After more than 40 years of following the same old rules, the game is changing for corporations in Louisiana.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, sweeping revisions to the state’s business corporation statute under House Bill 319, which was signed into law in May and takes effect Jan. 1, repeals the existing Business Corporation Law and enacts the Louisiana Business Corporation Act. The new act was shaped by a nationally recognized statute, the Model Business Corporations Act, and recommended by the Louisiana State Law Institute.
What is in store for corporations under the new rules? Corporate lawyers and business leaders alike are asking this question. The answer: It depends on for whom you are working.
To a lawyer practicing only in Louisiana for the past 40 years, the new 282-page law will look completely foreign, considering the state’s Business Corporation Law has not changed since 1968.
However, for a multijurisdictional firm with clients around the country, the new rules may look a lot more familiar, given that it mimics corporate laws in 30 other states.
“What it does is modernize corporate law in Louisiana,” says Mark Graffagnini, founder, president and CEO of Graffagnini Law.
A corporate and securities lawyer by trade, Graffagnini says the new law eliminates many of the uncertainties that might have existed regarding corporate governance in the previous law, while allowing multijurisdictional firms like his to more easily handle corporate dealings in other states.
“It brings Louisiana law into the mainstream of American corporate law,” says LSU law professor Glenn Morris.
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
