Marc J. Lane
Encyclopedia
Marc J. Lane, JD is a business and tax attorney, a Master Registered Financial Planner, a Registered Financial Counselor, and a Certified Investment Specialist. He is the author of thirty-four books on corporate management, taxation, and personal finance
. Out of his proprietary research, he developed a new socially responsible investing
approach, Advocacy Investing, which allows investors to positively express their values on corporate behavior issues such as social justice
and the environment through stock selection—without sacrificing portfolio diversification or long-term performance. Lane drafted the Illinois legislation to create an entity called the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), a new hybrid structure for-profit ventures that have a primary goal of achieving a socially beneficial purpose. The law was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on August 4, 2009. Marc Lane's 34th book, Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs, was published in 2011.
in 1971 and subsequently founded The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane. In 1985, he established his own NASD-licensed (now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
(FINRA)-licensed) broker-dealer
. By the year 2002, Marc J. Lane Wealth Group included The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, an investment advisory
, a broker-dealer and a merchant banking affiliate.
approach, termed Advocacy Investing. Then, in 2005, he published a book on the subject entitled Profitable Socially Responsible Investing? An Institutional Investor’s Guide. Lane’s new investment strategy generated a result that beat the Russell 3000
benchmark by an annual return of 2.53% over the eight years ending December 31, 2003.
As a result, Lane’s approach was widely discussed with both affirmative and skeptical views by the mainstream media. The Wall Street Journal
commented that Lane’s theories added a new variation to the socially responsible theme. “Lane made the case that the way to do right by your conscience and your portfolio is to drop the typical SRI strategy of ‘negative screening.’ Instead, Lane’s way is to match the specific values of an investor with companies that have similar operational values. For example, a food bank
with an endowment to invest would want to buy the stock of a company with a good human rights record, despite the fact that this company might also happen to produce beer.” Elizabeth Wine, reporter for On Wall Street magazine, noted that Advocacy Investing has became the new generation of socially responsible investing. She wrote, "Advocacy investing pushes the idea of sustainability, not just in the narrow environmental sense, but also in the sense of a company's long term potential to compete and succeed."Stasia Swisler, President and CEO for the Giving Trust praised the approach by stating that “In the wake of ethics
and governance scandals, this guide boldly takes socially responsible investing to a new level.”
Acknowledging that Lane’s approach provides an invaluable tool for fiduciaries considering SRI and advances original research finding competitive financial performance for positive screening, book commentator, William Baue cautioned the readers to take his findings with the same grain of salt as he sprinkles on others’ research as Lane excluded mutual funds outside the purview of his study in his book for practical reasons.
). On August 4, 2009, Illinois' L3C bill was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. The law, which will take effect on January 1, 2010, aims to make it easier for social enterprises to attract capital, said Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill. L3Cs leverage foundations' program-related investments to access trillions of dollars of market-driven capital for ventures with modest financial prospects, but the possibility of major social impact.
Contributions to L3C publications
Lane is a frequent guest on national business and public affairs television and radio networks such as CNBC
, ABC
, PBS
and Sirius Satellite Radio
and online media such as TheStreet.com
and Forbes.com. He is also a regular columnist for Crain’s Chicago Business. Besides, he is often-requested expert source for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times
, Money
, Christian Science Monitor and Business Ethics
.
Lane joined other law professors in supporting Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The letter, signed by over 850 professors of law, was delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 29, 2010.
Personal finance
Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...
. Out of his proprietary research, he developed a new socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....
approach, Advocacy Investing, which allows investors to positively express their values on corporate behavior issues such as social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and the environment through stock selection—without sacrificing portfolio diversification or long-term performance. Lane drafted the Illinois legislation to create an entity called the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), a new hybrid structure for-profit ventures that have a primary goal of achieving a socially beneficial purpose. The law was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on August 4, 2009. Marc Lane's 34th book, Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs, was published in 2011.
Biography
Lane graduated from Northwestern University School of LawNorthwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
in 1971 and subsequently founded The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane. In 1985, he established his own NASD-licensed (now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
In the United States, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, is a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization . FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. ...
(FINRA)-licensed) broker-dealer
Broker-dealer
A broker-dealer is a term used in United States financial services regulations. It is a natural person, a company or other organization that trades securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers....
. By the year 2002, Marc J. Lane Wealth Group included The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, an investment advisory
Investment advisory
An Investment advisory, in financial/investment organizations, is the unit linking the investment professionals in the central asset management unit to the relationship managers and/or to important clients of the asset management organization.Investment Advisors explain the investment ideas of the...
, a broker-dealer and a merchant banking affiliate.
