Feminism, Pedagogy and Francis v. United Jersey Bank

Abstract

Corporate law pedagogy is at an inflection point where topics, such as equality and inclusion, can no longer be ignored. For four decades, Francis v. United Jersey Bank has been a seminal case in the introductory business law course, while professors have largely ignored its sexist assumptions and misuse of liberal feminist tropes. Taught as an exemplary introduction to the duty of care, or duty of oversight, the case is actually infirm on the law and also the facts, as a reading of the citations and historical inquiry from accounts of the firm's bankruptcy in the press reveals. The case's real lesson is about what we do and do not discuss and do with texts in the casebooks, and conversations in the business law classroom, since Lillian Pritchard (the defendant), has been used as the "poster child" of fiduciary laziness and incompetence—sending a terrible message about women in corporate governance.

Keywords: corporate governance, inclusion, diversity, pedagogy