Mark Roderick is one of the leading crowdfunding and fintech lawyers working today. His widely-read blog includes a wealth of legal and practical information for portals and issuers. He also speaks at crowdfunding events across the country and represents industry participants both nationally and internationally. The below guest blog from Mark, originally published on his site, looks at why most crowdfunding entities are formed in Delaware. Let’s see what he has to say.
Why are most crowdfunding entities formed in Delaware? Two reasons.
First, Delaware has very good business laws and a very good system for adjudicating business disputes. Here’s what I mean:
- Delaware’s business laws – and by that I mean the laws governing limited liability companies and corporations – are very flexible. In the hands of a capable corporate lawyer, Delaware’s laws can be used to do just about anything you want to do, i.e., can implement just about any business deal.
- For better or worse, Delaware’s laws are tilted in favor of management. That means those running the show – and those running the show pick where the entity is incorporated – can get more or less what they want. As an example, Delaware allows the manager of a limited liability company to disclaim all fiduciary responsibilities to the members. Most states do not.
- Delaware has a whole court system devoted to adjudicating disputes among business entities and their owners and managers. In most states, the judge hearing a business dispute in the morning is hearing auto accident cases all afternoon and is probably a former personal injury lawyer herself. First among the country’s business-only courts, Delaware’s Court of Chancery enjoys a deserved reputation for professionalism.
Second, because Delaware entities are used so widely, lawyers across the country are familiar with Delaware law. If two real estate investments are offered on a Crowdfunding portal, one incorporated under Delaware law and the other incorporated under Missouri law, the Delaware company has a head start in attracting investors solely on the basis of familiarity, at least outside Missouri.
There is one important exception. Under Federal Rule 147, an entity raising money through the intrastate Crowdfunding exemption of State X must be incorporated in State X, not in Delaware.
Visit www.crowdfundattny.com for more.
Image by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0 / modified from original