Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA): The State of Corporate Law and Governance in the U.S.

(0:00) Intro

(1:24) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:11) Start of interview. *Reference to E91 (April 2023) for Steven's personal/professional background. 

(2:34) The current era of corporate law.

(3:39) Transition to Substack Publishing

(6:40) The DExit Phenomenon Explained

(11:35) Understanding Delaware's SB21 and Its Implications. His article, Course Correction for Controller Shareholder Transactions.

(19:53) The impact of SB21 on shareholder inspection rights (Section 220 litigation)

(23:20) Texas and Nevada: business-friendly but different environments

(25:55) The Future of Startups and Incorporation Choices *reference to a16z's Delaware exit (July 2025)

(29:56) The Cycle of IPOs and Market Trends (stay private vs go public debate). Reference to The Eclipse of the Public Corporation (1989)

(36:47) The Rise of U.S. Government Intervention in corporate affairs (industrial policy).

(38:28) The concept of a "golden share" (in reference to US Steel situation)

(42:04) The fluctuation of politics in corporate governance and industrial policy.

(45:44) Analyzing Public Benefit Corporations in AI industry ("is it driven by economics or PR?")

(53:07) Rethinking the ESG phenomenon (political polarization)

Stephen Bainbridge is the William D. Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law

You can follow Evan on social media at:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ 

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License