Brent J. Horton

Brent J. Horton is Associate Professor and Area Chair, Law and Ethics, at Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business.  Professor Horton teaches courses in business law, business organizations, and corporate and securities law. In 2009 he received the Cura Personalis Award, presented to the faculty member who best embodies the Jesuit principle of "care of the whole person" by nurturing and challenging students' hearts and minds.

Professor Horton's scholarship focuses on the Securities Laws and the IPO process, including alternatives to the traditional IPO.  His recent article, Spotify's Direct Listing: Is it a Recipe for Gatekeeper Failure?, argues that direct listings pose a unique danger to investors, because there is no traditional underwriter to vet the offering.  The article was cited in Brief Of The Cato Institute As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Defendants And Appellants at 17, Pirani v. Slack Techs., Inc., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 28319, 2021 WL 4258835 (9th Cir. Sept. 20, 2021), a case about an investor that purchased 250,000 shares in the direct listing of Slack Technologies, Inc., only to watch the share price fall from $38.50 to $25.00 in the ensuing months. 

Professor Horton also writes about how non-corporate business organizations often draft governing documents that modify, or even eliminate, traditional fiduciary duties.  Professor Horton's article, The Going-Private Freeze-Out: A Unique Danger for Investors in Delaware Non-Corporate Business Associations, focuses on how such modifications harm unwary investors, and was cited by the Delaware Court of Chancery in several cases, including Allen v. El Paso Pipeline GP Co., 113 A.3d 167, 193 n.4 (Del. Ch. 2014), In Re: El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. Derivative Litigation,132 A.3d 67, 101 n.36 (Del. Ch. 2015), Bandera Master Fund LP v. Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP, 2019 Del. Ch. LEXIS 1296, *33 n.3 (Del. Ch. 2019).

For a full list of Professor Horton's scholarship, please click on the "Publications" tab below.

• J.D.: Syracuse University College of Law
• Master's: LLM in Corporate Law: New York University Law School
• Bachelor's: State University of New York College at Geneseo

• Corporate Governance
• Business Entities
• Securities Regulation

• Disclosing Hazards to Oil Spill Cleanup Workers: An Empirical Analysis, 45 Berkeley J. Empl. & Lab. L. 1 (2024) (with Benjamin Cole and Kyle Emich).
• Direct Listings and the Weakening of Investor Protections, 50 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 279 (2023)
• The "Significant Social Policy Issue" Exception To The Business Judgment Rule, 52 Seton Hall L. Rev. 59 (2021) 
• Terra Incognita: Applying The Entire Fairness Standard Of Review To Benefit Corporations, 22 U. Penn. J. Bus. L. 842 (2020) 
• Malign Manipulations: Can Google's Shareholders Save Democracy? 54 Wake Forest L. Rev. 707 (2019) 
• Rising to Their Full Potential: How a Uniform Disclosure Regime Will Empower Benefit Corporations, 9 Harv. Bus. L. Rev. 101 (2019) 
• Brent J. Horton, Malign Manipulations: Can Google's Shareholders Save Democracy? 54 Wake Forest L. Rev. __ (forthcoming fall 2019)
• Brent J. Horton, Spotify's Direct Listing: Is it a Recipe for Gatekeeper Failure? 72 SMU L. Rev. __ (forthcoming spring 2019).
• Brent J. Horton, Rising To Their Full Potential: How A Uniform Disclosure Regime Will Empower Benefit Corporations, 9 Harv. Bus. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming winter 2018-2019).
• In Defense of a Federally Mandated Disclosure System: Observing Pre-Securities Act Prospectuses, 54 Am. Bus. L. J. 743 (2017).
• Modifying Fiduciary Duties in Delaware: Observing Ten Years of Decisional Law, 40 Del. J. Corp. L 921 (2016).
• For the Protection of Investors and the Public: Why Fannie Mae's Mortgage-Backed Securities Should Be Subject to the Disclosure Requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, 89 Tulane L. Rev. 125 (2014).
• Toward A More Perfect Substitute: How Pressure On The Issuers Of Private-Label Mortgage-Backed Securities Can Improve The Accuracy of Ratings, 93 B. U. L. Rev. 1905.
• With Benjamin Cole and Ryan Vacca, Food For Thought: Genetically Modified Seeds as De Facto Standard Essential Patents, 84 U. Colo. L. Rev. 313.
• The Going-Private Freeze-Out: A Unique Danger for Investors in Delaware Non-Corporate Business Associations, 38 Del. J. Corp. L. 53 (2013).
• Brent J. Horton, When Does a Non-Bank Financial Company Pose a "Systemic Risk"? A Proposal for Clarifying Dodd-Frank, 37 J. Corp. L. 101 (2012).
• Brent J. Horton, How Dodd–Frank's Orderly Liquidation Authority For Non-Bank Financial Companies Violates Article III of the United States Constitution, 36 J. Corp. L. 869 (2011).
• Brent J. Horton, The TARP Bailout of GM: A Legal, Historical and Literary Critique, 14 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 217 (June 2010).
• Brent J. Horton, In Defense of Private-Label Mortgage-Backed Securities, 61 Fla. L. Rev. 827 (2009).
• Brent J. Horton, How Corporate Lawyers Escaped Sarbanes-Oxley: Disparate Treatment in the Legislative Process, 60 S.C. L. Rev. 149 (2008).
• Stewart F. Hancock and Brent J. Horton, Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts, Chapter 44, "Compensatory Damages"(West Publishing, 2d ed., 2005).
• Brent J. Horton, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Contribution Provision: Must A PRP First Face an Administrative Order or Cost Recovery Action? a Proposal for Amendment, 53 Syracuse L. Rev. 209 (2003).