- About
About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 120-year history and reputation for academic excellence. We are located on the beautiful 228-acre USC University Park Campus, just south of downtown Los Angeles.
- Academics
Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
Student Quick Links:
- Admissions
Admissions
USC Gould helps prepare you for a stellar legal career. You can pursue a JD degree, one of our numerous graduate and international offerings, or an online degree or certificate.
- Students
Students
Participate in an unparalleled learning experience with diversity of people and thought. Get involved in the law school community and participate in activities that enhance your studies.
Student Quick Links:
- Careers
Careers
We work closely with students, graduates and employers to support successful career goals and outcomes. Our overall placement rate is consistently strong, with 94 percent of our JD class employed within 10 months after graduation.
- Faculty
Faculty
Our faculty is distinguished for its scholarship, as well as for its commitment to teaching. Our 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio creates an intimate and collegial learning environment.
- Alumni and Giving
- Admissions

Benefit Corporations: Upholding the Triple Bottom Line
USC Gould School of Law
- ABOUT USC GOULD
- A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
- + HISTORY OF USC GOULD
- LAW, RACE AND EQUITY
- + NEWS
- + EVENTS
- BOARD OF COUNCILORS
- CONSUMER INFORMATION (ABA REQUIRED DISCLOSURES)
- VISIT US
- SOCIAL MEDIA
- + CONTACT US
Friday, June 21, 2019
Benefit Corporations: Upholding the Triple Bottom Line
By Allison Butler, Lecturer in Law, Business Organizations
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
The ability for individuals in the business and legal community to understand the developments in the legal environment is vital. This holds true with the proliferation of entities motivated to comply with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In the past, profit maximization was the maxim of corporations. Today, the motif is the “triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.” (Assembly Judiciary Committee Analysis of AB 361 (5/2/11); Senate Banking & Financial Institutions Committee Analysis of AB 361 (6/24/11)).
Many companies have taken different approaches to obtain these objectives including the decision to become a benefit corporation, a designated business entity election that provides companies to focus on all stakeholders when making a decision. According to B Lab, a nonprofit organization attributed to the creation of the status, 34 states have enacted legislation providing for benefit corporation election with six states currently proposing new laws. This corporation election provides the following:
- Purpose that will have a material positive impact on society and the environment;
- Accountability that enables shareholder to bring a legal action if the corporation fails to create or pursue the public benefit
- Transparency that provides, in some states, that an annual benefit report be filed on fulfillment of its social and environmental performance which is assessed by a recognized third-party standard.
Benefit corporations are for-profit corporations; however, they differ from a traditional corporation in that it is created for a specific public benefit purpose, which can include providing low-income or underserved individuals or communities with beneficial products or services; promoting economic opportunity for individuals or communities beyond the creation of jobs in the normal course of business; protecting or restoring the environment; improving human health; promoting the arts, sciences or advancement of knowledge; increasing the flow of capital to entities with a purpose to benefit society or the environment; and conferring any other particular benefit on society or the environment. It should be noted that a benefit corporation is not the same as a “B Corp,” which is a certification mark obtained through B Lab.
![]() |
Accountability is translated through the directors’ actions in a benefit corporation. For example, under California law, directors of benefit corporations must consider the impacts of any action or proposed action upon any stakeholder which includes shareholder, but employees and workforce of the corporation, its subsidiaries and suppliers; the interests of customers; community and societal considerations; the local and global environment; the corporation’s short-term and long-term interests; and the corporation’s ability to accomplish its general, and any specific, public benefit purpose.
Failure to adhere to these considerations can result in legal action that could be brought (a) directly by the benefit corporation or (b) derivatively by shareholders; director; a person or group of persons owning (beneficially or of record) 5 percent or more of the equity interests in an entity of which the benefit corporation is a subsidiary; or other persons specified in the articles or bylaws. Moreover, the transparency element is achieved through a mandated annual filing report adhering to a third-party standard, which means a standard for reporting and assessing overall corporate social and environmental performance.
The various filings and internal compliance mandates to be a benefit corporation requires close scrutiny in enactment but provides vast incentives and benefits for companies who seek to achieve the triple bottom line. Moreover, companies engaging in business with benefit corporations will have a better understanding of their business partner. Knowledge of the benefit corporation as well as other new CSR mechanisms can assist companies excel in business.
Read More
- Next Article: Benefits of providing advanced legal degrees to employees
- Previous Article: Seven benefits to earning a master of studies in law degree
THE LATEST NEWS. REDEFINED.

USC Gould, Dornsife Department of Economics launch joint degree in innovation economics, law and regulation
May 2, 2023


Student Spotlight: Stephanie Moran (MDR Class of 2024)
April 25, 2023