Corporate Finance and Government - Supplement to Second Edition (Cases, Materials, and Problems For an Advanced Course in Corporations)

Casebook supplements, by convention, typically do not begin with a Preface. But since it has been a while since we have updated Corporate Finance and Governance, we wanted to begin simply by noting that with this Supplement we not only bring our casebook completely up-to-date but begin the process of preparing the Third Edition. The principle purpose of this Supplement is not only to include a number of cases that further develop the law we present in the casebook, but to increase our coverage of certain specific areas of law that have assumed increased prominence in recent years. In particular, we add substantially to our materials on derivatives, introduce new materials on accounting, and trace the evolution of the law concerning mergers and acquisitions. As before, we not only include mainstream cases that are familiar, but cases that push the law in developing a greater sense of corporate responsibility to a broader range of financial constituents than merely stockholders, a trend that we believe has been accelerated by the corporate scandals of 2002 and may well continue. Only time will tell if this is so, and by the time we publish the Third Edition we will have, and present, a sharper sense of contemporary trends in corporate law. For now, we hope that you will accept this Supplement on its own terms, as maintaining the broad theoretical themes we present throughout the casebook while bringing it to the state of the law as it exists in early summer 2003. And as we develop the Third Edition, we welcome comments from those of you have adopted the book. You may contact Mitchell at Imitch@law.gwu.edu and Cunningham at Lawrence.Cunningham@BC.edu. We thank you in advance.