Representing the Unrepresented
Professor Frances Fendler’s 2012 one-of-a-kind law textbook, Closely Held Business Organizations, includes general partnerships, close corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, and other hybrid entities.
In the short time it has been available, the textbook has had sales of more than 1,000 copies. In addition, 18 law schools are using the textbook, including the University of California, Hastings College of Law, as well as the 24th-ranked School of Law at Washington & Lee University.
Professor Fendler has also published Private Placements and Limited Offerings of Securities: A Guide for the Arkansas Practitioner, which bridges the gap between legal academia and practice and provides vital information for Arkansas legal practitioners in securities law.
In addition, Professor Fendler is the author of several scholarly and practitioner-focused legal articles. Among her contributions to Arkansas Lawyer, which is distributed to Arkansas bar members, is the 2011 article “Revising Arkansas LLC Law to Protect the Unrepresented,” co-authored with New Hampshire attorney John Cunningham.
The Limited Liability Co. (LLC) is the organizational choice of most small business operations in the state; however, Fendler and Cunningham make the case for legal reform, arguing that the imprecise and archaic language of the Arkansas LLC Act provides inadequate protection for the unrepresented layperson.
“She does a superb job of defending the nuanced position that LLC members should be allowed to alter fiduciary duties by contract but that there should remain a mandatory core of such duties that may not be eliminated,” said University of Houston Professor of Law Robert A. Ragazzo.
Professor Fendler also tackled the thorny issue of when a municipal bond is not a security in the Eleventh Circuit Court Case, Financial Assurance Security Inc. vs. Stephens Inc., which was published in the Securities Regulation Law Journal in 2008.
Even though it would not be unusual to relax after 25 years of work in her field, Fendler continues to contribute substantially as a faculty member of the Bowen School. Her colleagues admire her for possessing that rare combination of contributing works that are of interest to practitioners and scholars alike.
Professor Fendler received her J.D. and B.A. degrees from UA Little Rock.