Tulane Law’s Corporate Governance Mini-Course Once Again Led by Louis Fishman and Maureen Gershanik

Co-instructors Louis Y. Fishman, counsel to the firm, and Maureen Gershanik, a partner in Fishman Haygood’s Business Section, are leading the Corporate Governance mini-course at Tulane University Law School again this spring semester. Louis has taught the class, which meets for six two-hour sessions, at his alma mater for over a decade, and this year marks Maureen’s third as an official instructor.

Based on current events, the mini-course covers topics in corporate governance such as the rights of shareholders, shareholder activism, proxy fights, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) matters, and ethical dilemmas involving business clients. Maureen will lead a session on the history of corporations and the long-standing debate about the constituencies for whose benefit the corporation should be managed: solely its shareholders, or all of its stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and society at large.

The course seeks to demonstrate to students how corporate governance fits into corporation law, how corporations make decisions, the role of the corporation lawyer in corporate governance, and the factors that lead to good (and bad) corporate decision-making. The end goal is for students to walk away conversant in a variety of corporate governance topics.

Fishman Haygood attorneys regularly lend their expertise to scholarship and teaching of continuing development in the law. Louis was a founder and has served since 1988 on the planning committee of Tulane’s Corporate Law Institute. Over the course of his career, Louis has held several key professional posts, including chairperson of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Section on Corporation and Business Law. Most recently, he was inducted into the 2024 Tulane Law Hall of Fame Class.

Maureen also is a past chairperson and council member of the LSBA Section on Corporate and Business Law and is an appointed member of the ABA Business Law Section’s Corporate Laws Committee, which continually updates and revises the Model Business Corporation Act. She has served as a panelist at the Tulane Corporate Law Institute, speaking on topics like “ESG Considerations in Dealmaking” and “Activism and ESG Considerations in Today’s World.”

Click here to learn more about the firm’s Corporate Governance group.