A Duty to Diversity

19 Pages Posted: 2 Dec 2021 Last revised: 9 Feb 2022

See all articles by Anat Alon-Beck

Anat Alon-Beck

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Michal Agmon-Gonnen

District Court of Tel Aviv - Commercial Department I; Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Darren Rosenblum

McGill University - Faculty of Law; Pace Law School; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: February 2022

Abstract

Fiduciary duties reflect the central role of leaders in corporate governance. Those with the most responsibility benefit the most from corporate success, but also bear commensurate fiduciary responsibilities. Equality, diversity, and inclusion may seem an odd fit among other fiduciary duties. However, fiduciary duties are where governance imposes the burden of 'doing the right thing'. Fiduciary duties involve normatively good behavior that proves essential to ensuring responsible decision-making and achieving positive outcomes for firms.

Corporate law allows, encourages and perhaps, today, even mandates, corporate leaders to do the right thing. Not only does it seem appropriate to ask corporate leaders, such as institutional investors, to carry this fiduciary duty, but imposing this duty on them may prove far more effective than other efforts. As a new generation of leaders rise to lead, the resulting changes may prove revolutionary, both for firms and investors.

Keywords: corporate governance, diversity, fiduciary duty, Delaware

JEL Classification: K22

Suggested Citation

Alon-Beck, Anat and Agmon-Gonnen, Michal and Rosenblum, Darren, A Duty to Diversity (February 2022). Vanderbilt Law Review, Forthcoming, Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3974699 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3974699

Anat Alon-Beck (Contact Author)

Case Western Reserve University School of Law ( email )

11075 East Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44106-7148
United States
2163683311 (Phone)

Michal Agmon-Gonnen

District Court of Tel Aviv - Commercial Department I

Tel Aviv
Israel

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv 69978
Israel

Darren Rosenblum

McGill University - Faculty of Law ( email )

3644 Peel Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9
Canada

Pace Law School ( email )

78 North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
United States
914 422 4663 (Phone)

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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