Author Description

Renowned for its richness, depth, and authorship, Cases and Materials on Corporations offers broad coverage of both public and closely held corporations. A powerful introductory chapter sets out the defining characteristics of a corporation. A thematic framework frames corporate law in terms of the corporation’s responsibilities to its employees, its investors, and society. New to the Ninth Edition: The introductory Chapter recognizes that issues of race and systemic discrimination have dominated recent headlines and political discourse. This has re-focused attention on the long-standing debate between proponents of the dominant shareholders primacy model of corporate governance and proponents of a more stakeholder-oriented model. Without taking sides on this issue, this Chapter notes that this debate has continued throughout American legal history, and it focuses on recent efforts by some states and Nasdaq to require greater diversity (both in terms of race and gender) on corporate boards. Current data is provided. In addition, this Chapter adds a new section to introduce the “public benefit corporation,” a new corporate form that is a hybrid of a profit-making corporation and a not-for-profit entity now recognized by a majority of the states. New material on the emerging line of good faith cases in the context of director oversight where a corporation is subject to “mission critical” regulation. This new line of cases opens up potential avenues to assign monetary liability to directors for failure to manage corporate risks. New Supreme Court decisions (including Lorenzo and Omnicare) are assessed, and the continuing struggle to define insider trading is reviewed. The chapter on shareholder voting and proxy gives special attention to recent efforts by activist hedge funds to influence and constrain corporate management. The revised chapter on takeovers takes up the legal rules governing friendly and unfriendly acquisitions. The chapter tracks the unique experience