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

The New EU Market Abuse Regulation

• A new Market Abuse Regulation will apply across the European Union (EU) from July 3, 2016, replacing the previous market abuse regimes that existed in EU Member States and applied only to instruments traded on EU regulated markets. • For the first time, issuers of securities on previously unregulated exchanges across the EU will […]

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Weekly Roundup: June 10–June 16, 2016

Accounting for Rising Corporate Profits: Intangibles or Regulatory Rents? Posted by Jim Bessen, Boston University School of Law, on Friday, June 10, 2016 Tags: Accounting, Consumer protection, Efficiency, Firm performance, Firm valuation, Innovation, Lobbying, Market efficiency, Political spending, Profitability, R&D, Rent-seeking Chelsea Therapeutics: Management Projections & Fiduciary Duties Posted by Steven Epstein, Fried, Frank, Harris, […]

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Engagement: The Missing Middle Approach in the Bebchuk–Strine Debate

In our article entitled Engagement: The Missing Middle Approach in the Bebchuk–Strine Debate, recently published in the NYU Journal of Law & Business, we contend that in the debate over whether more director or shareholder control would maximize firm value, a critical approach for influencing firm management effectively is missing. This approach is shareholder engagement, and […]

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Is the Stock Market Just a Side Show? Evidence From Venture Capital

Is the stock market just a sideshow or does it have real effects on economic activities? Conventional wisdom believes that stock prices merely reflect expectations about future cash flows. However, a growing strand of literature challenges this traditional view by arguing that financial markets as a whole have the ability of aggregating different pieces of […]

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Oversight of the SEC

Thank you for inviting me to testify today [June 14, 2016] regarding the current work and initiatives of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission). The SEC is a critical agency that serves as the bulwark safeguarding millions of investors and the most vibrant markets in the world. Thanks to the exceptional work […]

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CEO Overconfidence and Financial Crisis

Bank financial contagion is cited as a key feature of the financial crises, as problems at specific financial institutions rapidly morphed into a crisis for the entire financial system. Shocks to bank health have played a systematic role in worsening financial stability. Yet not all financial institutions suffered during these crisis years. In our article, CEO Overconfidence […]

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Debt Restructurings and the Trust Indenture Act

In a case commonly referred to as Marblegate, a federal district court recently held that a debt restructuring by for-profit education provider EDMC violated a non-impairment provision in the Trust Indenture Act (TIA), a Depression-era statute governing bond indentures. The restructuring presented bondholders with a choice between exchanging their bonds for equity and being left […]

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The Optimal Size of Hedge Funds

In my article, The Optimal Size of Hedge Funds: Conflict between Investors and Fund Managers, forthcoming in the Journal of Finance, I examine whether the standard compensation contract in the hedge fund industry aligns managers’ incentives with investors’ interests. One of the important ways in which hedge funds differ from traditional investment vehicles is in […]

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Citigroup: Delaware Court on “Holder Claims”

The Delaware Supreme Court recently addressed the issue of whether “holder claims”—claims brought by investors seeking damages based on continuing to hold stock in reliance on a company’s alleged misstatements, rather than buying or selling—are direct or derivative in nature. In Citigroup Inc., et al. v. AHW Investment Partnership, et al., No. 641, 2015, 2016 […]

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Tilton: Constitutional Challenge to SEC Administrative Proceedings

On June 1, the Second Circuit in Tilton et al. v. SEC, No. 15-2103 (2d. Cir. Jun. 1, 2016), echoed recent Seventh and D.C. Circuit decisions (respectively, Bebo v. SEC, No. 15-1511 (7th Cir. Aug. 24, 2015), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 1500 (Mar. 28, 2016), and Jarkesy v. SEC, No. 14-5196 (D.C. Cir. Sept. […]

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