IP law has evolved from being a little pool to a big ocean. Corporate governance needs to respond to society's rising expectations of directors and boards as the impact of the global intellectual property ecosystem is felt. How can a responsible corporate culture of IP transparency be stimulated to create a rosy future to connect corporate communication with the desires of shareholders, investors and other stakeholders? The astonishing lack of material quantitative and qualitative information companies report about their IP assets makes it difficult for shareholders and other stakeholders to assess directors' stewardship of those assets - a pressing corporate governance issue in the 21st century. This book advances IP reporting in alignment with the key corporate governance principles of transparency and disclosure. It analyses the juncture between the IP ecosystem; corporate finance and accounting for intangibles; and corporate governance. Patents, mini-case studies and an original business triage style model for assessing IP disclosures are used to illustrate the gaps corporate governance theory needs to address. Focussing on the common law tradition of corporate governance in England and Wales, intangibles and IP reporting developments in other jurisdictions are also explored.

Recent cases of corporate failures, including the fixing of LIBOR rates and money laundering issues in the banking industry, highlight how behavioural issues on the part of company directors are significant contributory factors in corporate governance and the success or failure of companies. This book examines how personality and behavioural issues have contributed to major corporate failures, and how this risk may be managed. The book examines behavioural risks in corporate governance, and evaluates the extent to which risk management mechanisms have acknowledged various aspects of behaviour. Drawing from cases in the UK, the US and Australia and research in psychology and the behavioural sciences, Ngozi Vivian Okoye argues that current corporate governance mechanisms lack provision for identifying and managing personality risks, and suggests how constituent elements of behaviour should be engaged with when developing preventive mechanisms for corporate failures. Okoye presents a conceptual framework for identifying and managing personality risks, and explores how personality risk may be built into corporate governance regulation. The book will be of great use and interest to researchers and practitioners in business and company law, corporate governance, and critical management studies.

Comprising essays specially commissioned for the volume, leading scholars who have shaped the field of corporate law and governance explore and critique developments in this vibrant and expanding area and offer possible directions for future research. This important addition to the Research Handbooks in Law and Economics series provides insights into subjects such as the role of directors, shareholders, creditors and employees; empirical studies of litigation and shareholder activism; executive compensation; corporate gatekeepers; comparative law; and behavioral approaches to law and finance. Topics are organized within five sections: corporate constituencies, insider governance, gatekeepers, jurisdiction, and new theory. Taken as a whole, the volume serves as an introduction for those new to the field and as a reference for those unfamiliar with some of the topics discussed. Authoritative and accessible, the Research Handbook on the Economics of Corporate Law will be a valuable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners of corporate law and economics. Contributors: R.B. Ahdieh, V. Atanasov, S.M. Bainbridge, B. Black, M.M. Blair, M.T. Bodie, C.S. Ciccotello, D.C. Clarke, L.A. Cunningham, A. Darbellay, S.M. Davidoff, L.M. Fairfax, F. Ferri, J.E. Fisch, T. Frankel, R.J. Gilson, S.J. Griffith, C.A. Hill, R. Kraakman, D.C. Langevoort, I.B. Lee, B.H. McDonnell, R.W. Painter, F. Partnoy, D.G. Smith, R.S. Thomas, R.B. Thompson, D.I. Walker, C.K. Whitehead

