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Please note the deadline extensions on the following previously posted calls for papers for the 2022 AALS Annual Meeting.

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Section on Securities Regulation: Open Call for Papers

The AALS Section on Securities Regulation invites submissions for its session at the 2022 annual meeting of the AALS. The annual meeting will be held virtually from January 5-9, 2022, with Section on Securities Regulation panel scheduled for Saturday, January 8 from 12:35-1:50pm. We welcome submissions at any stage of development, although preference may be given to more fully developed papers over abstracts and paper proposals. The submission should relate to the following session description:

Equality and Access in Securities Markets

Recent years have seen increasing attention to issues of equality and access in securities markets. Nasdaq has proposed requiring listed company boards to include at least one female member and one member from an underrepresented minority. The SEC recently amended Regulation S-K to add human capital as a broad topic for disclosure, but declined to require companies to divulge diversity data. In addition to issues relevant to regulated companies, gaps remain in the gender and racial diversity of the SEC’s own commissioners and…

VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM and SPECIAL ISSUE

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Changing Faces of Business Law and Sustainability

The Business and Human Rights Initiative at the University of Connecticut, the Center for the Business of Sustainability at Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business, the College of Business at Oregon State University, and the American Business Law Journal (ABLJ) are pleased to invite submissions related to the role of business law to support and enhance firm and societal engagement on sustainability. This theme is consistent with 2020 AACSB Standard 9.

The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and public protests for social justice—as well as whole host of other emerging risks and threats to the environment and society—have generated newfound questions about the appropriate roles of legal rules, principles, and institutions towards promoting sustainable and broad-based value through business. Legal scholarship provides fertile ground for identifying the definitions, conflicts, contradictions, barriers, and limitations of business sustainability. It also provides promise for generating solutions to these challenges that accord with the rule of law, fairness, and equity while furthering the interests of firms and impacted communities. Effective scholarship in this regard requires a perspective that transcends any single area of law, regulatory domain, industry, or…

CALL FOR PAPERS

AALS SECTION ON TRANSACTIONAL LAW AND SKILLS

Transactional Lawyering at the Intersection of Business and Societal Well-Being

2022 AALS Annual Meeting

The AALS Section on Transactional Law and Skills is pleased to announce a call for papers for its program, “Transactional Lawyering at the Intersection of Business and Societal Well-Being,” at the 2022 annual meeting of the AALS. This program will explore how ESG and broader societal considerations are increasingly influencing the flow of capital in the global marketplace, corporate governance planning, merger and acquisition activity and structures, as well as other transactional topics. The events of 2020, for example, have shifted the focus of business entity governance, equality and access in securities markets, and transactional planning and deal structures in significant and lasting ways – questioning whether current structures and systems are working well for all stakeholders and society more broadly. COVID-19 and social movements have broadened ESG efforts to include previously overlooked issues such as human resource policies (e.g., sick leave, parental leave), workplace health and safety, supply chain management, continuity and emergency planning, and diversity and inclusion hiring practices and training. In addition, proposals are being considered (and…

So much going on today . . . .   Rather than choose one focus, I will offer three.  Each is near and dear to my heart in one way or another.

Happy International Yoga Day to all.  This year’s theme is “Yoga for well-being” or “Yoga for wellness.” The Hindustan Times reports: “On International Yoga Day on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yoga became a source of inner strength for people and a medium to transform negativity to creativity amid the coronavirus pandemic.” The United Nations’s website similarly adds that:

The message of Yoga in promoting both the physical and mental well-being of humanity has never been more relevant. A growing trend of people around the world embracing Yoga to stay healthy and rejuvenated and to fight social isolation and depression has been witnessed during the pandemic. Yoga is also playing a significant role in the psycho-social care and rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients in quarantine and isolation. It is particularly helpful in allaying their fears and anxiety.

Yes!  I am so grateful for yoga, including asanas and meditation, and other mindfulness practices at this time–for their positive effects on me, my faculty and staff colleagues, and my students.  👏🏼 …

The twelfth annual (and second virtual) National Business Law Scholars Conference (NBLSC) is being hosted by The University of Tennessee College of Law on Zoom this Thursday and Friday, June 17 and 18.  The schedule for the two days of proceedings (fashioned painstakingly and patiently by planning committee member Eric Chaffee) can be found here.  Zoom links for each session are included.

This year’s conference boasts, in addition to the NBLSC’s flagship scholarly paper panels, a Thursday plenary session at 1:00 pm (Eastern Daylight Time) entitled “Beyond Shareholder Primacy.”  The session focuses on Matt Bodie and Grant Hayden’s new book, Reconstructing the Corporation: From Shareholder Primacy to Shared Governance, which follows on their 2020 Boston University Law Review article “The Corporation Reborn: From Shareholder Primacy to Shared Governance.”  The 2021 conference also features a later start time each day to be more inclusive of our West coast participants.

I join the rest of the planning committee (listed below) in looking forward to seeing many of you at the conference.  Please contact any of us with questions.

