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Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 384: Listen and Learn -- The Business Judgment Rule (Corporations)
Nonprofit Basics: Director Duties and Best Practices for the Typical Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 184: Listen and Learn -- The Business Judgment Rule (Corporations)
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Amy Shepherd of Ballard Spahr on care & leadership as a legal CMO - Passle CMO Series Podcast
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Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 97: Listen and Learn -- The Reasonable Person Standard
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In August 2022, the Delaware General Assembly amended the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to allow corporations to adopt charter provisions exculpating certain officers from personal liability for monetary damages...more
In re Fox Corporation/Snap Inc. Section 242 Litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that corporations do not need to seek votes from each separate stockholder class to approve charter amendments exculpating corporate...more
The Supreme Court of Delaware recently issued a decision upholding long-standing precedent regarding Delaware’s class vote requirement. The case, In re Fox Corporation/Snap Inc. Section 242 Litigation, concerned amendments to...more
It is well understood that directors of Delaware corporations are subject to the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. In general, the duty of care requires directors to base their decisions on all material information...more
An often overlooked and critical function of operating a successful business is sound corporate governance. But what is corporate governance? Generally stated, corporate governance encompasses the rules, mechanisms and...more
Directors’ duties and liabilities have always been at the forefront of corporate governance. It has become a hot topic in the wake of new regulations in the field of sustainability, which directly impact directors’...more
In a post #MeToo era, the dramatic increase in the number of sexual misconduct and assault reports made public intensifies each year and appears to be organizationally and geographically agnostic. Within the world of...more
Three years ago, as part of the EU’s initiative on sustainable governance, the European Commission released a lengthy study on directors’ duties. The study affirmed what many already understood: corporate decision makers face...more
When evaluating an investment opportunity, a would-be investor’s risk analysis is usually limited to the potential loss of principal and related opportunity costs of the investment. But substantial investments in startups or...more
A recent Delaware Court of Chancery decision exposes corporate officers to significant liability for breach of fiduciary duties and indicates a trend in Delaware courts in which it is now possible for plaintiffs to assert and...more
As Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (MFW) establishes, the Business Judgment Rule must be applied to a transaction involving a controlling shareholder, if the deal is conditioned upon the approval of: (1) an independent special...more
MFW protects controlling-stockholder transactions even when a third-party bidder makes a competing bid that is superior to a negotiated merger with the controller. A special committee will likely satisfy the duty of care...more
In Manti Holdings, LLC, et al. v. The Carlyle Group, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 2020-0657-SG (Del. Ch. June 3, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed fiduciary duty claims in the context of a conflicted controller...more
Delaware has long permitted corporations to limit or eliminate monetary liability of directors from breach of fiduciary duty of care lawsuits. However, the same protections have not been afforded to a corporation’s officers....more
Managers of LLCs have similar duties to members of LLCs. A breach of these fiduciary duties can lead to a lawsuit and personal liability for directors, officers and LLC managers. ...more
Investors filed a derivative suit claiming that the company knew about, and failed to mitigate known, existing cybersecurity risks and shortfalls prior to the security breach. In early November, pension funds and...more
A corporation operates through its board of directors. All corporate powers must be exercised by or under the direction of the board. In Texas, the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) provides certain provisions...more
In United Food & Com. Workers Union v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020 (Del. Sup. Sep. 23, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court adopted a new, three-part test for determining when a shareholder is required to make a pre-suit demand on...more
In a Sept. 23, 2021, decision that may make it easier for Delaware boards of directors to obtain an early dismissal of derivative suits brought against them, the Delaware Supreme Court in United Food and Commercial Workers...more
On January 29, 2021, Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss a shareholder class action stemming from the 2019, $2.2 billion sale of Presidio, Inc., an IT solutions provider specializing in...more
Delaware Court of Chancery Denies Motion to Dismiss in Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit Related to Mindbody Inc.’s Billion Dollar Merger with Vista Equity Partners; Second Circuit Unanimously Affirms Lower Court’s Decision...more
As venture-backed companies increasingly face the prospect of a down round, directors, management and controlling shareholders must understand the lurking liabilities and follow appropriate procedures. Corporate boards...more
The fiduciary duty of care has become more aspirational than a real legal basis for potential director liability in M&A in the Age of DGCL Section 102(b)(7), Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC (Del. 2015) and In re Volcano...more
Directors and officers of corporations owe a duty of care and a duty of loyalty to both the corporation and its shareholders, although the duty of care for directors can be exculpated. A breach of these fiduciary duties can...more