This October, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Harvard University in a notable and highly covered case about whether Harvard’s admissions process was discriminatory towards Asian American applicants.1 However, this did not resolve the matter completely. The argument for and against race conscious admissions first reached the Supreme Court through a case with the…
Category: Blog Articles
PG&E, Chapter 11 & the Public Beneficiary Trust
On January 29, 2019, investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”) declared bankruptcy, filing a Chapter 11 reorganization petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.1 This is PG&E’s second bankruptcy petition in as many decades, as the utility also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001.2 For proponents of…
Dual Class Stock Structures: The Need for Shareholder Involvement in Formation and Management
Dual class stock structures have become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. Initial public offerings that feature dual-class stock structures have risen from 4 percent in 2009 to 14 percent in 2018.1 However, their increased usage has also brought on a new wave of skepticism and oversight. This post examines the arguments for…
Mass Arbitration: How Uber’s Own Alternative Dispute Resolution Clauses Were Used Against Them
After coming onto the scene and significantly disrupting the transportation sector around a decade ago, Uber became the center of several controversies.1 One of the central issues was their treatment of their drivers and alleged wage and hour violations.2 Uber presumably thought they had a silver bullet in the form of mandatory arbitration provisions that…
The world is getting thirsty, so will we drink the ocean?
The State of California recently ended its state of emergency related to the state’s longest recorded drought, lasting almost eight years.1 While Executive Order B-40-17 lifted the emergency status, many previous conservation efforts enacted by Executive Order B-37-16 will continue to be in effect.2 This includes a goal of the state to reduce urban water…
Mission Product Holdings v. Tempnology leaves a mark for trademark licenses rejected in bankruptcy
For decades, trademark licensees were left in the limbo when their licensors filed for bankruptcy. If a debtor-licensor exercises its statutory right to reject a licensing agreement, a luxury brand product could potentially turn into a trademark-infringing knockoff overnight.1 This issue is at the center of a circuit split regarding the question of whether a…
Regulating Fintech for Financial Inclusion
Globally, 1.7 billion people, or roughly 21% of the world population, are unbanked, meaning they lack access to basic financial services such as a simple checking or savings account or a comparable mobile version.1 Nearly all unbanked individuals live in the developing world, with the largest portion living in China (225 million, 13%), India (190…
Cartel Leniency Following the Wind of Change
On July 11 of this year, the Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, announced a new policy to incentivize criminal antitrust compliance.1 Prior to this announcement, the only avenue for culpable antitrust violators to avoid trial or a guilty plea was to be the first company in their cartel…
The Burden of Pharmaceutical “Evergreening” Strategies on American Health
“Too many Americans simply cannot afford lifesaving medicines.”1 Consequently, “[s]ome patients delay essential care, cut their pills in half, or skip drug treatment altogether, all because of unaffordable drug prices, and their health suffers as a result.”2 All of us will most likely need to take prescription drugs sometime in our lives, if not already….
Escaping Shareholder Primacy – Without Waiting for Congress
Introduction In a statement with the Business Roundtable (BRT), 181 major American CEOs recently proclaimed their desire to serve a variety of stakeholder interests beyond merely those of shareholders.1 However, stakeholder maximization is nearly impossible today for public corporations due to the rise of activist hedge funds; such funds, which exercise unprecedented control over public…