiers

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

International Securities And Capital Markets, Pratibha Jain, Gordon N. Cameron, Precia Darshan, Priscilla Tshibemba, Prashant Prakhar, Ken Kiyohara, Sabin Volciuc-Ionescu

The Year in Review

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 …