Securities Law Commons^™

Quieting The Sharholders' Voice: Empirical Evidence Of Pervasive Bundling In Proxy Solicitations, James D. Cox, Fabrizio Ferri, Colleen Honigsberg, Randall S. Thomas

Faculty Scholarship

The integrity of shareholder voting is critical to the legitimacy of corporate law. One threat to this process is proxy “bundling,” or the joinder of more than one separate item into a single proxy proposal. Bundling deprives shareholders of the right to convey their views on each separate matter being put to a vote and forces them to either reject the entire proposal or approve items they might not otherwise want implemented.

In this Paper, we provide the first comprehensive evaluation of the anti-bundling rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in 1992. While we find that the …

Sovereign Debt Restructuring: A Model-Law Approach, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The existing contractual framework for sovereign debt restructuring is sorely inadequate. Whether or not their fault, nations sometimes take on debt burdens that become unsustainable. Until resolved, the resulting sovereign debt problem hurts not only those nations (such as Greece) but also their citizens, their creditors, and—by posing serious systemic risks to the international financial system—the wider economic community. The existing contractual framework functions poorly to resolve the problem because it often leaves little alternative between a sovereign debt bailout, which is costly and creates moral hazard, and a default, which raises the specter of systemic financial contagion.

Most observers …

The Enduring Legacy Of Modern Efficient Market Theory After Halliburton V. John, Mark Klock

Georgia Law Review

In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court approved the fraud on the market theory for securities trading in an efficient market thus enabling securities class action plaintiffs to establish their required reliance element of the case through a rebuttable presumption. Basic v. Levinson held that efficient markets incorporate publicly disseminated information and investors who purchased or sold securities in an efficient market therefore relied on any publicly disseminated misinformation. For more than a quarter century since Basic, the efficient market theory has sustained a barrage of assaults from commentators who object to the use of economic theory in legal decision making …

“Ev’Ry American Experiment Sets A Precedent”: Why One Florida State Court’S Bitcoin Opinion Is Everyone’S Business, Allison Caffarone, Meg Holzer

Scholarly Works

Part I of this article seeks to explain in largely non-technical terms the design of the Bitcoin network. Part II explains the guidance and administrative rulings provided by the United States Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in relation to the issues in the Espinoza case. Additionally, Part II surveys different approaches taken by state legislatures and regulators in seeking to address decentralized virtual currencies, including bitcoin. Careful attention is paid to how the terms "monetary value" and "virtual currency" are defined, and how those definitions have been interpreted. Part II further explores the differences in the way …

Privileging Professional Insider Trading, Sarah Baumgartel

Georgia Law Review

This Article explores insider trading law's increasing
focus on personal relationships, and the way in which the
law has come to privilege professional over
nonprofessional insider trading. The Article discusses
how, in an effort to expand insider trading liability, the
government has sought to impose legal duties of loyalty
and confidentiality on a host of personal relationships not

otherwise subject to law-effectively basing civil and
criminal penalties on "corruption" in purely personal
relationships. At the same time, courts have adopted a
business property rationale regardingthe use of nonpublic
information and declined to prevent companies from
disclosing valuable nonpublic information to …

The Underground Rulification Of The Ordinary Business Operations Exclusion, Reilly S. Steel

Faculty Scholarship

In its landmark Cracker Barrel no-action letter, the SEC staff an­nounced a bright-line rule permitting exclusion of any shareholder pro­posal pertaining to a company’s management of its general workforce, even if focused on a significant social policy issue such as employment discrimination, under the “ordinary business operations” exclusion. The SEC reversed Cracker Barrel in 1998, returning to a case-specific approach to determining whether proposals fall under the exclusion. This Note examines 250 no-action letters from the 2015 proxy season and finds evidence indicating that the staff has, contrary to official SEC policy, returned to a rule-like approach to the ordinary …

The Wolf At The Door: The Impact Of Hedge Fund Activism On Corporate Governance, John C. Coffee Jr., Darius Palia

Faculty Scholarship

Hedge fund activism has recently spiked, almost hyperbolically. No one disputes this, and most view it as a significant change. But, their reasons differ. Some see activist hedge funds as the natural champions of dispersed and diversified shareholders, who are less capable of collective action in their own interest. A key fact about activist hedge funds is that they are undiversified and typically hold significant stakes in the companies that comprise their portfolios. Given their larger stakes and focused holdings, they are less subject to the “rational apathy” that characterizes more diversified and even indexed investors, such as pension and …

Introduction, Forrest S. Mosten

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This special edition of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution reflects the current exciting state of the Family Dispute Resolution field, inside and outside of the law school academy. The articles selected for this portion of the issue carry on the vibrant dialogue that took place at the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution's Annual Symposium "All in the Family: Intimate Parties, Intimate Issues and ADR". This Symposium, hosted at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law on October 19, 2015, engaged scholars, practitioners, and students from across the country.

Global Value Chains And Resource Corridors: The Nexus Is Regional Integration, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

To be more involved in the global value chains, sub-Saharan African countries should intensify their regional integration efforts. A first step in this direction can be implementing cross-border resource-based development corridors.

