Jeffrey Gordon (Professor, Columbia Law School)
Prof Gordon conjectures that a legal change in 1996 that changed how partnerships (and other private organizations) were counted for purposes of determining the number of “shareholders” of a company was crucial in triggering the rise of the private market and PE/VC finance. More specifically, the securities laws say that a corporation with more than “x” shareholders is a “public company” subject to various disclosure and other filing requirements. Prior to the 1996 change (through the National Securities Market Improvement Act), each partner in a partnership counted separately in determining whether the private/public line had been crossed. The 1996 change meant that a partnership would count as 1, no matter how many limited partners. This facilitated the capacity of Private Equity firms (and others) to play in role in mainstream finance through the vast expansion in their fund-raising capacity for private firms. The research would be to trace the rise of Private Equity assets under management, before and after the 1996 change, and further research as findings become clear. Part of the challenge is identifying and using various data bases that might contain this information.
This is a paid position and compensation is $15 per hour.
If interested in the position then send a CV (including Columbia University faculty references) and a transcript to Chris Mark at cmark@law.columbia.edu. Direct all inquiries about the position to Chris Mark.
