A Machine Learning Classifier for Corporate Opportunity Waivers

Authors

Gabriel V. RauterbergFollow
Eric L. Talley, Columbia Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

Rauterberg & Talley (2017) develop a data set of “corporate opportunity waivers” (COWs) – significant contractual modifications of fiduciary duties – sampled from SEC filings. Part of their analysis utilizes a machine learning (ML) classifier to extend their data set beyond the hand-coded sample. Because the ML approach is likely unfamiliar to some readers, and in the light of its great potential across other areas of law and finance research, this note explains the basic components using a simple example, and it demonstrates strategies for calibrating and evaluating the classifier.

Disciplines

Business Organizations Law | Computer Law | Law | Science and Technology Law

Recommended Citation

Gabriel V. Rauterberg & Eric L. Talley, A Machine Learning Classifier for Corporate Opportunity Waivers, Columbia Law & Economics Working Paper No. 553 (2016).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2008