Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Corporate Deleveraging

Deleveraging is central to capital structure dynamics, yet systematic analysis of the phenomenon is limited to a handful of prior studies that examine changes in average leverage for samples of firms selected to have high and/or recently increased leverage ratios. Having a more complete understanding of the nature and extent of deleveraging is of first-order […]

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Towards a New Solution to Retail Investors’ Apathy

Corporate law scholars have taken investors’ rational apathy for granted for decades, considering it a necessary evil once ownership is no longer closely held. The traditional explanation is well known: diversified retail investors, who individually hold small fractions of a firm’s equity capital, often lack the financial incentives to monitor management, as they know that […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Accounting & Disclosure, Corporate Elections & Voting, Empirical Research, HLS Research, Institutional Investors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Towards a New Solution to Retail Investors’ Apathy

Thoughts for Directors

Boards and management regularly use key performance indicators or metrics to oversee their businesses. These metrics typically cover financial and operating matters and are specific to each company and within industries. Metrics may be financial or operational, qualitative or quantitative, absolute or relative, or focused on short- or long-term performance. Metrics are critical to understanding […]

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The Law and Brexit VIII

As we move to a monthly schedule for the publication of our Brexit series, we finally have some idea as to the schedule for the Brexit process. The British Prime Minister indicated in her party conference speech that the UK will begin the exit process and two year negotiation period by the end of March […]

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Lower Performance for Target Pay? Pay for Performance Alignment in Times of Declining Performance

Ensuring alignment between pay and performance is challenging enough when a business is performing well. But what about during times of an industry or economic downturn, waning company performance, a shift in strategic business focus, or a period of investment when performance expectations are not as high as in recent years? Today, institutional investors and […]

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A New Model for SEC Enforcement: Producing Bold and Unrelenting Results

Good morning and thank you, Dean [Trevor] Morrison for that very kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here today [Nov. 18, 2016] and I want to thank the NYU Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement and the NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business for co-sponsoring this program. These programs provide important forums for […]

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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Regulation, Practitioner Publications, Private Equity, Regulators Materials, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation, Speeches & Testimony | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A New Model for SEC Enforcement: Producing Bold and Unrelenting Results

Embraer SA Pays $205 Million to the SEC and DOJ to Settle FCPA Violations

On October 24, 2016, U.S. authorities announced that Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer SA agreed to pay more than $205 million to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s anti-bribery, books and records and internal control provisions. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, Embraer made more than $83 million […]

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The U.S. Legal and Regulatory Environment Under a Trump Administration

Election Day brought an end to a long period of uncertainty that caused market fluctuations and delayed business planning decisions. As we navigate the post-election landscape, many questions remain regarding the potential policy direction of a Trump administration, including policies that could affect long-standing trade agreements, U.S. investments at home and abroad, the power and […]

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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Regulation, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Legislative & Regulatory Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The U.S. Legal and Regulatory Environment Under a Trump Administration

How Strong Stakeholder Bonds Can Help Firms Avoid a Crisis

Why is it the case that apparently isolated events (e.g., a court decision or a negative report from an environmental organization) sometimes escalate into crises while other times they go almost unnoticed? In new research to be published in the Administrative Science Quarterly, entitled Not All Sparks Light a Fire: Stakeholder and Shareholder Reactions to Critical […]

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Weekly Roundup: November 11–November 17, 2016

Stealing Deposits: Deposit Insurance, Risk-Taking and the Removal of Market Discipline in Early 20th Century Banks Posted by Charles W. Calomiris, Columbia Business School and Matthew Jaremski, Colgate University, on Friday, November 11, 2016 Tags: Banks, Deposit insurance, Depository banking, FDIC, Financial crisis, Financial regulation, Insurance, Liquidity, Moral hazard, Risk-taking, Systemic risk Banking Agencies’ Proposed […]

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