HBLR Online is a portal to timely pieces about recent developments in business law. As an important forum for opinion and scholarship, HBLR Online is designed to be a cutting edge guide to developments in the field of business law. HBLR Online also provides opportunities for student members to develop their own editing and writing skills. Accordingly, HBLR Online will contain pieces by students as well as outside contributors.
An Evaluation Of The U.S. Regulatory Response to Systemic Risk and Failure Posed by Derivatives
Kimberly Summe (April 18, 2014)
This Article will focus on Titles II and VII of the Dodd-Frank Act in order to examine how transacting in derivatives has changed in the aftermath of this legislation and to assess how the bankruptcy of a systemically important financial institution engaged in derivative transactions will be approached.
Making Equity Crowdfunding Work for the Unaccredited Crowd
Jeff Thomas (April 14, 2014)
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act creates a new “crowdfunding exemption” that will allow companies to raise up to $1 million every twelve months by selling their stock (or other unregistered securities) to both accredited and unaccredited investors, provided that the sales are made through registered intermediaries. This article summarizes why the crowdfunding exemption is important, explains how its expected costs are problematic, and proposes ways to mitigate those costs without sacrificing investor protection.
The CFTC’s Cross-Border Guidance for Swaps and Substituted Compliance Regime
James Schwartz (December 04, 2013)
The regulation of the swaps market, in which transactions between counterparties in wide-ranging jurisdictions have long been routine, requires international coordination and cooperation. If this were lacking, the consequences could include regulatory arbitrage, outsized compliance costs for, or incomplete compliance by, market participants, the fracturing of liquidity among different jurisdictions, and perhaps even political tensions.
The Regulatory Challenge Of Distributed Generation
David B. Raskin (December 02, 2013)
Recent published reports point toward a growing conviction that the demand for utility service from the U.S. electric grid may soon decline, perhaps substantially, due to the expanding use of distributed generation. If distributed generation comes to play a significant role, the loss of demand for service from the grid may eventually make it difficult for the owners of grid assets to recover their costs, creating what the utility industry calls “stranded costs.”
Investing in U.S. Pipeline Infrastructure: Could the Proposed Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act Spur New Investment?
Linda E. Carlisle, Daniel A. Hagan & Jane E. Rueger (November 27, 2013)
This Article explores combining the traditional oil and gas pipeline structure with solar electric generation to: (1) increase the return on pipeline investments by making the income from a solar electric generation business available to pipeline operators; and (2) lower the cost of operating the pipeline.
Brazilian Private Equity Funds (FIPs): A DNA Change in Brazilian M&A Deals
José Carlos Junqueira Sampaio Meirelles and Caio Carlos Cruz Ferreira Silva (November 25, 2013)
M&A deals in Brazil involving private equity players have been undergoing an important DNA change stemming from the increasing use of the Brazilian Private Equity Fund (Fundo de Investimento em Participações (FIP)).
The Equity Façade of SEC Disgorgement
Russell G. Ryan (November 15, 2013)
The SEC commonly describes disgorgement as an equitable remedy, and courts similarly begin their disgorgement analyses by assuming as axiomatic the equitable nature of disgorgement. But what if that premise is wrong? What if disgorgement is an equitable remedy only some of the time? What if in many cases it is actually a remedy at law, or even a punitive remedy? And what if in some cases the very label of disgorgement is a misnomer?