Afra Afsharipour (University of California, Davis, School of Law)
Tony Casey (The University of Chicago Law School)
Eric C. Chaffee…

I recently received the final version of my short article, “The Benefits and Burdens of Limited Liability,” in Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law.  The article is based on some of my prior blog posts, as well as my presentation as part of the fourth annual Business Law Prof Blog symposium, Connecting the Threads. It was great event, as always, thanks to Joan and the whole crew at Tennessee Law, and it was my pleasure to be part of it.  

Here’s the abstract: 

Law students in business associations and people starting businesses often think the only choice for forming a business entity is a limited liability entity like a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC). Although seeking a limited liability entity is usually justifiable, and usually wise, this Article addresses some of the burdens that come from making that decision. We often focus only on the benefits. This Article ponders limited liability as a default rule for contracts with a named business and considers circumstances when choosing a limited liability entity might not communicate what a business owner intends. The Article notes also that when choosing an entity, you get benefits, like limited liability,

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Grading done?  Join in for an engaged, energizing day with fellow business law profs to start the summer.

Grading not done?  This is sure to be a fun and enlightening distraction–better than house cleaning or laundry!

Not grading at all (you lucky ducky)?  Clear the decks of other impediments and come join us for what always is a super day filled with teaching tips and catalysts for scholarship and service.

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REGISTER NOW! CONFERENCE IS JUNE 4th!

Emory Law’s 7th biennial conference on the teaching of transactional law and skills is just a few days away! Register here and join us on Friday, June 4th. (Note: The Registration Fee for this one-day, online conference is $50.) A copy of the Conference schedule is posted here.

Connect with transactional law and skills educators across the country to ponder our theme – “Emerging from the Crisis: The Future of Law and Skills Education.” You’ll hear illuminating keynote addresses from three leaders in our field – Joan MacLeod Heminway, Marcia Narine Weldon, and Robert J. Rhee. And you’ll participate in exciting presentations and try-this exercises designed to help us all become better teachers.

At day’s end, we’ll hold a Vision Workshop to…

A reminder that Emory’s 2021 conference on transactional law and skills education is next Friday, June 4, 2021. It is virtual and registration is only $50. Register here.

Today, I’m submitting a guest post by Professor Jen Randolph Reise of Mitchell Hamline School of Law.  On Friday the 11th, I’ll post my reflections from the Emory conference. Jen and I have bonded over our mission to bring practical skills into the classroom. Her remarks are  below:

I’m looking forward to hearing from many leaders in transactional legal education, including keynote speakers Joan MacLeod Heminway, Marcia Narine Weldon, and Robert J. Rhee on the theme of “Emerging from the Crisis: Future of Transactional Law and Skills Education.” Marcia will also be talking about her experience launching a transactional program at Miami, joined by three of her adjunct professors.

For my part, I’ll be presenting a Try-This session sharing how I have used exercises that integrate key technological resources and techniques into teaching doctrinal courses. I’ve written in this blog before in praise of practice problems, especially in the asynchronous or flipped classroom. These exercises take that one step farther by creating a self-paced, guided discovery and low-stakes practice of some skills…

USC Gould School of Law and Lewis & Clark Law School present the inaugural West Coast Bankruptcy Roundtable to be held February 3-4, 2022 in Los Angeles. Spearheaded by Robert Rasmussen, Michael Simkovic, and Samir Parikh, the Roundtable seeks to bring together experienced and junior scholars to discuss particularly noteworthy scholarship involving financial restructuring and business law. We seek scholars researching diverse topics and will be interested in interdisciplinary perspectives.

The Roundtable invites the submission of papers. Selected participants will receive a $1,000 stipend and have the opportunity to workshop their papers in an intimate, collegial setting.

Papers will be selected through a blind review process. Scholars are invited to submit a 3 – 5 page overview of a proposed paper. Submissions may be an introduction or excerpt from an existing unpublished paper, an extended abstract, or a general paper proposal. The submission should be anonymized, and – aside from general citations to the author’s previous work – all references to the author should be removed.

Please submit proposals by September 7, 2021. Invitations will be issued via email by October 8th. Working drafts of papers must be available for circulation to participants by January 11, 2022.

The Roundtable…

The planning committee for the National Business Law Scholars Conference has again determined to host a virtual workshop this year (June 17-18). As is the custom, the workshop will consist of several keynote events and many, many moderated paper panels featuring the work of business law scholars who submitted proposals. We are working on finalizing the program now.  Each registrant for the 2021 conference who submitted an accepted proposal will receive a message with additional details. 

As you may recall, the conference this year was scheduled to be held at The University of Tennessee College of Law. We still do hope to hold a future National Business Law Scholars Conference at UT Law in Knoxville–perhaps next June. Stay tuned for more on that at a later time.  However, for those who have a yen to travel out my way this June during the conference (maybe your heart was set on it–or at least on getting out of the house), I am happy to host you in person.  While our campus has various restrictions that would need to be addressed for you to access our buildings, the surrounding area (Knoxville and East Tennessee generally, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park)…