Lawyers as gatekeepers

Abstract

Good corporate governance is an enabling factor for the growth, development and success of corporations in this era of globalization and international competition. The corporate scandals of the early 2000s have reinforced the importance of corporate governance; they have stimulated research and experimentation with new modes of corporate governance.

Following the reforms introduced in North America in the last decade, lawyers have been formally integrated into the corporate governance regulatory framework. Canadian and U.S. regulation now clearly assigns a gatekeeping role to corporate lawyers. The legal qualification of corporate lawyers as gatekeepers has significant theoretical support in the literature. Yet criticism of this position raises doubts, or at least sensitive issues, regarding this qualification. We conclude that further empirical studies would be apposite to gain a finer grained understanding of the practice and contributions of corporate lawyers as gatekeepers and a better appreciation of the appropriateness of such role.