Hartford Business Journal– Increased demand for risk-avoidance expertise has led UConn’s schools of business and law to create a certificate program in corporate and regulatory compliance.
Business Law
PROMESA and Puerto Rico’s Pathways to Solvency
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation – Facing a self-declared “death spiral” of public debt, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced a debt moratorium earlier this year, halting payments to bondholders. A series of missed payments followed, including a landmark default on constitutionally guaranteed bonds in July. At the same time, Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA or “promise” in Spanish), which combines a debt restructuring system with federal controls over the island’s finances. But enacting PROMESA is only a first step. Coordination and engagement with creditors is the next step—and an even more complicated one—in Puerto Rico’s long journey towards solvency and fiscal stability.
Rediscovering the Power of Law in Business Education
AACSB Blog – When you think of “law and business,” what words immediately come to mind? Did you envision innovation, sustainability, the future of work, the Gig Economy, social responsibility, and value creation? If not, then consider whether you are missing opportunities to engage students and impact business management.
Finding the Right Legal Strategy to Compete
Corporate Counsel – While it is recognized that corporate counsel can play an integral role in a company’s long term success, the processes through which corporate legal departments provide competitive advantages remain poorly understood. The prevailing wisdom recognizes that companies need to incorporate legal considerations into top-level decision-making, but are most companies doing this?
Do Managers Seek Control and Entrenchment?
The CLS Blue Sky Blog – Do managers seek control of the firm, or the level of ownership consistent with entrenchment? Entrenched managers own shares within a range which is high enough to give them control, but sufficiently low to make other shareholders bear the brunt of their non-value maximizing actions. There is a large literature on how entrenched managers can benefit themselves by extracting wealth from other shareholders, but conclusive evidence that managers seek entrenchment is currently lacking.
Ukraine’s Quietly Revolutionary Debt Restructuring
Financial Times – Ukraine’s debt restructuring plan, announced last month, is both revolutionary and evolutionary. The agreement to restructure $18bn of privately held government debt stands in stark contrast to Greece’s nearly apocalyptic showdown with the European Union this year and Argentina’s simmering standoff with holdout creditors.
Greece, Argentina Provide Model as Ukraine Considers GDP Linkers
BloombergBusiness – As debt talks intensify between Ukraine and its creditors, securities that pay out if economic growth exceeds expectations will probably be on the agenda, echoing deals done by Argentina and Greece in the past decade.
Time to Flex
Giving Workers More Control of Their Time May Be Good for All
Rep-Am.com – When she first began working there 15 years ago, Beekley Corp. in Bristol was a fairly traditional company. “We were of the mind that everybody needed to be here, 9 to 5,” said Maureen O. Gallo, vice president of human assets and operational excellence at the medical supply company. But when the company began asking its employees what it could do to make them perform at their highest level, one fact was clear: They wanted flexibility.
Is it Time to Hire a Chief Legal Strategist?
MIT Sloan Management Review – Could your company use its legal environment to look for strategic opportunities? Consider bringing in a chief legal strategist, recommend Robert C. Bird, associate professor of business law and Northeast Utilities Chair in Business Ethics at the UConn School of Business and David Orozco, an associate professor of legal studies and MBA program director at the Florida State University College of Business.