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Joan Heminway

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Professor Heminway brought nearly 15 years of corporate practice experience to the University of Tennessee College of Law when she joined the faculty in 2000. She practiced transactional business law (working in the areas of public offerings, private placements, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings) in the Boston office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP from 1985 through 2000.

She has served as an expert witness and consultant on business entity and finance and federal and state securities law matters and is a frequent academic and continuing legal education presenter on business law issues. Professor Heminway also has represented pro bono clients on political asylum applications, landlord/tenant appeals, social security/disability cases, and not-for-profit incorporations and related business law issues. Read More

With just a few hours left to vote, I am taking this opportunity to ask you, if you have not already, to vote.  Please. It is our opportunity to be heard.

So often people complain about money in politics, and I agree that raises concerns. But we always have the power to choose. We, the voters, always have the final say. We can impose term limits any time we want, by voting people out.  If it is really a concern for us, we can overcome money in politics by choosing those who reject corporate interests. Either way, it is up to us. So, if you haven’t already, please, please vote. 

And if you already voted, thank you.  Good work.  

Tom Rutledge, at Kentucky Business Entity Law Blog, writes about a curious recent decision in which the Kentucky Court of Appeals overrule a trial court, holding that the law of piercing the veil required the LLC veil to be pierced. Tavadia v. Mitchell, No. 2017-CA-001358-MR, 2018 WL 5091048 (Ky. App. Oct. 19, 2018).

Here are the basics (Tom provides an even more detailed description):

Sheri Mitchell formed One Sustainable Method Recycling, LLC (OSM) in 2013. Mitchell initially a 99% owner and the acting CEO with one other member holding 1%. Mitchell soon asked Behram Tavadia to invest in the company, which he did.

He loaned OSM $40K at 6% interest from his business Tavadia Enterprises, Inc. (to be repaid $1,000 per month, plus 5% of annual OSM profits).  There was no personal guarantee from Mitchell.  OSM then received a $150,000 a business development from METCO, which Tavadia personally guaranteed and pledged certain bonds as security.

Two years (and no loan payments) later under the original $40,000 loan, Tavadia agreed to delay repayment. OSM and Tavadia the created a second loan for $250,000, refinancing the original $40,000 and a subsequent Tavadia $12,000 loan.  This loan provided Tavadia a 25% ownership interest…

I try not to use this space too often to brag on my students–the folks whose quest for knowledge gets me up in the morning.  But three of my students have been co-authors of two separate pieces in the American Bar Association’s Business Law Today publication since May.  The initiative and the follow-through that these students (two of whom have graduated and are now in private practice) exhibited is truly extraordinary.  And so, I brag . . . .

Most recently, my current student Samuel Henninger has co-authored an article with a practitioner on preference payments in bankruptcy entitled “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream at Preference Claims.”  Samuel graduates in May 2019. He will clerk for a local bankruptcy court judge next year and then practice with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP in Nashville after his clerkship concludes.

Back in May, my former students Brian Adams and Bo Cook co-authored an article together entitled “Limiting the Scope of Post-Closing Actions in Private Mergers & Acquisitions: The Role of Non-Reliance and Integration Clauses in Delaware,” delving into enforcement issues in mergers and acquisitions relating to allegations of fraud based on “extra-contractual representations.”  Brian and Bo…

I posted about this program last year, too, and it looks like another good program this year. Hard to beat good wine and learning about international business, I would think,  but I can’t make it again this year.  It overlaps with the AALS Annual Meeting, and I have plans for New Orleans.  But, if it’s your thing, it looks like a neat opportunity.  

Temple University’s Center for International Business Education (CIBE) presents

A Faculty Development in International Business (FDIB): Santiago, Chile

January 5-11, 2019

 

Chile: The Global Star of Latin America

Understanding the International Business Environment through Innovation in Chile

Chile is often considered to be the place where great Latin American wines come from. Some may even know that Chile is also the hub of the global copper industry. But what many people are unaware of is how Chile became the only South American country invited to join the OECD, or how it is a country that has signed 21 free trade agreements and is one of the most open economies in the world, or the fact that it is rapidly attracting foreign innovators and entrepreneurs through a unique start-up incubator program for investors worldwide. Chile serves…

California drives me nuts with lazy references to LLCs — “limited liability companies” — as” limited liability corporations.” See, e.g., Dear California: LLCs are Not Corporations. Or Are They?

A 2010 case recently posted to Westlaw provides another example, this time from the local rules for the United States District Court for the Central District of California.  The case deals with an attorney withdrawing as counsel for an LLC, which requires the withdrawing attorney to provide notice to soon-to-be former client YPA, that as

a limited liability company that cannot proceed pro se, its failure to have new counsel file a timely notice of appearance will result in the dismissal of its complaint for failure to prosecute and of the entry of its default on the cross-complaint.

