Over at The Conglomerate, Usha Rodrigues says, “Larry Ribstein was wrong.” Usha argues that she’s right to teach LLCs at the end of the course, and Larry was of the mind that LLCs should play a more prominent role in the business entities course.  

For my teaching, I’m with Larry on this, though I am also of the mind that Usha (and other teachers) may have different goals, so taking another tack is not wrong.  I’m pretty sure we’re all better teachers when we are true to ourselves and our thinking.  For me, anyway, I am, without a doubt, at my worst in the classroom (and probably out) when I try to mimic someone else. 

So here’s how Usha explains her thinking:

I don’t leave LLCs til the end of the semester because I think they’re unimportant.  It’s because the cases are so damn thin.  It’s still such a new form, I just don’t see much there there.  Most of them wind up being trial courts who read the statute in completely stupid ways.  Blech.

 

So I teach corporations and partnerships emphasizing fiduciary duty, default vs. mandatory rules, and the importance of the code.  In fact, one semester I confess that I would ask a question and then intone, “Look to the code!” so often I felt like a Tolkien refugee.  By the time I get to the LLCs cases, which are pretty basic, the class is ready for my message: the LLC is a new form.  When dealing with something new, judges look both to the organizational statutes and to the organizational forms they know as they shape the law.  Plus the LLC is such an interesting mix between the corporate and partnership form, it just makes sense to get through them both before diving in.

It’s hard to argue with Usha’s rationale.  Like Larry, she’s smart, and this is a reasonable take.  For me, though, it doesn’t work toward my goals, so I have a different point of view.  I think it’s more in line with where Larry was coming from, though I admit I don’t know.  

Here’s why:  I want students (and lawyers and courts) to treat LLCs as unique entities.  Leaving them to the end of the course reinforces the idea that LLCs are hybrid entities the combine partnerships and corporations.  I just don’t think that’s the right way to think about LLCs.  

Certainly, it is true that LLCs share characteristics of partnerships and corporations.  But partnerships and corporations can have similarities, too. We can, for example, refer back to the partnership case of Meinhard v. Salmon when discussing corporate fiduciary duties and corporate opportunity.

In my experience, teaching LLCs at the end of the course seemed to frame the LLC as an entity that is just pulling from partnership or corporate law.  As such, it seemed the students were thinking that the real challenge for LLCs was figuring out whether to pull from partnership law or corporate law for an analogy.  Part of the reason for that, I think, is that so many of the LLCs cases seem to think so, too.  See, e.g., Flahive.  As Usha would say, “Blech.”

The LLC is prominent enough in today’s world that I think it warrants a more prominent role in the introductory business organizations course.  If we don’t bring the LLCs more to the fore, we allow courts to continue to misconstrue the entity form, in part because we aren’t giving students the tools they need to ensure courts understand the unique nature of the LLC. 

I figure Usha can get students where she needs to on this regardless of how she teaches business associations.  She is a lot smarter than I am.  Given my goals and how I think about the LLC, though, I’ll keep starting my class with an introduction to LLC formation, and I’ll keep teaching LLC cases and issues throughout the semester.