Joan Heminway writes:
I had the privilege of sitting in on a stimulating paper session on "Private Fiduciary Law" at the Law and Society Association conference in Seattle last month. The program featured some super work by some great scholars. My favorite piece from the session, however, is a draft book chapter written by Gordon Smith that he recently posted to SSRN. Aptly entitled The Modern Business Judgment Rule, the chapter grapples with the current state of the business judgment rule in Delaware by tracing its development and reading the disparate doctrinal tea leaves. Here is a summary of his "take," as excerpted from his abstract (spoiler alert!): "The modern business judgment rule is not a one-size-fits-all doctrine, but rather a movable boundary, marking the shifting line between judicial scrutiny and judicial deference."
In the mere 18 pages of text he uses to engage his description, analysis, and conclusion, Gordon gives us all a great gift. His summary is useful, his language is clear, and his analysis and conclusions are incredibly useful, imho. I am no soothsayer, but I predict that this will be a popular piece of work.
I concur. It's a really good article with some excellent insights. Not to mention a very fair summary of my argument that the business judgment rule is an abstention doctrine.
Gordon's inviting comments over at the Conglomerate blog.