Regulation A(+): How the JOBS Act Creates Opportunities for Entrepreneurs and Investors explains how to raise money under new provisions in the recently enacted JOBS Act. It will guide and advise executives of emerging growth companies, entrepreneurs, financial advisers, venture capitalists, investment bankers, securities lawyers, finance and MBA students, and others on how to raise up to $50 million a year through streamlined regulations. Signed by President Obama on April 5, 2012, Title IV of the JOBS Act amends the 1930s-era Regulation A, making it far easier for businesses to raise growth capital through public offerings. It is, in effect, a new type of IPO but with much less regulation and cost. Regulation A(+): How the JOBS Act Creates Opportunities for Entrepreneurs and Investors spells out new processes that can and will have a dramatic impact on how companies obtain growth capital to create new jobs and bolster returns for investors. Some financial gurus believe that the new law, dubbed Regulation A+ due to the enhancements, will usher in a revolutionary period of growth and innovation comparable to our largest past economic expansions.To date, much of the commentary on the JOBS Act has focused on Title III, which allows broader use of crowdfunding to raise up to $1 million per year. However, many entrepreneurs and economists believe that new changes to Regulation A will have a much greater impact on innovation and job creation. The best part? Regulation A+ lifts many constraints on soliciting funds and trading new stock issues. Among other things, readers of this book will learn how to take advantage of these provisions: * Regulation A+ permits companies to raise up to $50 million, a tenfold increase over the old limit of $5 million, and much more than the crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act ($1 million). * Regulation A+ allows companies to market IPOs to more people than just accredited investors and makes it easier to get the word out on offerings. * Regulation A+ allows certain companies to avoid the SEC periodic reporting regimen (Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, Form 8-K, and proxy statements), provided that the number of shareholders is kept below revised thresholds. * Regulation A+ exempts certain companies from many onerous and costly compliance requirements, including Sarbanes-Oxley.In short, Regulation A+ greatly simplifies the capital-raising process, making it easier to grow companies, create jobs, and reward investors. What you'll learn * How Title IV of the JOBS Act amends Regulation A, making it easier for you to raise up to $50 million in expansion capital while avoiding burdensome regulations. * How raising funds through Regulation A might now be a better and less costly choice for raising capital than current options (like loans or venture capital). * How to use Regulation A to gain liquidity for your business, your employees, and your investors--while maintaining control. * How to abide by Regulation A rules before, during, and after an IPO. * What kinds of businesses can take part in Regulation A offerings * How and where to trade shares after the IPO. Who this book is for Executives of emerging growth companies, entrepreneurs, financial advisers, venture capitalists, investment bankers, securities lawyers, finance and MBA students, and others.

Unlocking Company Law is the ideal resource for learning and revising Company Law. This 4th edition has been extensively updated, and this, along with its many pedagogical features, makes it the ideal companion for students studying Company Law. Each chapter in the book contains: * aims and objectives; * activities such as self-test questions; * charts of key facts to consolidate your knowledge; * diagrams to aid memory and understanding; * prominently displayed cases and judgments; * chapter summaries; * essay questions with answer plans. In addition, the book features a glossary of legal terminology, making the law more accessible.

From the late 20th Century, a catalogue of high profile disasters and controversies has drawn attention to the changing relationship between corporations and society. This is taking place against the context of globalisation and this change has become the driving force for demands that corporations become socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has therefore emerged as a concept which attempts to encapsulate these demands for social responsibility. Yet at the heart of CSR is the debate about the role and relevance of law. This book will explore the proposition that CSR is a valid legal enquiry and will suggest a law-jobs approach which offers a potential general analytical perspective for examining such fluid concepts such as CSR in law. This approach is innovative because of the insistence of some users of CSR on placing law outside the parameters of CSR or giving it a very limited role; however, Okoye argues here that the very nature of CSR as seeking legitimacy for corporate power pushes to the fore the question of what role law can play. Law is an essential and important aspect of legitimacy and thus this work explores a legal theoretical approach that holds potential for a legal framework of CSR. This interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to students and scholars of corporate law and business studies in general.

