Law

One 2,000-word essay (25%). The word limit, subject to a 10% margin in either direction, includes footnotes, but not the bibliography.Footnotes and reference require the use of legal professional requirement.(OSCOLA)

Students should choose ONE of the following topics for the assessed essay

1. Explain the approach to the company and its governance taken by Alchian and Demsetz, Jensen and Meckling and Oliver Williamson and comment on their conclusions regarding who should hold governance rights. 

2. The reform of Company Law in the UK between 1998 and 2006 offered the opportunity for significant progress in modifying an outdated model of the company, unduly focused on the interests of shareholders to the exclusion of other stakeholders, but that opportunity was not taken. Discuss 

3. Explain the comply-or-explain approach to corporate governance developed by the UK and comment on its strengths and weaknesses in the period prior to the financial crisis of 2007-2008. 

4. Explain the key features of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 and comment on the reaction of critics who believe the market should have been allowed to develop its own solutions to the corporate collapses of the early 21st century. 

5. The Walker Report on corporate governance in banks and other financial institutions confirmed the worst fears of the critics before the financial crisis of 2007-2008, but did not make appropriate recommendations. Discuss. 

6. Margaret Blair and Luigi Zingales point us in the direction in which the answers to corporate governance reform questions may lie, but even they have been unable to provide persuasive solutions. Discuss. _________________________________________