Sky Blog
In my article The Arbitration Bootstrap,[1] I explain how courts are misinterpreting the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 (the FAA) in ways that allow firms to use arbitration clauses to render unenforceable contract terms enforceable. Arbitration clauses require …
Moody’s, S&P and Fitch represent an oligopoly in the credit rating business, accounting for 94 percent of the global market (Candelon et al., 2014) and for about 96.5 percent of all the outstanding ratings in U.S.[1] The three agencies …
On May 6, 2016, in Singh v. Attenborough, No. 645, the Delaware Supreme Court strengthened the defenses available to directors by clarifying a roadmap for effectively dismissing post-closing claims for breach of fiduciary duty. A fully informed, uncoerced vote …
Over the last twelve months, over fifty US publicly traded companies with a market capitalization of over $1 billion have announced plans to spin-off lines of business into independent companies. During that period, companies such as Starwood Hotels, ConAgra Foods, …
Following the 2008 financial crisis, more and more countries have begun to embrace whistleblower protections as a tool to change corporate cultures. Such provisions may give whistleblowers the protections they need to raise their voices, and draw attention to undesired …
The Delaware Supreme Court’s recent decision in Singh v. Attenborough (May 6, 2016, en banc, “Zale III”), written by Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr., is consistent with the trend of Delaware decisions that, as a practical matter, have …
Controversy surrounding the role of corporations in public life has not abated in the six years since the Justices decided, in Citizens United v. FEC,[1] that corporations have political-speech rights secured by the First Amendment. If anything, the …
On May 5, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) proposed a rule that would govern two aspects of consumer finance dispute resolution. First, the new regulations would prohibit providers of certain consumer financial products and services from including in …
Target firms typically employ either an auction or a negotiation method during merger negotiations. In auction deals, the pre-public takeover process involves contacting several potential bidders, signing confidentiality/standstill agreements and accepting private bids. In negotiation deals however, the target engages …
Covenants are an important feature of loan contracts that enable ongoing monitoring of borrowers by banks and flexible renegotiation of contract terms in the face of changing external and borrower conditions. A large body of empirical research has examined the …
On May 23, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a $1.3 billion civil penalty imposed against Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Bank of America, N.A., and related defendants (collectively, “Countrywide”) under the Financial Institutions Reform, …
There has been tension between the legal academy and the practising profession ever since law was first taught in university law schools in the 19th century. The sense of unease arose because of uncertainty as to whether the primary …
Why do sophisticated parties litigate under clouds of (easily resolvable) jurisdictional uncertainty?
In our recent essay available here, we argue that some sophisticated litigants do not raise obvious jurisdictional defects so that they can use jurisdictional uncertainty as a …
“And we played the Hustle music. There were, you know, printed materials passed out,” with dance steps so “ideally we could all perform the Hustle in precision,” recalled the former Countrywide first vice president. “There was a lot of excitement. …
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 16, 2016 that the provision of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 granting federal district courts exclusive jurisdiction over suits brought to enforce the Exchange Act is subject to the same jurisdictional test …
On May 17, 2016, the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) released new and updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) on the use of non-GAAP financial measures (“NGFMs”). The release of the C&DIs follows …
After the July 4th weekend, Reynolds Holding will be taking over as the fourth editor-at-large of the CLS Blue Sky Blog. It has been a remarkable year and a half, and I am confident our Blog will continue to grow …
In recent decades, it seems the only reason one flavor of corporate or financial misbehavior falls out of the public discourse is because a newer one has taken its place. Following the widespread corporate frauds of the 1990s, the unscrupulous …
Concerns about the governance of public corporations have taken center stage in recent years. Part of the debate on how to improve corporate governance has focused on policies that will give large shareholders (typically institutional investors) greater influence over corporate …