Gatekeeping

Abstract:     
Gatekeeping is a metaphor ubiquitous across disciplines and within fields of law. Generally, gatekeeping comprises an actor monitoring the quality of information, products, or services. Specific conceptions of gatekeeping functions have arisen independently within corporate and evidentiary law. Corporate gatekeeping entails deciding whether to grant or withhold support necessary for financial disclosure; evidentiary gatekeeping entails assessing whether expert knowledge is relevant and reliable for admissibility. This article is the first to identify substantive parallels between gatekeeping in these two contexts and to suggest their cross-treatment. Public corporate gatekeepers, like their judicial evidentiary analogues, should bear a duty of reliable monitoring.

Keywords: Intradisciplinarity, gatekeeping, expert evidence, Securities and Exchange Commission, monitoring, fraud

JEL Classifications: A12, B41, D21, G18, G23, G34, K00, K22, K39, K41

Accepted Paper Series