Selection from Legal Thesis

The motivations to delve into the mountains of case law regarding the procedural measure of piercing the corporate veil stems from a personal interest in the legal history of the corporation and a professional interest in directing my future legal career in the area of corporate law. In the course of the hours of research into this rarely applied exception, I noticed a direct connection between a jurisdiction’s piercing standard and the traditional political ideology of the respective jurisdiction. As a political scientist, I could not resist expounding into the macro ramifications of an applied piercing theory supported with the micro legal analysis of corporate veil piercing. The following analysis is the result of a law student allowing the political scientist within to take a theory and run with it.


The global economic meltdown in September of 2008 and the resulting recession has provided the public, as well as our elected officials and judges, a plethora of reasons to harbor a distrust and disdain for Wall Street and the conglomerates that make up its’ ranks. With the news of dishonesty and deceit surfacing after the collapses of players like AIG and Arthur Anderson, along with the cronyism, back room deals, and inside information that has allowed players like Goldman Saks to reap a windfall from the destruction of the housing market. It should be of no surprise that a public outcry for the punishment of the guilty players, and a growing distrust of Wall Street, is prevalent across the American landscape. Especially, when the leaders of the ‘angry mob’ are preaching daily from the pulpit affixed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, advantageously manipulating their vehemence to advance its’ Progressive laden agenda.

There is no doubt that those responsible of any wrongdoing should pay the punishment for their supposed actions. Our judicial system has the capability and the laws in place for such an undertaking. Instead, of holding the actions and corruptions of a few in the public contempt, however, the arbitrary torch light of the ‘angry mob’ has been directed at the private sector in it’s entirety. In the name of market reform, the Progressive movement has seized the opportunity to destroy piecemeal the centuries of jurisprudence in the area of Corporate Law and the treatment of the corporation under the law. Capitalizing on the emotions of a fickle mob, the Progressive movement and its leftist disciples have the opportunity to force their hope and change down our throats (or up another part of the anatomy not named for reasons of decorum), and finally input reform (e.g., control) into the arena where all the evil and greedy capitalists reign. Preaching to the ‘angry mob’ that this is where the bourgeoisie sets out daily to exploit the masses and bath in the blood of the poor down-trodden proletariat.