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On April 24, 2014, the University of Saint Thomas (Minnesota) will host a conference on social enterprise.  The conference will be interdisciplinary, engaging experts in Catholic studies, entrepreneurship, law, management, and public policy.

The first session will address issues surrounding using business as an agent for social change, with a focus on social entrepreneurship and benefit corporations.  The first session will run from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Atrium at the University of St. Thomas, School of Law and is approved for 2.0 hours of CLE credit (Minnesota).  Speakers are listed below:

  • Elizabeth K. Babson, Attorney with Drinker, Biddle and Reath LLP and a co-author of the Benefit Corporation White Paper
  • Lyman P. Q. Johnson, LeJeune Distinguished Chair in Law, University of St. Thomas, School of Law, and Robert O. Bentley Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University
  • John F. McVea, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of St. Thomas, Opus College of Business
  • J. Haskell Murray, Assistant Professor of Management and Business Law, Belmont University
  • Michael J. Naughton, Director, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, University of St. Thomas, Center for Catholic Studies
  • Elizabeth R. Schiltz (moderator), Thomas J. Abood

…

Go here for the January 16, 2014 testimony of Mercer E. Bullard before the Committee on Small Business, United States House of Representatives, on the SEC’s Crowdfunding Proposal.  Here is a brief excerpt (comment deadline is February 3):

The overriding issue for crowdfunding is likely to be how the narrative of investors frequently losing their entire investment plays out. If investors are perceived as losing only a small part of their portfolios because of business failures rather than fraud, or if their crowdfunding losses are set off by gains in other investments through diversification, the crowdfunding market could weather large losses and thrive. However, if fraudsters are easily able to scam investors under the cover of a crowdfunding offering, or stale financial statements routinely turn out to have hidden more recent, undisclosed financial declines, or there are investors who can’t afford the losses they incur, resulting in stories of personal financial distress – then crowdfunding markets will never become a credible tool for raising capital.

Even before I read the book The Happy Lawyer by my former colleagues Nancy Levit and Doug Linder, I loved every legal job I ever had from judicial law clerk to BigLaw associate (twice), to deputy general counsel. I am still a happy lawyer after twenty-two years in the profession. I am clearly an anomaly among my attorney friends, most of whom looked at me with envy when I said that I was leaving practice to pursue academia. One friend, a partner in a South Florida firm quipped, “litigation has to be one of the only professions where your client hates you, your opposing counsel hates you, and the judge probably thinks you’re an idiot. When the outcome is positive, the client loves you until they see the bill.” No wonder lawyers aren’t happy.

But the situation for lawyers is more serious than a few clients grumbling about high bills. Earlier this week CNN reported that lawyers are the 4th most unhappy professionals behind dentists, pharmacists, and physicians, and are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression than non-lawyers. According to the article, 40% of law students report that they have suffered from depression before graduation. That acknowledgement…

Aaron George at Under30CEO has a nice post on the top five legal mistakes made by startups. Not much new to those of us who are lawyers, but it’s a nice summary of some of the mistakes startups can make.

I could quibble with his list. I think selling securities without complying with securities law ought to be there somewhere, and I think his No. 5–not hiring a lawyer–ought to be No. 1. But his list does include some of the common legal mistakes made by budding entrepreneurs.

Freedom Industries — the company apparently responsible for contaminating the Elk River (and, along with it, 300,000 West Virginia residents’ drinking water) – has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  The company wasted little time filing for reorganization, and the process already has some people on edge. 

From a public relations perspective, this kind of cases does not serve the concepts of Business Organizations especially well.  The use of limited liability vehicles is sanctioned by law, and such use has been credited with creating all kinds of opportunities for growth through pooled resources that would not otherwise occur without the grant of limited liability.  I happen to think that’s true.  (See, e.g., Corporate Moral Agency and the Role of the Corporation in Society, p. 176, By David Ronnegard) 

Still, one of the issues is that figuring out who owned Freedom Industries took some sleuthing (reporter’s findings here).  It appears the structure is as follows: 

Freedom Industries’ Chapter 11 documents list its sole owner as Chemstream Holdings, which is owned by J. Clifford Forrest.  Forrest also owned the Pennsylvania company, Rosebud Mining, which is located at the same address Chemstream Holdings lists for its headquarters.  The Reports note that…