Giving Voice To Statutes - If You Don't Understand Diathesis, You May Not Understand The Statute

Although rules of grammar may be a distant memory for many lawyers, the rules of grammar can be important to statutory construction.

What Doth The Alter Ego Doctrine Require Of Thee, But To "Do Justice"?

Yesterday's post briefly discussed the internal affairs doctrine and alter ego claims.  Professor Stephen Bainbridge responded with this post which discusses the approaches of courts in New York and Delaware. Professor Bainbridge recently wrote an...

Alter Ego And The Internal Affairs Doctrine

The internal affairs doctrine is a conflict of laws principle that recognizes that only one state should have the authority to regulate a corporation's internal affairs. Under the internal affairs doctrine, that special state is the state of...

You Might Be Surprised By Who Counts (And Who Doesn't) In California

Many issuers continue to rely on California's limited offering exemption to avoid the necessity of qualifying the offer and sale of their securities. The exemption, found in Corporations Code Section 25102(f), requires that sales be made to not more...

Without An "Intelligible Principle" Can The SEC Adopt Political Spending Rules?

In August 2011, Professor Lucian Bebchuk and nine other law professors submitted this petition asking that the Securities and Exchange Commission adopt rules requiring public companies to disclose to shareholders the use of corporate resources for...

Department Of Corporations Issues Crowd Funding Bulletin

Last week, the Department of Corporations issued this bulletin which it styled as a "Crowdfunding Update".  The Bulletin makes several important points.

"Great Caesar's Ghost!" SOS Battles Backlog With 3 x 5 Cards

As part of the state budget process, state agencies must appear and testify before legislative budget committees. I recall some stressful moments testifying on the Corporations Committee Budget before a budget committee chaired by then Senator Steve...

Can A Security Be Oral?

Yesterday's post identified some of the differences between the lists of securities in the California Corporate Securities Law and the federal Securities Act of 1933. One difference that I did not mention was California's explicit statement that all...

"Security" Definitions In CSL And '33 Act - Similar But Not The Same

Both the California legislature and the U.S. Congress have enacted extensional definitions of "security" - that is Section 25019 of the Corporate Securities Law of 1968 and Section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act each provides a list of what...