Carrie Stanton Publishes Article in the Wisconsin Law Review The article explores the risks for both private and public businesses that lack leadership transition plans.

By Law Communications
May 15, 2025

Washington and Lee law professor Carrie Stanton has published an article in the Wisconsin Law Review. The article “Scrutinizing Succession,” explores the growing but still nascent succession scholarship, as well as robust literature on corporate fiduciary duties and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), to propose new solutions to the many problems that companies face at the time of succession.

“Businesses are at their most vulnerable during leadership transitions. Lack of succession planning has been recognized as a key risk factor, especially for closely held, family-owned businesses, but the problem is more extensive. Even public corporations with supposedly independent boards of directors too often fail to separate the corporation’s interests from those of charismatic leaders who enjoy the perquisites of control and may be loath to surrender it. Shareholders trust directors to manage business affairs, and ensuring leadership continuity is critical to this charge. Yet succession often remains overlooked in practice. It also remains understudied in the literature, and state legislatures have failed to create a specific statutory requirement to engage in succession planning,” writes Stanton.

The article is available online at the W&L Law Scholarly Commons.

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