Publication Title
Southwestern Law Review
Volume
54
Page
117
Year
2025
Abstract
Becoming a Public Benefit Corporation by Michael B. Dorff1 is a strong, useful book, clear and well-written. Addressed in good part to entrepreneurs and investors, its sub-title encapsulates much of its core message to them: "Express Your Values, Energize Stakeholders, Make the World a Better Place." I see the book as making two core points. First, benefit corporations are a reasonable legal form for entrepreneurs and investors to adopt. Second, this new legal form may help companies do a better job of behaving in a socially responsible way, though this point is less certain than the first, and benefit corporations do not do as much as they might to encourage better behavior. In particular, benefit corporation statutes provide good tools for reinforcing responsible behavior in companies already inclined to behave well but not good tools for enforcing responsibility in less well-motivated companies.' I think all these points are largely correct. And yet, I think they tell a story that is more dispiriting for the usefulness of benefit corporation statutes than Dorff believes.
Recommended Citation
Brett H. McDonnell, Unbecoming Public Benefit Corporations, 54 Sw. L. Rev. 117 (2025), available at https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/1118.
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
