Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2011
Status
Accepted
Abstract
Corporate governance scandals inevitably raise concerns about the extent to which corporate directors failed in their responsibility to monitor the corporation and its managers, especially in terms of the latter's’ misdeeds. Corporate governance reforms strive to shore up directors' roles by seeking to ensure that boards have sufficient incentives to engage in effective oversight and to hold the boards more accountable. The current financial crisis has ushered in an era of significant government reform of the financial system and involvement in corporate governance matters. Such involvement has increased board of directors' responsibilities but has not reconciled those responsibilities with board functions and fiduciary law, at least in Delaware. The lack of reconciliation not only represents a missed opportunity to reconsider boards' proper role and function within the modern public corporation, but also may undermine the effectiveness of reforms.
GW Paper Series
GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2012-89; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-89
SSRN Link
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2160979
Recommended Citation
Lisa M. Fairfax, Government Governance and the Need to Reconcile Government Regulation with Board Fiduciary Duties, 95 Minn. L. Rev. 1692 (2011).