Professor Donald C. Langevoort, The Regulatory Divide Between Private and Public Markets for Securities and Challenges Posed by Technological Change and New Business Practices (March 29, 2012). Description: Professor Langesvoort outlines the economic and technological changes that led to the JOBS Act, including the existence of well-known technology companies that wanted to raise capital without going public (e.g., Facebook), the decrease in the availability of capital after 2008, and the increased requirements for public companies under Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank. He also provided an overview of the major provisions of the legislation and predicts the JOBS Act's long-term effects.
Professor John Coffee, Testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (Dec. 1, 2011) Description: Professor Coffee raised concerns about the JOBS Act as it was written in December 2011. For example, Professor Coffee criticized the crowdfunding provision because it lacked protections for investors on crowdfunding websites. After Professor Coffee's testimony, the Senate passed a set of amendments that require crowdfunding websites to either be licensed broker-dealers or registered "funding portals." Professor Coffee also expressed concerns that raising the record shareholder limit to 2,000 may enable some very large companies to avoid SEC regulation, especially when some of the record-shareholders are actually themselves funds comprised of many investors.