This book is about the regulation of corporations that use bribery in international commerce to win or maintain overseas business contracts and interests. Recent large-scale cases involving multinational corporations demonstrate how large commercial 'non-criminal' enterprises are being implicated in substantive overseas bribery scandals and illustrate the difficulties faced by responsible enforcement authorities in the UK and Germany. The book imports concepts from regulation theory to aid our understanding of the emerging enforcement, self-regulatory and hybrid responses to transnational corporate bribery. Lord implements a qualitative, comparative research strategy involving semi-structured interviews, participant observation and document analysis to provide empirical insights into this relatively invisible area of criminological interest. Despite significant cultural differences between the jurisdictions, this book argues that UK and German anti-corruption authorities face procedural, evidential, legal, financial and structural difficulties that are leading to convergence in prosecution policies. Although self-regulatory and hybrid mechanisms are aiding the response and gaining some level of regulation, the default position is one of accommodation by state agencies, even where the will to enforce the law is high. This book is essential reading for academics and students researching corporate and white-collar crimes and the concept of regulation more generally, as well as law enforcement agencies and international and intergovernmental organisations concerned with anti-corruption.

Effective regulation of consumer credit in modern society is an ever-changing challenge. As new forms of credit emerge in free societies, regulation often lags behind. This volume explores contemporary problems related to the regulation of consumer credit in market economies with a focus on credit extended to the most vulnerable and poorest members of the community. Written by experts in the field of consumer credit regulation from Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa, the book examines some of the most important consumer credit issues facing consumers today and proposes innovative ways to protect the consumer interest in those markets.

Electronic Commerce and International Private Law examines the maximization of consumer protection via the consumer's jurisdiction and law. It discusses the proposition that a new connecting factor be used to improve the efficiency of juridical protection for consumers who contract with foreign sellers by electronic means and offers recommendations as to how to amend existing jurisdiction and choice of law rules to provide a basis for the consumer to sue in his own jurisdiction and for the law of the consumer's domicile to apply. The book will be a valuable resource for academics, students and practitioners working in the areas of international private law, electronic commerce law and consumer law.

Analyzing the structures of transnational organized crime, this book considers whether traditional mechanisms and national jurisdictions can tackle this increasing menace. Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses in the present methods of control, the book discusses the possibilities of developing more effective national and international strategies, the creation of non-legal mechanisms outside the traditional criminal justice system and the implications of 'disruption strategies'. The roles of law enforcement officers, tax investigators, financial intelligence officers, compliance officers, lawyers and accountants - in enforcing both civil and criminal sanctions on organized crime - are also considered.

This collection of essays is a festschrift to honour Professor Dan Prentice who retired in 2008 from the Allen & Overy Professorship of Company Law in the University of Oxford. Dan Prentice has been deeply involved in corporate law from all perspectives: as a scholar, teacher, law reformer and practising member of Erskine Chambers. His interests have covered the full range of corporate law, finance and insolvency. The occasion of his retirement from his Professorship has afforded a number of leading corporate law experts from around the world, many of whom are his former students and colleagues, an opportunity to address some of the most important issues in corporate law today, in his honour. Corporate law has always been a fast-moving area, but the present pace of change seems quicker than ever. The Companies Act 2006, by some way the longest piece of legislation ever passed by the UK Parliament, is reshaping the landscape of domestic company law. At the same time, legislative and judicial developments at the European level in corporate and securities law are of unprecedented importance for corporate lawyers based in the UK. This outstanding series of papers addresses a number of the most important issues currently facing the subject, including the impact of the new Companies Act on directors' duties, shareholder litigation and capital maintenance; aspects of insolvency and banking regulation, the Capital Requirements Directive, and a new Convention on Intermediated securities. It will be essential reading for all those interested in the field.

