Eric W. Orts is the Guardsmark Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a secondary appointment in Management. He is the faculty director of the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership and a co-faculty director of the FINRA Institute at Wharton. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Leuven, the University of Michigan Law School, NYU School of Law, Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, the University of Sydney Law School, and UCLA School of Law. His research focuses on business theory, corporate law, ethics, and sustainability.

"This book is a path-breaking analysis of the business firm from a legal perspective. As shown by the debate surrounding the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, the question of corporate legal personality has resurfaced as one of the key legal and political issues of our time. Prof. Orts' book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in exploring the extent to which 'corporations are people too.'"--Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

"In this comprehensive study, Eric Orts takes on the economists and shows why law is essential to our understanding of the business firm. Anyone who cares about the future of business should be grateful for this addition to the literature."--Lynn Sharp Paine, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

"Orts has rethought and reformulated corporate law theory, echoing the work of Adolf Berle, Gardiner Means, and H.L.A. Hart. While recent scholarship on the nature of the firm have stressed economic and finance theory, Orts frames the analysis around legal theory. Employing an ethics-focused, multi-perspective approach, Orts draws parallels to the history and philosophy of law. It re-elevates the roles of agency, contract, and property law and theory in addressing questions about the firm. The book includes crucial insights into the modern taxonomy of firms and their shifting boundaries, as well as practical contributions to the policy debate about executive compensation challenges and corporate political speech. Orts is a leading voice advocating a more nuanced view of the firm, delivering a thoroughly-researched and foundational book that is a must-read for anyone thinking about the theory of the modern firm."--Frank Partnoy, Professor of Law and Finance, University of San Diego