Issue Archives

Rule 10b-5 and the securities-fraud action provide a private enforcement tool only where litigants can show a defendant’s misrepresentation impacted the price of a security. But investors increasingly demand disclosure about how a corporation interacts with stakeholder groups such as employees, consumers, and communities. Because these “sustainability disclosures” are aimed at long-term value, misrep­resentations will only...

THE SOCIAL COST OF CONTRACT

David A. Hoffman* & Cathy Hwang**

When private parties perform contracts, the public bears some of the costs. But what happens when society confronts unexpected contractual risks? During the COVID-19 pandemic, completing particular con­tracts—such as following through with weddings, conferences, and other large gatherings—will greatly increase the risk of rapidly spreading disease. A close reading of past cases illustrates that when social hazards sharply increase after formation,...

Commentators and policymakers frequently propose new govern­ment agencies in response to novel or intractable problems. New agencies can refocus public attention on the problems they regulate. They can attract new talent and bypass calcified or captured channels. But they are also costly, and there is no guarantee that they will be more successful than their predecessors.

This Article examines agency genesis at the state level. In the process,...

From inception to execution of this in memoriam issue, my heart has overflowed with love and gratitude for the members of the Columbia Law Review Class of 2021 who were present every step of the way. To Eitan Arom, Priya Asokan, Ben Covington, Madeleine Durbin, Angie Garcia, José Jesús Martínez III, Yerv Melkonyan, Mie Morikubo, […]

A JUSTICE AND A FRIEND

Stephen G. Breyer*

* Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

* Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence, University of California, Berkeley School of Law; Law clerk to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, October Term 1999.

* Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Law Clerk to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, October Term 1998.

* Partner, Shapiro Arato Bach LLP. Clerked for Justice Ginsburg in October Term 1993.

* Then–Chief Judge, and now a Senior Circuit Judge, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave these remarks at a Columbia Law School event celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Justice Ginsburg’s investiture to the Supreme Court.

* Academic Fellow & Columbia Fellow, Columbia Law School. Clerked for Justice Ginsburg during October Term 2015.