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Paper coauthored by Randall Thomas is finalist for 2008 Brattle Prize
Release Date: Jan 12, 2009
A paper on hedge fund activism co-authored by Randall Thomas, the John S. Beasley II Professor of Law and Business and director of Vanderbilt's Law & Business Program, was a finalist for the prestigious Brattle Prize, which is awarded annually by the Journal of Finance.
The paper, "Hedge Fund Activism, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance," was published in the Journal of Finance during 2008. Professor Thomas co-authored the paper with colleagues Alon Brav, Wei Jiang and Frank Portnoy.
"We demonstrated, based on an original data set, that hedge funds engage in unique forms of shareholder activism, and that their activism is more effective than other institutional investors’ activism at achieving significant benefits for their shareholders," Thomas says. "Our analysis indicates that hedge funds are better positioned to act as informed monitors of corporations, because unlike mutual funds and pension funds, they can hold concentrated positions in a smaller number of companies."
In addition to directing the Law & Business Program, Professor Thomas also directs the Vanderbilt-in-Venice Program and is a Professor of Management in Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
Vanderbilt’s Law & Business Program offers an innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum to students interested in a career in business law. Through this program, students have a unique opportunity to study business law and corporate management in classes taught by professors representing two of the nation's top professional schools, Vanderbilt Law School and the Owen School of Management, during their second and third years of law school.
