Professor Kuykendall has a scholarly interest in the relationship between legal definitions of marriage and the evolving common usage of the word. She also writes in the area of corporate law and has co-chaired MSU Law's concentration in the area. She helped revise the Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act and has been the reporter of the Michigan Business Corporation Act. She has planned Michigan State Law Review symposia, including "Business Law and Narrative" in September 2009, and "Modernizing Marriage through E-Marriage" in November 2010. She has published extensively in law reviews and leading blogs.
Prior to her law career, Professor Kuykendall conducted civil justice research in an office attached to the U.S. Office of the Attorney General at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. She served as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the National Center for State Courts, and was the first woman and first non-lawyer in the country to hold the position. Upon receiving her Juris Doctor degree, Professor Kuykendall clerked for the Honorable Joseph W. Hatchett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. She then spent six years as an associate in the New York City firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, practicing in the area of corporate finance.
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J.D. Harvard Law School
M.A. and Ph.D. University of North Carolina
B.A. University of Houston
Advanced Corporate Law
(Formerly Corporate Law and Policy Seminar)
This advanced seminar in corporate law will cover one or more practice areas of contemporary importance. Past or planned topics include private equity, corporate speech and political activity, and investor conflicts. The course will attempt a thorough treatment of relevant positive law, and address positive and normative issues of corporate regulation by courts and policy makers. Students will also be expected to engage with the economic, financial and business issues which every successful corporate practitioner should understand. The materials will consist of cases, statutes, scholarly articles, policy proposals and other readings. There are no formal prerequisites, but students are strongly advised to have taken a course in corporate law or corporate governance. The seminar may quickly dive into concepts that will be difficult to understand without some familiarity with corporate law principles.
Constitutional Law II
(Formerly DCL 172)
A study of procedural and substantive due process of law, equal protection of the laws and the Bill of Rights, including freedom of expression.
Mergers and Acquisitions
(Formerly DCL 505)
Overview of issues relating to business combinations. The course includes a transactional perspective on mergers and acquisitions, with some consideration of the social and economic significance of business combinations. Attention will be paid to relevant statutes, negotiation, acquisition documents, valuation methodologies, and characteristic problems in negotiated acquisitions, in addition to careful examination of takeover defenses and Delaware case law. Simulations and drafting exercises may be a component.
