Corporate Law

Article

Law for the Next Pandemic

Essential Businesses and Shareholder Value

Aneil Kovvali

Harry A. Bigelow Teaching Fellow & Lecturer in Law, University of Chicago Law School.

This Article was prepared for The University of Chicago Legal Forum’s Symposium on “Law for the Next Pandemic” held on November 6, 2020. I thank Douglas G. Baird, Suneal Bedi, Anthony J. Casey, Jeffrey N. Gordon, Daniel J. Hemel, Joshua C. Macey, and participants in the conference for thoughtful conversations and comments. All errors are mine.

The COVID-19 crisis vividly demonstrated that Americans rely on certain for-profit corporations to supply the essentials of everyday life. Even in a crisis situation in which the government had assumed an extraordinary role and extraordinary responsibilities, it was deemed necessary for workers handling “essential” tasks to risk infection to continue their work at private companies.

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