John C. Coffee, Jr.

September 17, 2009 | New York Law Journal

John C. Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School and Director of its Center on Corporate Governance, writes: With Southern District Judge Jed Rakoff's blistering decision on Monday, rejecting the proposed settlement between the SEC and Bank of America Corporation, two key questions come to the fore: (1) Will this decision change SEC enforcement practices, which today invite corporate executives to purchase immunity for themselves with their shareholders' money?; and (2) Who is minding the store at the SEC so as to enable its litigators to shoot themselves in both feet? The positions taken by the SEC's staff in defending this settlement could haunt the SEC for years.

By John C. Coffee Jr.

13 minute read

November 04, 2005 | Law.com

Much about Refco Inc.'s sudden collapse remains a mystery, but enough facts have come to light to remind us of Yogi Berra's classic observation: "It's d�j� vu all over again." It reminds us that weak internal controls can lead to financial collapse, that our contemporary system of due diligence seems dysfunctional and that outside directors are exposed to high liability under �11 of the Securities Act of 1933 but can do very little to protect themselves, says law professor John C. Coffee Jr.

By John C. Coffee Jr.

9 minute read

November 15, 2007 | New York Law Journal

John C. Coffee, Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School and director of its Center on Corporate Governance, writes that we are now less than a year from the next presidential election and the likelihood that, for the first time since 1994, a Democratic president will be coupled with a Democratic Congress. For the securities bar, this means that "reform" securities legislation will once again be possible and even predictable.

By John C. Coffee, Jr.

14 minute read

September 21, 2006 | New York Law Journal

John C. Coffee, Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School and director of its Center on Corporate Governance, writes that insider trading may rise or fall in volume, but, like death and taxes, it probably will always be with us. The interesting question, he says, is what it would take, short of capital punishment, to curb it.

By John C. Coffee, Jr.

13 minute read

September 16, 2004 | New York Law Journal

John C. Coffee Jr., Adolf A. Berle professor of law at Columbia University Law School and director of its Center on Corporate Governance, writes that corporate scandals, particularly when they occur in concentrated bursts, raise serious issues that scholars have too long ignored because neoclassical economic models cannot explain them.

By John C. Coffee Jr.

14 minute read

May 19, 2005 | New York Law Journal

Professor John C. Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and director of its Center on Corporate Governance, writes that a much anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision, while more narrow than some might have wished and terse, is still significant for at least three distinct reasons.

By John C. Coffee Jr.

16 minute read

January 16, 2002 | New York Law Journal

I ntroduced by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), the lead plaintiff is one of the newest and most logical approaches to the age-old problem of aligning the interests of the plaintiff`s attorney with those of the class that the attorney represents in class litigation. But the PSLRA is incomplete because it never tells us what the lead plaintiff is expected to do. Under the PSLRA, the "most adequate plaintiff" in any securities class action is presumptively the plaintiff who "has t

By John C. Coffee Jr.

12 minute read