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

The Corporate and Securities Professors’ Brief in Bebchuk vs. Electronic Arts

Editor’s Note: This post is from Jeffrey N. Gordon of Columbia Law School. I filed earlier this week an amici curiae brief — on behalf of forty-six corporate and securities law professors from twenty-eight law schools around the country — in the case of Lucian Bebchuk vs. Electronic Arts, Inc.. The case is pending before […]

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The 10b-5 Guide: A Survey of 2007 Securities Fraud Litigation

My partners Robert F. Carangelo, Paul A. Ferrillo and Caitlyn M. Campbell have recently issued the 2007 edition of Weil, Gotshal & Manges‘ The 10b-5 Guide: A Survey of 2007 Securities Fraud Litigation. The Survey includes a detailed assessment of an extraordinarily active year in securities law in which securities fraud class action filings increased […]

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Share Repurchases and Pay-Performance Sensitivity of Employee Compensation Contracts

In my forthcoming Journal of Finance paper, Share Repurchases and Pay-Performance Sensitivity of Employee Compensation Contracts, I explore how share repurchases affect existing employee compensation contracts and offer a new explanation for the popularity of stock buybacks. Specifically, at the time of a share repurchase, employees are not permitted to tender their unvested shares, and […]

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Second Circuit Rejects Collective Scienter Theory

In a recent decision, the Second Circuit rejected a shareholder-plaintiff’s theory of collective scienter in a securities fraud suit brought against a financial services company. At issue in Teamsters Local 445 v. Dynex Capital, Inc., was a district court’s ruling that a plaintiff adequately pled scienter with respect to the corporate defendants even though it […]

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SEC proposes roadmap for IFRS adoption

Ernst & Young has released a Hot Topic discussing the recent release of the SEC’s proposed roadmap for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in the U.S. This step represents the most significant step to date by the SEC toward the adoption of a single set of high quality global accounting and financial reporting standards […]

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SEC Issues Corporate Website Guidance

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an interpretive release on the use of corporate websites by public companies. The release provides a means of complying with Regulation FD through posting information on websites in certain circumstances, and also gives additional clarification as to the use of websites for providing other information to investors. While […]

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CEO and CFO Career Consequences to Missing Quarterly Earnings Benchmarks

In a recent working paper co-written with Rick Mergenthaler and Shiva Rajgopal entitled CEO and CFO Career Consequences to Missing Quarterly Earnings Benchmarks, we investigate whether missing quarterly earnings benchmarks is associated with career consequences in the form of lower compensation (bonus, equity grants) and the dismissal of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the […]

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Fannie and Freddie by Twilight

Having now become explicitly government-backed entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and their supporters in Congress) can no longer argue that they do not pose a risk to taxpayers. It is not politically feasible for the government to back private companies when their shareholders and managements keep the profits but the taxpayers cover the losses. […]

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Securities Laws, Disclosure, and National Capital Markets in the Age of Financial Globalization

I have recently completed a paper titled Securities Laws, Disclosure, and National Capital Markets in the Age of Financial Globalization. The paper examines the following question: If capital can move freely between countries to take advantage of the best investment opportunities, are national capital markets still relevant? With complete capital market integration across countries, there […]

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Financial reporting and conflicting managerial incentives: The case of management buyouts

In our forthcoming Management Science paper, Financial reporting and conflicting managerial incentives: The case of management buyouts, we analyze the effect of external financing considerations on manager’s financial reporting behavior prior to management buyouts (MBOs). Our main motivation for choosing the MBO setting is the potential conflicting financial reporting incentive associated with external financing considerations. […]

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