Law & Management Approach

Abstract

The Law & Management approach refers to a body of research initiated in the early 2000s that focuses on ways in which companies can best profit from legal resources. The approach seeks to show that law is not merely a constraint on business but that it can also be used as a tool for creating opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors, creating lasting strategic advantages. This chapter examines the ethical dimensions of some of these managerial strategies. Beginning with seminal contributions by Bagley, Weyrauch and LoPucki, Seidel, Shell, and Bird, the chapter surveys two decades of Law & Management literature. Some contributors describe corporate legal strategy without reference to its ethical dimensions. Others examine how the Law & Management approach can use ethical behavior as an instrument with which to enhance profits. Still others examine or suggest principles of virtuous conduct that must inform and guide the Law & Management approach. These principles often counsel self-restraint from positions of advantage. Building on these normative insights, this chapter illustrates how issues of ethical self-restraint and corporate political obligation become manifest in the Law & Management arenas of strategic contracting, tax compliance, and environmental obligations. The illustrations seek to ground corporate legal strategy, financial risk management, and corporate compliance practices to secure and socially responsible moral foundations.