‘Common Law’ Looks at How Socially Conscious ESG Funds Are Shaking Up Wall Street

A new kind of investment fund is changing the way Wall Street does business, Professor Quinn Curtis explains on “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law.

ESG funds — investment options driven by environmental, social and corporate governance values — are growing popular enough to influence business decisions while raising questions about how they should be regulated. Curtis joins hosts Professor Cathy Hwang and Dean Risa Goluboff on the show to discuss whether they live up to their label and how the interest in ESG has already disrupted corporate governance and investing by millennials.

The episode draws on Curtis’ papers “Do ESG Mutual Funds Deliver on Their Promises?,” published in the Michigan Law Review and written with Jill E. Fisch and Adriana Robertson, and “Shareholder Value(s): Index Fund ESG Activism and the New Millennial Corporate Governance,” written with UVA Law professor Michal Barzuza and David Webber and published in the Southern California Law Review.

Curtis teaches courses on corporate law, securities and venture capital, and his research focuses on empirical law and finance. He has written extensively on the regulation of mutual funds and retirement accounts, including empirical work on 401(k) plans, mutual fund governance and fee litigation. His other research interests include corporate governance and corporate litigation.  

This season, called “Co-Counsel” features a rotating set of co-hosts: Hwang, Danielle K. Citron, John C. Harrison and Gregory Mitchell. Each is joining Goluboff to discuss cutting-edge research on law topics of their choice.

Past seasons of “Common Law” have focused on “The Future of Law,” “When Law Changed the World” and “Law and Equity.”

“Common Law” is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, YouTube, Spotify and other popular places you can listen to podcasts. The show is produced by Emily Richardson-Lorente.

You can follow the show on the website CommonLawPodcast.com or Twitter at @CommonLawUVA.