The Global Role of Corporate Law

Abstract

One of the things I've been reflecting on as the discussions have gone on during the course of the day, is that it's often said that we're divided by a common language between the U.K. and the U.S. I'm not quite sure, in fact, that we are not divided by the common law. But we'll come onto that in a few minutes.

I'm trying to look at the issues facing companies from a global point of view against a business approach. Corporations want to expand. They want to expand trade in other countries other than their own. They want to acquire businesses. They want to joint venture.

Why do they want to do that? They want to do that because they want to grow. Growth is the key thing that is being driven by our capital markets. We heard earlier on from Michael Price and others about how important it is to ensure that the institutional investors' interests are properly reflected and properly dealt with. And what they're looking for all the time is growth.