Showing archive for: “Corporate Governance”
Clawbacks
Dennis Berman, writing in yesterday’s WSJ, discussed the SEC’s case against Maynard Jenkins, former ceo of CSK, to return $4.1 million in stock option grants because accounting fraud, in which Jenkins was not involved, allegedly inflated the returns the grants were based on. This is the SEC’s first attempt to enforce SOX Section 304 against ... Clawbacks
Federalizing proxy access: the SEC vs. Congress and the states
Lucian Bebchuk objects to efforts in the financial regulatory conference committee to “gut proxy access” by imposing a 5% share ownership threshold requirement for access: He says: Hard-wiring such an ownership threshold in the financial regulatory bill would be a significant setback for shareholders and corporate governance reform. While shareholder power to elect new directors ... Federalizing proxy access: the SEC vs. Congress and the states
Pre-formation fiduciary duties in LLCs: another NY problem
I have often complained (e.g., here) of the troubling lawlessness of NY LLC law, a problem that may be affecting the use of LLCs in that state and thereby NY’s business environment. A recent example is Roni LLC v Arfa. Investors in a real estate deal sued the promoters for breach of fiduciary duty by ... Pre-formation fiduciary duties in LLCs: another NY problem
Broad preemption and the federal takeover of state law
Last fall Guhan Subramanian, Steve Herscovici and Brian Barbetta (“SHB”) posted a paper claiming that Delaware’s antitakeover statute (Delaware GCL Section 203) was preempted by the Williams Act because it did not leave hostile bidders the “meaningful opportunity for success” required by three 1988 federal district courts which had upheld the Delaware law back in ... Broad preemption and the federal takeover of state law
Law as an immature industry
It’s no news that law grads can’t find good law jobs and can’t pay their debts. Steve Bainbridge explains: The post-war expansion of the regulatory state, the opening of the courthouse doors to new claims during the warren Court era, and the litigation explosion provided an exogenous shock that caused demand for lawyers to rise ... Law as an immature industry
The nature of the L3C
LLCs have always been all about experimentation. This keeps things interesting for those like me who study them. It also provides evidence of the laboratory of state law at work, particularly in business associations, and more particularly uncorporations. But not all experiments are successful. Sometimes it’s television, sometimes it’s electric underwear. Witness the L3C, or ... The nature of the L3C
The rise of the LLC
Last March I discussed a new article by Rodney Chrisman which shows “that LLCs are by far and away the predominant choice of business structure for newly-formed entities.” I noted then the article’s findings that LLCs are increasingly choosing to be taxed as S Corporations, indicating, as I said, that “the increase in LLCs therefore ... The rise of the LLC
The federalization of corporate governance marches on
Last month I noted that the Senate was about to repeat its SOX mistake with another ill-fated foray into regulating corporate governance. I focused on provisions for mandatory majority voting, separation of the board chair and CEO jobs, risk committees, say-on-pay, and pay-performance disclosures. Now Annette Nazareth summarizes (HT Bainbridge) the provisions in the ... The federalization of corporate governance marches on
Cassano wins the corporate crime lottery
Justice has decided not to go after Joe Cassano, the man who crashed the world. The WSJ attributes this decision to the “high bar [the government] needs to meet to make criminal charges stick in a courtroom.” How nice that the government has discovered this bar. That could have something to do with its getting its head ... Cassano wins the corporate crime lottery
Litigating Delaware governance law in an alien land
A recent Delaware case, Baker v. Impact Holding, Inc., raises several interesting questions on a topic I’ve discussed recently – where to litigate cases involving Delaware business entities. Francis Pileggi has a good summary of the case. I want to explore the case’s implications for jurisdictional competition. First some general background before getting into the ... Litigating Delaware governance law in an alien land
Financial reform and foreign stocks
The WSJ reported on Tuesday that moves by Daimler and other European, especially German, companies to shed their U.S. listings indicate that many of these firms “have come to view [a U.S. listing] as a liability.” The exodus will leave just four major German companies with U.S. listings. The WSJ notes that the costs have ... Financial reform and foreign stocks
Big News: TOTM Welcomes Larry Ribstein
We are very pleased to announce that Larry Ribstein is joining Truth on the Market. TOTM readers that have been with us from the beginning might recall that we got our start back in 2005 covering at Ideoblog while Larry went on vacation. For most of our readers, I suspect Professor Ribstein will require no ... Big News: TOTM Welcomes Larry Ribstein