YOUR PERSONAL ASSISTANT, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company, Plaintiff, v. T-MOBILE USA, INC., a Delaware Corp., & DOES 1-100, inclusive. Defendants., No. CV1000783MMMRCX, 2010 WL 11598037, at *3 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 23, 2010)

This is fairly typical, as entities are generally not allowed to appear pro se — that is reserved as an option for natural persons. However, because of poor drafting, the local rules keep open the possibility…

Following is an announcement for an upcoming symposium that will tackle some challenging topics, including those related to the role corporate law plays in addressing poverty.  I, of course, would probably talk about the role of “entity law,” rather than “corporate law,” but that’s just me.  Regardless, this should be an interesting and enlightening discussion, and I look forward to seeing the papers that come from it.  

On Thursday, October 25, 2018, The University of Tennessee Law School and the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice will be hosting a Symposium titled The Urgency of Poverty. The Symposium reflects on the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968 and the continued injustices which have led to the current revival. The Symposium further explores the important role transactional lawyers and scholars must play in advocating for economic justice in modern America.

The Symposium will include panels on (1) Environmental Justice, (2) Intersection of Civil Rights and Economic Justice, (3) Solidarity Economies, and (4) Reforming Corporate Law. Professor Philip Alston, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, and Human Rights, will deliver the keynote. The Symposium is accompanied by a dedicated publication featuring essays and articles from Transactional Professors of Color.

…

I was going to move on to other topics after two recent posts about Nike’s Kaepernick Ad, but I decided I had a little more to say on the topic.  My prior posts, Nike’s Kaepernick Ad Is the Most Business Judgmenty Thing Ever and Delegation of Board Authority: Nike’s Kaepernick Ad Remains the Most Business Judgmenty Thing Ever explain my view that Nike’s decision to run a controversial ad is the essence of the exercise of business judgment.  Some people seem to believe that by merely making a controversial decision, the board should subject to review and required to justify its actions.  I don’t agree. I need more.   

First, I came across a case (an unreported Delaware case) that had language that was simply too good for me to pass up in this context:

The plaintiffs have pleaded no facts to undermine the presumption that the outside directors of the board . . . failed to fully inform itself in deciding how best to proceed . . . . Instead, the complaint essentially states that the plaintiffs would have run things differently. The business judgment rule, however, is not rebutted by Monday morning quarterbacking. In the absence of well

…

Last week, I made the argument that Nike’s Kaepernick Ad Is the Most Business Judgmenty Thing Ever.  I still think so.  

To build on that post (in part based on good comments I received on that post), I think it is worth exploring that ability and appropriateness of boards delegating certain duties, as this impacts any assessment of the business judgment rule. 

As co-blogger Stefan Padfield correctly noted, directors “become informed of all material information reasonably available.” However, does that apply to a particular ad campaign? Hiring of all spokespeople? Only certain ones? How about a particular ad?  Or is it the hiring of a marketing and ad team (internally or externally)? 

Nike has a long list of sponsorship (here) for teams and individuals. I sincerely doubt that all of those were run by the board of directors, though it is possible.  The board may also weigh in from time to time, based on the behavior of the people they sponsor.  Nike famously terminated contracts with Oscar Pistorius and Ray Rice in September 2014. Are these all board decisions? Maybe. Or maybe they have a protocol for dealing with such issues. Regardless, how they deal with this…

I am teaching Sports Law this semester, which is always fun.  I like to highlight other areas of the law for my students so that they can see that Sports Law is really an amalgamation of other areas: contract law, labor law, antitrust law, and yes, business organizations.  I sometimes cruise the internet for examples to make my point that they really need to have a firm grounding the basics of many areas of law to be a good sports lawyer.  Today, I found a solid example, and not in a good way.  

I found a site providing advice about “How to Start a Sports Agency” at the site https://www.managerskills.org.  This is site is new to me.  Anyway, it starts off okay: 

Ask any successful sports agent: education is the foundation upon which you will build your business. The first step is to earn your bachelor’s degree from an appropriately accredited institution.

. . . .

Once you have obtained your bachelor’s degree, the next step will be to pursue your master’s degree. Alternately, you may choose to pursue a law degree.

While a law degree is not required, the skills you acquire during your studies will be

…

Like many in the law academy, I find three-day holiday weekends a great time to catch my breath and catch up on work items that need to be addressed.  This Labor Day weekend–including today, Labor Day itself–is no exception to the rule.  I am working today, honoring workers through my own work.  My husband and daughter are doing the same.

This blog post and the announcement it carries are among my more joyful tasks for the day.  I have been remiss in not earlier announcing and promoting our second annual Business Law Prof Blog symposium, which will be held at The University of Tennessee College of Law on September 14.  The symposium again focuses on the work of many of your favorite Business Law Prof Blog editors, with commentary from my UT Law faculty colleagues and students.  This year, topics range from the human rights and other compliance implications of blockchain technology to designing impactful corporate law, with a sprinkling of other entity and securities law related topics.  I am focusing my time in the spotlight (!) on professional challenges in the representation of social enterprise firms.  More information about the symposium is available here.  For those of you…