This book focuses on unfair contract terms in consumer contracts, in particular the existing legislation and the proposals by the Law Commissions for a new unified regime. In this context it considers, in particular, what we mean by fairness (both procedurally and in substance); the tools used; the European dimension; the move from general principles from the more piecemeal approach typical in UK legal tradition; and the further move in this direction as a result of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

The first decade of the new millennium was bookended by two major economic crises. The bursting of the dotcom bubble and the extended bear market of 2000 to 2002 prompted Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was directed at core aspects of corporate governance. At the end of the decade came the bursting of the housing bubble, followed by a severe credit crunch, and the worst economic downturn in decades. In response, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, which changed vast swathes of financial regulation. Among these changes were a number of significant corporate governance reforms. Corporate Governance after the Financial Crisis asks two questions about these changes. First, are they a good idea that will improve corporate governance? Second, what do they tell us about the relative merits of the federal government and the states as sources of corporate governance regulation? Traditionally, corporate law was the province of the states. Today, however, the federal government is increasingly engaged in corporate governance regulation. The changes examined in this work provide a series of case studies in which to explore the question of whether federalization will lead to better outcomes. The author analyzes these changes in the context of corporate governance, executive compensation, corporate fraud and disclosure, shareholder activism, corporate democracy, and declining U.S. capital market competitiveness.

This important and timely new book examines the manner and extent of involvement by institutions in monitoring the performance of the executive management of "companies". Such monitoring of managerial performance fits within a broad framework of devices and market forces which operate to reduce the divergence between the interests of managers and shareholders in non-controlled "companies". Institutional intervention to change the management of companies has been confined to the most extreme cases of under-performance, sometimes combined with strong suspicion of misconduct on the part of the impugned managements. Apart from examining the situations in which institutional intervention is likely to take place and how it can be effected, this book also looks in considerable detail at the advantages and disadvantages of greater involvement by institutions. The whole work benefits from detailed comparative analysis of the position in Australia and the UK.

The Section on Business Law of the International Bar Association is greatly indebted to the Editor, J. Michael Robinson and to John Gauntlett, the Chairman of the Committee on Issues and Trading in Securities, and his Vice Chairmen, Blaise Pasztory, Robert Briner and the members of the Committee who have contributed, for their joint efforts in preparing this ftrst book of their committee. It will make a valuable addition to the libraries of all practising lawyers because it has been written by practising lawyers, with the knowledge and experience of their own daily work and the understanding of what a practi tioner is looking for. I am confident that this book will prove of real assistance to practitioners world-wide, as have previous publications of other Committees of the Section on Business Law. I wish it great success. I hope that you may wish to join the Section on Business Law and thereby make contact and work with lawyers with similar interests in commercial law. WALTER OPPENHOF Chairman of the Section on Business Law XI Editor's Introduction I have great pleasure in presenting reports from fourteen countries. In the best tradition of many institutions of higher learning which trace their origins to some medieval ale house, this project has its genesis in a bar."

This insightful and accessible introduction provides students and practitioners with a comprehensive overview of the increasingly important discipline of international investment law. Focusing primarily on the legal principles contained in the growing body of international investment agreements, this book covers the core concepts of the discipline, with attention given to their relation to each other and to the manner which they have developed through arbitration case law. The context of each legal principle is explored, along with a consideration of some of the major debates and emerging criticisms. Avoiding extensive case extracts, this book adopts an engaging and succinct narrative style which allows readers to advance their understanding of the topic while examining the legal principles with academic rigour and discerning commentary.

Hardbound. This volume is a general dictionary within the areas of company, business and financial law, where the selection of terms is based primarily on established and emerging usages within Community legal terminology. The volume provides definitions and general explanations in English, supplemented with specific explanations in Danish and/or German as required. The careful arrangement of terms in Danish and German allows near-independent use between these two languages. Heavy emphasis is placed on idiomatic language use with the inclusion of a large number of complex verb and noun phrases, everyday abbreviated terms, and names of institutions etc. When making the selection of terms, the compilers used their experience as professional translators of commercial and theoretical legal and financial documents. The dictionary will be invaluable to Community business people, lawyers, accountants, translators and students.

Banking Law Day 2013 inBerlin adressed the topics of "Bankenregulierung und Insolvenzrecht" and "Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch und Honorarberatung." Under the direction ofOlaf Langnerand Elisabeth Roegele, expert speakers from academia and daily praxis debated the issues.

