Bite-Sized Business Law
Looking for the latest in legal business news?
Get a breakdown of the top stories in business law from industry leaders on the front lines with Bite-Sized Business Law. Host Amy Martella takes a closer look at the latest corporate happenings through interviews with the attorneys, legal experts, public figures, and scholars behind the news to distill business law’s biggest stories into bite-sized portions.
This is your chance to go further into the world of business law and stay up to date with legal cases and industry trends.
Corporations impact us all, leading changes that extend far beyond business to shape the economy, public policy, technology, and beyond. Looking at the big picture, Amy discusses not only the underlying issues in business ethics and legal cases leading the biggest stories but also sparks thought-provoking discussions on where the law should be headed.
Amy is the Executive Director of the Corporate Law Center at Fordham University School of Law. Her background ranges from big law to government to tech startups, allowing her to offer an insider’s perspective of the issues that shape corporate actions, large and small. Covering crypto regulation to securities fraud, AI’s impact to Elon Musk’s pay package, Bite-Sized Business Law covers it all with guests of varying viewpoints to provide the nuanced analysis needed to tackle complex problems.
Whether you're looking for the latest in legal insight on intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, business ethics or legal cases in the business law world, you’ll find it here. Enjoying a thoughtful perspective on the news stories of the moment, Bite-Sized Business Law examines big issues and delivers them in small doses.
Bite-Sized Business Law is a project by the Corporate Law Center at Fordham Law. The Center serves as a hub for scholars, professionals, policymakers, and students to engage in the study, discussion, and debate of current issues in corporate law. The Center focuses on aspects of corporate law, corporate compliance, antitrust law, and securities regulation. Through initiatives like the Mergers and Acquisitions seminar and the Securities Litigation and Arbitration Clinic, students actively engage in real-world research and cases, bridging the gap between classroom learning and practical application in the legal field.
Bite-Sized Business Law
Tesla's Wild Ride with a CEO Who is Too Big to Fail
Can a CEO be too big to fail? In this episode of Bite-Sized Business Law, we dive into the volatility, legal wrangling, and power dynamics surrounding Elon Musk and Tesla with Ann Lipton, a leading scholar in corporate governance and business law and the Laurence W. DeMuth Chair of Business Law at the University of Colorado Law School. As Tesla’s stock swings wildly, Ann unpacks why Musk’s leadership is both the company’s greatest asset and its biggest liability. We explore the limits of shareholder power, the high-stakes Tornetta compensation case, and the board’s passive stance amid Musk’s increasingly controversial behavior, including his public spat and attempted reconciliation with President Donald Trump. From legal blind spots to governance breakdowns, this episode offers a timely look at how personality, politics, and corporate law collide in today’s markets. To hear what’s next for Tesla (and what it reveals about the future of corporate leadership), tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- From civil rights dreams to securities law reality: Ann’s professional journey.
- Tesla’s rollercoaster stock volatility explained.
- Why Musk’s recent political antics spooked shareholders.
- The board can’t fire him, but can they rein him in?
- What CEO compensation packages are really for.
- Signs that the Tesla board is too close to Musk.
- The next pay package: a major test of board independence.
- Legal hurdles blocking shareholder lawsuits.
- How Tesla’s move to Texas weakens corporate accountability.
- Ways that Musk’s split focus puts Tesla’s future on the line.
- One CEO running multiple companies: a governance nightmare!
- Robo-taxis, hype, and the risks of reckless innovation.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
'The Legitimation of Shareholder Primacy'
Fordham University School of Law Corporate Law Center