Advocacy Investing
Upon a request by one of his wealth clients, Lane embarked on an eight-year research project to determine how investment choices can be utilized to communicate his clients' values, along with their money, to heirs. In 2003, out of his proprietary research, Lane developed a new socially responsible investingSocially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....
approach, termed Advocacy Investing. Then, in 2005, he published a book on the subject entitled Profitable Socially Responsible Investing? An Institutional Investor’s Guide. Lane’s new investment strategy generated a result that beat the Russell 3000
Russell 3000
The Russell 3000 Index is a stock market index of US stocks.The ticker symbol is ^RUA.This index measures the performance of 3,000 publicly held US companies based on total market capitalization, which represents approximately 98% of the investable US market.-Annual returns reflected by the Russell...
benchmark by an annual return of 2.53% over the eight years ending December 31, 2003.
As a result, Lane’s approach was widely discussed with both affirmative and skeptical views by the mainstream media. The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
commented that Lane’s theories added a new variation to the socially responsible theme. “Lane made the case that the way to do right by your conscience and your portfolio is to drop the typical SRI strategy of ‘negative screening.’ Instead, Lane’s way is to match the specific values of an investor with companies that have similar operational values. For example, a food bank
Food bank
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...
with an endowment to invest would want to buy the stock of a company with a good human rights record, despite the fact that this company might also happen to produce beer.” Elizabeth Wine, reporter for On Wall Street magazine, noted that Advocacy Investing has became the new generation of socially responsible investing. She wrote, "Advocacy investing pushes the idea of sustainability, not just in the narrow environmental sense, but also in the sense of a company's long term potential to compete and succeed."Stasia Swisler, President and CEO for the Giving Trust praised the approach by stating that “In the wake of ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
and governance scandals, this guide boldly takes socially responsible investing to a new level.”
Acknowledging that Lane’s approach provides an invaluable tool for fiduciaries considering SRI and advances original research finding competitive financial performance for positive screening, book commentator, William Baue cautioned the readers to take his findings with the same grain of salt as he sprinkles on others’ research as Lane excluded mutual funds outside the purview of his study in his book for practical reasons.
Entrepreneurship
Lane is the author of Advising Entrepreneurs: Dynamic Strategies for Financial Growth, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001, along with a number of other titles published in the past 30 years. His book provides a comprehensive approach to starting a business, locating sources of financing, lowering taxes, shielding assets, compensating the entrepreneur and employees, preparing for an IPO, growing wealth, and much more by promoting prudent risk taking. Thomas Morsch, Director of the Small Business Opportunity Center at the Northwestern University School of Law commented that “Marc J. Lane has done a wonderful job of addressing all of these in one very readable and sensible book.”Corporate governance
Lane's book on best corporate governance practices, Representing Corporate Officers and Directors, was first published in 1987. He revisited his treatise on corporate governance in 2005. The new, expanded edition, Representing Corporate Officers, Directors, Managers, and Trustees, was published in 2010. With the goal of promoting positive social change, Lane provides companies and their directors, officers, auditors, and shareholders with insights for the compliance of new legislation, rules and responsibilities in response to the avalanche of corporate accounting scandals.Social involvement and L3C legislation
Lane serves as the founding partner for Social Venture Partners Chicago. In addition, He is a Director for the Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA) and the founder and President of its Chicago Chapter, and he chairs SEA’s affiliate, the Center for Social Enterprise Accreditation. He also served as the Chairman of the Board for the Grant A Wish, Inc. and the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He is one of the drafters of the Illinois legislation and promoted the establishment of low-profit limited liability companies (L3CL3C
A low-profit limited liability company is a legal form of business entity in the United States that was created to bridge the gap between non-profit and for-profit investing by providing a structure that facilitates investments in socially beneficial, for-profit ventures while simplifying...
). On August 4, 2009, Illinois' L3C bill was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. The law, which will take effect on January 1, 2010, aims to make it easier for social enterprises to attract capital, said Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill. L3Cs leverage foundations' program-related investments to access trillions of dollars of market-driven capital for ventures with modest financial prospects, but the possibility of major social impact.
Contributions to L3C publications
Lane is a frequent guest on national business and public affairs television and radio networks such as CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
and Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
and online media such as TheStreet.com
TheStreet.com
-History:TheStreet.com, Inc., was co-founded in 1996 by Jim Cramer and Martin Peretz. It is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market. The company is headquartered at 14 Wall Street in New York City. Its stock was made public in May 1999 under the direction of past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer...
and Forbes.com. He is also a regular columnist for Crain’s Chicago Business. Besides, he is often-requested expert source for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, Money
Money (magazine)
Money is published by Time Inc. Its first issue was published in October 1972. Its articles cover the gamut of personal finance topics ranging from investing, saving, retirement and taxes to family finance issues like paying for college, credit, career and home improvement...
, Christian Science Monitor and Business Ethics
Business ethics
Business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.Business...
.
Lane joined other law professors in supporting Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The letter, signed by over 850 professors of law, was delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 29, 2010.