Fascinating as the corporate takeovers of recent years have been--with their "golden parachutes" and junk bonds, "greenmailers" and white knights--it is far from clear what underlying forces are at work, and what their long-term consequences will be. Debate over these questions has become polarized: some see takeover threats as disciplinary mechanisms that induce managers to behave efficiently and move assets to higher valued uses or into the hands of more efficient managers; others claim that corporate raiders have produced few observable increases in operating efficiency, but rather have...

Much of the debate and investigation of corporate collapse and failure has focused on boards and directors. Not so much attention has been given to the role of those who inform and advise them: the gatekeeping professions who play a vital and influential role in modern business.
In the book, John Coffee, world-renowned Professor of Corporate Law, explains how the professions have evolved, performed and changed their behavior over the last century. Coffee argues that all boards of directors are prisoners of their gatekeepers and only if the board's agents properly advise and warn it, can...