Ensuring Corporate Misconduct

“This is an extraordinary book, written in a clear and readable style. The lack of transparency in most accounts of corporate D&O insurance limits data and defeats empirical study. Because the authors actually ask participants themselves to explain what happens, from an insider’s perspective within a very flawed system, rich evidence in support of the agency-cost hypothesis is at least uncovered. Until now, those of us in the field had reason for concern about litigation dynamics and the role of insurance, but no real evidence. Now we have detailed interview excerpts to go to the heart of the problem. More than any contribution to the field of corporate litigation in the last decade, this book breaks new ground.”—Donald Langevoort, Georgetown University Law School

“This is a fascinating look at a little-studied, lesser-understood, but extraordinarily important industry. Tom Baker and Sean J. Griffith employ a novel approach and the results of their interviews with numerous participants in the directors’ and officers’ insurance market provide new knowledge useful for scholars and students alike. In the fields of finance and risk and insurance, this book will be mandatory reading for those who want to understand the institutional details of the market and how plaintiffs and defense lawyers think about D&O cases. There’s no other book quite like Ensuring Corporate Misconduct, which offers impressive access to inside knowledge previously unavailable to those outside of the insurance industry.”—Martin F. Grace, Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research, College of Business, Georgia State University