Auf der Grundlage einer rechtsvergleichenden Untersuchung der Gesellschaftsrechtsordnungen der wirtschaftlich wichtigsten EG-Mitgliedstaaten Frankreich, GroAbritannien und Deutschland beschAftigt sich die vorliegende Arbeit mit der Frage, inwiefern "spezielles Gesellschaftsrecht fA1/4r bArsennotierte Aktiengesellschaften in den EG-Mitgliedstaaten" geschaffen worden ist und was die sinnvollen Inhalte eines derartigen - eventuell noch zu schaffenden - speziellen Gesellschaftsrechts sind.

Despite the continuous addition of regulatory initiatives concerning corporate human rights responsibilities, what we witness more often than not is a situation of corporate impunity for human rights abuses. The Bhopal gas leak - examined as a site of human rights violations rather than as a mass tort or an environmental tragedy - illustrates that the regulatory challenges that the victims experienced in 1984 have not yet been overcome. This book grapples with and offers solutions to three major regulatory challenges to obligating companies to comply with human rights norms whilst doing business, and asks; why companies should adhere to human rights, what these responsibilities are, and how to ensure that companies comply with their responsibilities. Building on literature in the fields of law, human rights, business ethics, management, regulation and philosophy, this book proposes a new 'integrated theory of regulation' to overcome inadequacies of the existing regulatory framework in order to humanize business. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, researchers, policy makers and human rights activists working in the fields of Law, Business and Human Rights.

Making Commercial Law Through Practice 1830-1970 adds a new dimension to the history of Britain's commerce, trade manufacturing and financial services, by showing how they have operated in law over the last one hundred and forty years. In the main law and lawyers were not the driving force; regulation was largely absent; and judges tended to accommodate commercial needs, so that market actors were able to shape the law through their practices. Using legal and historical scholarship, the author draws on archival sources previously unexploited for the study of commercial practice and the law's role in it. This book will stimulate parallel research in other subject areas of law. Modern commercial lawyers will learn a great deal about the current law from the story of its evolution, and economic and business historians will see how the world of commerce and trade operated in a legal context.

The standard approach to the legal foundations of corporate governance is based on the view that corporate law promotes separation of ownership and control by protecting non-controlling shareholders from expropriation. This book takes a broader perspective by showing that investor protection is a necessary, but not sufficient, legal condition for the efficient separation of ownership and control. Supporting the control powers of managers or controlling shareholders is as important as protecting investors from the abuse of these powers.

Rethinking Corporate Governance reappraises the existing framework for the economic analysis of corporate law based on three categories of private benefits of control. Some of these benefits are not necessarily bad for corporate governance. The areas of law mainly affecting private benefits of control including the distribution of corporate powers, self-dealing, and takeover regulation are analyzed in five jurisdictions, namely the US, the UK, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Not only does this approach to corporate law explain separation of ownership and control better than just investor protection; it also suggests that the law can improve the efficiency of corporate governance by allowing non-controlling shareholders to be less powerful.

The 'life cycle' of a family business is a fascinating process. Beginning with the initial entrepreneur starting the business, it encompasses the development of the business to success, involvement of family members in the business, estate planning, preparation for integration of the next generation, creating a family constitution to regulate relationships among family members, and creating a family trust when appropriate. The completion of the cycle then gives the option of continuing - to potentially become one of the one-hundred-year businesses. This Special Report is a one-stop collection bringing together a distinguished team of international contributors, each an expert in their respective field with a global reputation, to cover the entire life cycle of a family business. It provides guidance on many of the key issues encountered including governance issues, protecting the family business assets, fostering entrepreneurship and succession planning. Life Cycle of Family Business is a unique source of knowledge for family businesses and professionals working in this specialist field. In this very readable single volume - edited by Barbara R Hauser and Alon Kaplan - those involved in family businesses can benefit from its expert guidance, at any stage of the life cycle.