Social enterprises take a variety of legal forms (limited liability companies, nonprofit entities, etc.). This paper focuses primarily upon one particular new form increasingly popular within the United States—the “benefit corporation.” I evaluate whether US benefit corporations are likely to realize as much social benefit as is frequently claimed. Section 2.1.1 of the paper describes the features of benefit corporations as they are constituted in many states. Section 2.1.2 lays out the benefits extolled by supporters of this US legal corporate form. Section 2.1.3 challenges these claims and adduces some reasons for doubting whether benefit Corporations will prove to be as socially useful as advocates claim them to be. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future lines of research into the nature of the firm and benefit corporations in particular.