Calling it a “potential game changer,” President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (known as the JOBS Act) into law yesterday at a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House. Our summary of the JOBS Act is available at http://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/Display.aspx?SectionName=publications/PDFSearch/wsgralert-JOBS-act.htm.

The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) Division of Corporation Finance has already provided guidance regarding the initial procedures that “emerging growth companies” (as defined in the JOBS Act) should use to furnish draft registration statements to the SEC for confidential nonpublic review. This guidance is available at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cfannouncements/draftregstatements.htm. Eligible companies may begin making such submissions immediately.