Introductions

Task 1: Read the introductions below and comment on the following:

- Source
- Background information
- Main idea of (original) article
- Instructions and signposting
- Opinion (authors / students)
- Referencing
- General comprehension

A. The aim of this paper is to critically evaluate an article by Robert Hinkley entitled How
Corporate Law Inhibits Social Responsibility published in 2002 (the Article). I would share
with Hinkley the idea that corporations should also serve the public interest rather than
focusing only on their shareholders interest (the Idea), because, as he pointed out, it should
make no sense that societys most powerful citizens, or corporations, have no concern for the
public interest. However, it is clear that there would exist several approaches to achieve the
Idea, and it seems that the suggestions he made to realize the Idea (the Suggestions) need
to be scrutinized. In this paper, I will first briefly summarize the Suggestions, and then
discuss the feasibility of the Suggestions. I will also review the reasoning appearing in the
Article that led him to the Suggestions.

B. The intention of this essay is to critically analyse an article written by Wendell Piez (2008),
which appeared in the editorial of the Digital Humanities Quarterly. In order to do so it is
necessary to start this essay by summarizing Piez' s article, which is a response to another
article (Deresiewicz, 2008), and by outlining his main points. The second part of the essay
will discuss his method of research, as well as his writing style, while the third part will focus
on the topics he raises and the arguments he makes.

C. This paper is a critique of a case comment from the Journal of Business Law entitled A
directors liberty to compete (Lee and Ho, 2007). In the comment, Lee and Ho focus on the
reasoning of the judgment in Shepherds Investments Ltd v Andrew Walters case, in which a
director of a company had taken steps to set up a new competing business. The High Court
of Justice Chancery Division, therefore, was asked whether the act was a breach of the
directors fiduciary duty to the company. The authors also discussed several other cases in
order to obtain a conclusive ruling to the issue and to support their arguments. Overall, it is
apparent that in most cases, a directors act to set up a new competing business may
potentially damage the companys interest and is, therefore, regarded unacceptable.

Assignment Introductions: 2011 1

However, the judgments and rulings may slightly differ in each case depending on the details
and facts which constitute the offence. This paper will summarise some of the High Court
decisions and the development of the ruling, followed by a discussion on the authors main
arguments. An evaluation of their arguments will be presented in the third part of this work.

D. This paper is a critic of McLeod Book Legal Method (2007) that deals with judicial
precedents reporting and will evaluate the authors opinion about how the publishers choose
the cases to be reported. I will focus, with a critical approach, on pages 114,119-120 of the
book where the author describes the editorial discretion in law reporting. Firstly, I will
summarize the McLeods ideas about how the editors choose the cases that, according to
them, should be reported. Secondly, I will analyse McLeods ideas demonstrating that law
professionals have to deal with the material resources that they have available. Finally, I will
conclude giving my accordance to the set of criteria mentioned and defended by McLeod in
his book for choosing cases.

E. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse a research taken up by Michael Fay and
Lesley Williams (June 1991) on the subject of possible gender discrimination against
female bank loan applicants who want to start up a business. The main reasons why I
have chosen this article are: Firstly, the subject of the difference between men and
women has always interested me. Secondly, I believe this is in line with the subject of
business management that I am going to study. Consequently, the article was taken on
the 23/07/2008 for the said purpose. After mentioning a brief summary of the authors
points of view and conducting a critical evaluation of the paper, the various aspects of
their findings will be discussed. The following part of this assignment will focus on the
methodology and the data used as well as looking at their arguments and writing style.

Assignment Introductions: 2011 2