HLS professors join amicus brief in Supreme Court Investment Advisor Case

On Sept. 3, four HLS professors joined more than 20 other corporate law and finance professors and scholars in an amici curiae brief filed in the case of Jones et al. v. Harris Associates, now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court... The case, which is scheduled for oral argument on Nov. 2, involves an appeal of a Seventh Circuit decision affirming the trial court’s dismissal of the case against Harris Associates, a mutual fund adviser. The district court ruled that as long as a mutual fund adviser does not breach the fiduciary duty owed to shareholders by failing to disclose all pertinent facts or otherwise hindering the fund’s directors from negotiating a favorable price, no judicial review of the reasonableness of the adviser’s fee is required in order to dismiss a claim under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act.

The scholars’ amici curiae brief—filed in support of position of the defendant, Harris Associates,—reviews facts and misperceptions about the mutual fund industry, showing that competition for investors is an important force in constraining advisor’s fees...

Harvard Law School: HLS professors join amicus brief in Supreme Court Investment Advisor Case