Arbitration Agreement Arbitrage?: Statutory Discrepancy Leads To Third Circuit Victory For Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Defendants In Khazin V. Td Ameritrade Holding Corp., John K. Lisman

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Uncloaking The Secrecy Behind Large-Scale Land Deals, Jesse Coleman

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Large-scale investments in agriculture and forestry have far-reaching implications for the lives of affected individuals and communities. They are also an integral part of efforts by national governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the governance of land resources. Despite their significance, these “land deals” and the contracts that govern them are often cloaked in secrecy, removed from relevant spheres of public scrutiny and debate.

Disruptive Technology And Securities Regulation, Chris Brummer

Fordham Law Review

    Nowhere has disruptive technology had a more profound impact than in financial services—and yet nowhere do academics and policymakers lack a coherent theory of the phenomenon more, much less a coherent set of regulatory prescriptions. Part of the challenge lies in the varied channels through which innovation upends market practices. Problems also lurk in the popular assumption that securities regulation operates against the backdrop of stable market gatekeepers like exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing systems—a fact scenario increasingly out of sync in twenty-first-century capital markets.

    This Article explains how technological innovation “disrupts” not only capital markets but also the exercise of …

Behind Enemy Phone Lines: Insider Trading, Parallel Enforcement, And Sharing The Fruits Of Wiretaps, Alexandra N. Mogul

Fordham Law Review

    Two key trends were present in the successful prosecution of Raj Rajaratnam and his coconspirators in one of the largest insider-trading conspiracies in history: the use of wiretaps to investigate and prosecute insider trading and a joint effort between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct the investigation. Despite the close working relationship between the DOJ and the SEC, the DOJ never disclosed the fruits of the wiretaps to the SEC, presumably due to its belief that Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (as amended, the …

Political Uncertainty And The Market For Ipos, Jay B. Kesten, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents a simple theory and model of the effects of political uncertainty on the market for IPOs. Our model generates four central predictions: (i) increased political uncertainty reduces the frequency of IPOs; (ii) firms that choose to conduct an IPO during periods of political uncertainty are, on average, of higher quality and generate greater return on investment in the secondary market; (iii) political uncertainty increases the cost of capital for IPO firms; but (iv) underpricing is less pronounced during periods of heightened political uncertainty. We demonstrate that each of these predictions is consistent with available empirical evidence.

Our …

Dodd-Frank’S Extension Of Criminal Corporate Liability Through The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Enabling Whistleblowers And Monitoring Conflict Minerals, Tim Bakken

Pace Law Review

In a sense, through its whistleblower provision, the Dodd-Frank Act has enabled the government to use corporate employee whistleblowers to support criminal prosecutions. That position finds agreement in this article, but the conclusion reached is that the results to be obtained from the whistleblower provision will be positive. Through an analysis of the Dodd-Frank Act, this article discusses further the new reach of the FCPA, particularly in light of the whistleblower and conflict-minerals provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act. Finally, this article concludes that although the new provisions can be costly, the provisions are beneficial. The traditional corporate model is now …

Exploring The Link Between Food Security And Climate Change, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Our growing global population is demanding a more resource-intensive and so-called “Western” diet. And that change in demand has drastic impact on how we must change our supply.

Tpp Would Let Foreign Investors Bypass The Canadian Public Interest, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In early October, prime ministerial candidate Justin Trudeau promised Canadians “a full and open public debate” on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With 30 chapters that would bind Canada to sweeping agreements on everything from services to intellectual property to the environment to procurement, there is much to debate.

Next Generation Treaty – India’S New Model Bit Makes It Clear That Its Goal Is To Accomplish More Than Investor Protection, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson, Sudhanshu Roy

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The April release of India’s draft model bilateral investment treaty 1(BIT), which is expected to be approved by the cabinet soon, has generated a rich public debate on its international investment regime. There are important questions about the purpose and content of investment treaties, both in India and other countries. However, some reactions – like Augusts Law Commission report suggesting that the model BIT was not sufficiently investor-friendly – frame the discussion too narrowly, ignoring key questions and objectives behind India’s transitioning investment policy regime.

How Algorithmic Trading Undermines Efficiency In Capital Markets, Yesha Yadav

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article argues that the rise of algorithmic trading undermines efficient capital allocation in securities markets. It is a bedrock assumption in theory that securities prices reveal how effectively public companies utilize capital. This conventional wisdom rests on the straightforward premise that prices reflect available information about a security and that investors look to prices to decide where to invest and whether their capital is being productively used. Unsurprisingly, regulation relies pervasively on prices as a proxy for the allocative efficiency of investor capital.

Algorithmic trading weakens the ability of prices to function as a window into allocative efficiency. This …

Locked In: The Competitive Disadvantage Of Citizen Shareholders, Anne M. Tucker

Faculty Publications By Year

In this Essay, I challenge the conventional corporate law wisdom that unhappy mutual fund investors paying high fees don’t need litigation or regulation to protect their interests because they should simply exit a fund and reinvest elsewhere. The exit solution, advanced by Professors John Morley and Quinn Curtis in Taking Exit Rights Seriously provided an elegantly simply solution to the problem of unhappy indirect investors (e.g., mutual fund investors) given that they are often low-dollar, low-incentive, rationally-apathetic investors facing enormous information asymmetries and collective action problems. According to their view, competition produced by exit, or the threat of exit, is …