Showing archive for: “Corporate Governance”
Criminalizing fiduciary breach
I have posted my Senate testimony from last spring (“Fiduciary Duties of Investment Bankers: Senate Testimony – May 4, 2010”). There I comment on Arlen Specter’s subcommittee’s attempt to use the furor aroused by the SEC’s strike suit against Goldman to make some terrible new law. The subcommittee wanted to go beyond merely imposing new ... Criminalizing fiduciary breach
Mutual fund advisers’ fiduciary duties
As I discussed a couple of days ago in my post about the SEC’s moves toward imposing fiduciary duties on brokers, I have a new paper on how Congress and the courts messed up fiduciary duties in another context: Federal Misgovernance of Mutual Funds. The paper is about a Supreme Court case decided last term. ... Mutual fund advisers’ fiduciary duties
The future of the Company and the Uncorporation
The Economist has some important recognition of the uncorporation, written by its Schumpeter columnist, who is Adrian Wooldridge. Wooldridge co-wrote with John Micklethwait an important little book called The Company. The article begins, in the spirit of Wooldridge’s book, by noting that “for most of the past 150 years public companies have swept all before ... The future of the Company and the Uncorporation
Joe Grundfest wins Pileggi Award
Congratulations to Professor Joe Grundfest of Stanford Law School for being selected to present this year’s 26th Annual F.G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture in Law. It is a great event and I highly recommend attending. If by chance you can’t make it, be sure to read the resulting article in the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, ... Joe Grundfest wins Pileggi Award
Brokers as fiduciaries
One of Dodd-Frank’s major gifts to lawyers is Section 913(g), titled “authority to establish a fiduciary duty for brokers and dealers.” The section authorizes the SEC to create a standard of conduct for broker-dealers and investment advisers when providing personalized investment advice about securities to retail customers . . . to act in the best ... Brokers as fiduciaries
Delaware and the market for LLCs
Over at the Glom’s Junior Scholar Workshop Bob Lawless, Gordon Smith and I discuss Mahsen Manesh’s Delaware and the Market for LLC Law: A Theory of Contractibility and Legal Indeterminacy. This paper argues that Delaware’s lower, flatter charges for LLCs than for corporations indicate its lack of market power in the market for LLCs. Then ... Delaware and the market for LLCs
Top Ten Books in Corporate Governance
(Law Review Editors take note, my recent submission mentioned in the following post, titled: “Defending Against Shareholder Proxy Access: Delaware’s Future Reviewing Company Defenses in the Era of Dodd-Frank” is still in the process of negotiating for a permanent Law Review home, although the expedite process is getting very hot.) After two years of steadily ... Top Ten Books in Corporate Governance
Terrorism Finance Meets Business Associations
Now that TOTM blog traffic is hitting all-time highs, I thought it would be a good time to share a link to my most recently published paper, Terrorism Finance, Business Associations, and the “Incorporation Transparency Act.” It is highly critical of Senator Levin’s “Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act,” over which Senator Levin, Senator Lieberman, ... Terrorism Finance Meets Business Associations
Another judge blasts the SEC
When the SEC announced its settlement with Citigroup a couple of weeks ago, I said: The SEC has reached another peculiar settlement, this time $75 million from Citigroup, plus fines against executives. As with the Goldman settlement, Citigroup didn’t admit fraud, or even, as in that case, a mistake. Citigroup was accused of misleading investors ... Another judge blasts the SEC
The Countrywide cases
The WSJ today covers the legal battles surrounding Countrywide Financial. The story is about the effort to hang somebody for the financial crisis. It also reveals much about the problems of criminalization of corporate agency costs, the politicization of criminal justice, and financial reform. The case against Countrywide and its former ceo Angelo Mozilo is ... The Countrywide cases
Another special rule for Steve Jobs
I’ve written about the Apple rule. Here’s another version: “License plates? I don’t need no stinkin license plates.”
Why lawyers?
This is the real topic of Kenneth Anderson’s brief and more modestly titled Do Lawyers and Law Professors Have Any Comparative Advantages in Opining on Financial Regulation Reform? A Brief Essay. Anderson wonders whether “the skills of the lawyer and law professor are, at most, those of scribe seeking clearly to write down policy positions ... Why lawyers?
