Nonprofits and the Shaping of Corporate Governance (co-authored with Mariana Pargendler)

Add to Calendar: Add to Calendar: 2026-01-21 16:30:00 2026-01-21 17:30:00 Nonprofits and the Shaping of Corporate Governance (co-authored with Mariana Pargendler) Event Description Nonprofits have emerged as powerful forces shaping corporate law and governance, yet they remain largely overlooked in accounts of the field. This lecture offers a theory that nonprofits are the missing piece in understanding some of the most significant corporate governance developments of the past decades. We make three primary contributions. First, we identify the range of nonprofits beyond traditional corporate governance actors, discuss their defining features, and explain why governance-related activism occurs through nonprofit vehicles. Second, we examine their strategic playbook, which includes legislative advocacy, litigation, shareholder proposals, and soft law and shaming campaigns. We analyze how these strategies have shaped key corporate governance shifts, from global supply chain and benefit corporation legislation to the rise and backlash against CSR, ESG, DEI, and climate-related agendas. Third, we explore the broader implications of this phenomenon for reform proposals and the future of corporate governance. About The Speaker Elizabeth Pollman is the Perry Golkin Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Co-Director of the Institute for Law & Economics. She teaches and writes in business law, with a particular focus on corporate law and governance, as well as startups, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Professor Pollman is among the 20 most cited Corporate Law & Securities Regulation faculty in the United States, as well as featured in “The Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024.” Her articles have been selected by scholars in the field as among the Top Ten Best Corporate and Securities Articles eight times in the past eight years: “The Making and Meaning of ESG” (Harvard Business Law Review); “Startup Failure” (Duke Law Journal); “The Supreme Court and the Pro-Business Paradox” (Harvard Law Review); “The Corporate Governance Machine” (Columbia Law Review, co-authored with Dorothy S. Lund); “Private Company Lies” (Georgetown Law Journal); “Startup Governance” (University of Pennsylvania Law Review); “Corporate Disobedience” (Duke Law Journal); “Regulatory Entrepreneurship” (University of Southern California Law Review, co- authored with Jordan M. Barry). She is the co-author of Business Organizations: A Contemporary Approach (with Frank Partnoy, West Academic Publishing) and co-editor of the Research Handbook on Corporate Purpose and Personhood (with Robert B. Thompson, Edward Elgar Publishing). Nonprofits and the Shaping of Corporate Governance (co-authored with Mariana Pargendler). She serves on the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association and is a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. She has served on the National Business Law Scholars Conference Board and the AALS Business Associations Executive Committee. She has received the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence (2022) and the LLM Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2021 & 2024). Before beginning her academic career, she practiced at Latham & Watkins in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, and clerked for Judge Raymond Fisher of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She earned her BA and JD, with distinction, from Stanford University. Download the reading materials. CWRU School of Law Moot Courtroom School of Law School of Law America/New_York public