Columbia Law School
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Corporate Governance
Proposals to “Reform” the Section 13D Rules: Getting it Precisely Backwards
The current proposals to accelerate the timing of beneficial ownership disclosure under Section 13(d) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act and to broaden the definition of beneficial ownership to include derivative positions that provide economic exposure to stock price movement …
Disclosure Is Still the Best Policeman!
In a delightful essay, Ron Gilson and Jeff Gordon remind us that the times have changed and the Williams Act belongs in their view to the era of the Beatles. (Personally, I have trouble believing that Sgt. Pepper was really …
Pepper Hamilton on Round Two of Shareholder Say-on-Pay Litigation
The third proxy season of the Dodd-Frank Act’s mandatory shareholder “say-on-pay” advisory votes is well underway, and “round two” of shareholder say-on-pay litigation is in full swing. Unlike the first round of say-on-pay lawsuits, which were based on negative advisory …
The Marketplace of Ideas: Concluding Remarks on the Legal Theory of Finance (LTF)
LTF – The Work Ahead
Discussing the Legal Theory of Finance (LTF) on the Marketplace of Ideas has been a great experience. I want to thank my colleague Kathryn Judge for coming up with the idea and for writing an inspiring blog post that raises …
Religion, Inc., A Reply to Bainbridge
Nationwide, legal battles rage over the ability of secular, for-profit corporations to raise religious freedom objections to government regulation. At the center of the controversy lies the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer-based insurance cover contraception. It might be tempting …
Federal Court Holds That E-Mail Received By Employee From Lawyer on His Work E-Mail System Is Not Privileged
In a recent decision, Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, denied defendant Christopher Finazzo’s motion in limine to preclude the government from introducing an allegedly privi- leged e-mail that Finazzo’s personal attorney
The Marketplace of Ideas: Bruno Salama, Osny da Silva Filho, and Richard Shamos on Pistor’s Legal Theory of Finance
Elasticity, Incompleteness, and Constitutive Rules
In A legal theory of finance, Katharina Pistor outlines a theory designed to deal with the law-finance paradox, that is, the observation that when “the full force of law is relaxed or suspended to take account of changes in …
Free Markets and the Legal Theory of Finance
Richard Shamos is an Associate in the Investment Management practice at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York.
The relationship between free markets and government is perhaps one of the most prominent economic issues of modern political economy. In …
Improving Benefit Corporation Law
Haskell Murray is an Assistant Professor of ADR and Business Law at Belmont University, College of Business Administration in Nashville, Tennessee.
Social enterprises use commercial activity to drive revenue and seek the common good. The benefit corporation is the most …
The Jaime Dimon Vote: Corporate Governance at the Crossroads
JPMorgan shareholders’ recent rejection of a proposal to split the CEO and Chairman positions was the most talked about proxy vote during the 2013 annual meeting season. While the 68% to 32% vote against was a resounding victory for Jamie …
The Marketplace of Ideas: Professor Anna Gelpern and James P. Sweeney Weigh in on Pistor’s Legal Theory of Finance
Rules, Institutions, and the Legal Theory of Finance
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published its first major policy treatment of sovereign debt restructuring since 2003. It was prompted by the flawed restructuring in Greece, high profile litigation against Argentina, and recurring crises in smaller …
U.S. District Court Upholds the Conflict Minerals Rule, but Vacates the Resource Extraction Rule
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has released two important rulings this month that speak to the SEC’s ability to promulgate rules. On July 23rd, the court upheld the SEC’s conflict minerals rule (see here) and …
Square Root Voting: A New Approach to Regulation of Chaebol, Keiretsu, and Other Conglomerate Organizations in Asia
The economies of several important Asian countries are dominated by large business groups. Many of them are family controlled, such as those in South Korea (known as “chaebol”), Israel and India. Others are not, the most notable example of which …
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard Awards Its First “Oscar”
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of fiduciary principles, has awarded its first ever Tamar Frankel Fiduciary Prize to Robert A.G. Monks, the corporate governance activist and scholar. The Frankel Fiduciary Prize is …
The Marketplace of Ideas: Cathy M. Kaplan and Jeremiah S. Pam Weigh in on Pistor’s Legal Theory of Finance
‘Neither Admit Nor Deny’: Practical Implications of SEC’s New Policy
In a move that appears at once to be shrewd, savvy and largely symbolic, the SEC has modified its longstanding policy that it will not require a defendant to admit or deny liability, or facts that might establish its liability,