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In Larkin v. Shah, issued on August 25, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder challenge to a merger due to the cleansing effect of fully informed stockholder approval, applying the Delaware Supreme Court’s recent Corwin v. KKR Financial …
Since 2010, 30 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation authorizing for-profit “public benefit corporations” (“PBC”), known in many states just as “benefit corporations.”[1] Although these laws vary slightly by state, each requires the board of directors …
Contractarians, who believe that fiduciary relationships are a species of contract, and anti-contractarians, who believe those relationships are sui generis, have long debated what fiduciary duties are and how they should be applied. Contractarians frame the fiduciary duty as one …
Companies confer the title of “Vice President” on a wide range of employees, from senior executives, in some cases, to line-level personnel, in others. While distinguishing someone functioning as a senior executive from someone in a lower-level position may be …
On May 6, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Delaware Chancery Court’s ruling that Zale Corporation’s sale to Signet Jewelers withstood scrutiny under the business judgment rule because the transaction was approved by a fully-informed, uncoerced vote of the …
In recent years, the stockholder’s appraisal remedy in Delaware has transformed from a little-noted feature of stock ownership to a potent option for dissenting shareholders. It’s also become a topic of heated debate. In our prior work, we have …
In the paper “Intrapreneurship,” recently made available on SSRN, I turn my focus from startups/entrepreneurship to innovation inside large corporations, or intrapreneurship. I examine both traditional intrapreneurship, or innovation taking place inside large corporations, and corporate venture capital, where …
In an important ruling last week, the Delaware Supreme Court reaffirmed that control of Delaware companies lies in the boardroom and held that the deferential business judgment rule is the “appropriate standard of review for a post-closing damages action” when …
The question of whether corporate law affects firm value has been a long-standing debate. Some believe corporate laws are trivial and have no effect on firm value, but the dominant view argues that corporate laws do affect firm value. Scholars …
Delaware dominates the incorporation market, with approximately 60% of publicly traded companies in the United States incorporated there, including 63% of the Fortune 500 companies. Over 90% of companies that incorporate outside of their principal state of operations make Delaware …
On May 12 and June 11, 2015, the Delaware Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, passed a bill (the “Bill”)[1] that would amend Title 8 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to prohibit Delaware stock corporations from including …
On May 4, 2015, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion providing a thoughtful analysis of when the creditors of an insolvent corporation have the right to bring derivative claims, such as those alleging …
How does corporate law matter? My recent paper suggests that the main impact of corporate law is not in imposing sanctions, but rather in producing information. The process of litigation or regulatory investigations produces information on the behavior of defendant …
The Delaware Rapid Arbitration Act (DRAA)—which provides a streamlined arbitration process that will allow for prompt, cost-effective resolution of business disputes—was passed by the Delaware House of Representatives on March 19, 2015, and the Delaware Senate on March 31, 2015, …
The Delaware Corporation Law Council—composed of members of the Delaware bar charged with proposing annual amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL)—has proposed several potentially significant amendments to the DGCL. Among other things, the amendments would seek to prohibit …
Courts and commenters regularly describe corporate charters and bylaws as “contracts” among shareholders. This necessarily raises the question whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA)[1] – which requires that arbitration clauses in “contracts” be enforced according to their terms – …
Since the Corporation Law Council of the Delaware State Bar Association announced earlier this month that it was recommending statutory amendments to prohibit “loser pays” fee shifting bylaws and charter provisions (and thus overrule the Delaware Supreme Court’s 2014 decision …
The following post is based on a memo originally published by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP on November 14, 2013 which can be found here.
Two recent Delaware Chancery Court opinions, issued on October 25 and November 9, 2013, …
James Matarese and Danielle Lauzon are M&A partners at Goodwin Procter LLP whose practices focus on technology and life sciences companies. Their recent representations include Onyx Pharmaceuticals in its merger with Amgen in a transaction valued at $10.4 billion.
On …
Recently, the Delaware legislature adopted and Delaware’s Governor signed into law several substantive amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the DGCL), 8 Del. C. §§ 101 et seq.
New Provisions
Ratification of Defective Corporate …