Late last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved amendments to the federal proxy rules to, among other things, mandate the use of a universal proxy card in public solicitations involving director election...more
The Joint Commission recently announced it has changed its accreditation rules to enable more hospitals and telemedicine companies to use the streamlined “credentialing by proxy” process. Under the change, the distant site...more
Welcome to the second annual Benesch Corporate Governance Report, which focuses on trends and best practices at middle market public companies. 2019 saw a continued focus on corporate governance from a number of audiences...more
At the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “Commission”) open meeting yesterday, the Commissioners approved two new proposed rules in their ongoing efforts to modernize proxy solicitation and shareholder proxy access,...more
Thanks to thecorporatecounsel.net for catching this announcement from NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer and the NYC Retirement Systems, which reported that, since the inception of the Comptroller’s “Boardroom Accountability...more
Advance Notice Bylaw Provisions - A recent Delaware case, Saba Capital Master Fund, Ltd. v. Blackrock Credit Allocation Income Trust, highlights the importance of advance notice bylaws and the careful application of the...more
Welcome to the first Annual Benesch Corporate Governance Report focused on trends and best practices at mid-market public companies. While we have seen many reports focused on corporate governance practices of Fortune 100...more
What Is a Proposal? Rule 14a-8(a) defines a shareholder proposal as a ‘‘recommendation or requirement that the company and/or its board of directors take action, which you intend to present at a meeting of the company’s...more
On November 13, 2018, Skadden held our webinar “Preparing for the Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Peter da Silva Vint, Vice President of BlackRock’s Americas Investment Stewardship Group; Michael Garland,...more
Proxy advisor Glass Lewis has posted its 2019 Proxy Guidelines and 2019 Guidelines Regarding Shareholder Initiatives. One of the more striking points is that GL indicates that it may, albeit in limited circumstances,...more
In recent years, the friction between public companies and proxy advisory firms—companies that provide proxy vote recommendations to institutional fund managers and other investment advisers—has intensified. Public issuers...more
Following up on groundbreaking studies last year examining corporate governance structures in the tech sector, Orrick today released a new report detailing the corporate governance approaches of the leading public companies...more
In past few years, after Corp Fin issued Staff Legal Bulletin 14H redefining the meaning of “direct conflict” under the Rule 14a-8(i)(9) exclusion for “conflicting proposals,” the staff has continued to fill in the outline of...more
This proxy season, after the Corp Fin staff permitted AES Corporation to exclude a shareholder proposal on the basis of Rule 14a-8(i)(9)—the exclusion for a proposal that directly conflicts with a management proposal—the...more
When we last left the saga of proxy access, we had just started a new chapter on so-called “fix-it” shareholder proposals—efforts to revise existing proxy access bylaws to make them more “shareholder-friendly.” You might...more
The Council of Institutional Investors has sent a letter to William Hinman, director of Corp Fin, raising objections to the staff’s treatment of a recent shareholder proposal. The staff permitted the company, the AES...more
As an early step in preparing for the upcoming proxy season, issuers should familiarize themselves with the Canadian proxy voting guidelines recently published by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis...more
Companies have important decisions to make as they prepare for their 2018 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of key corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters on which...more
On November 16, 2017, Skadden held our webinar “Preparing for the Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Michael Garland, Assistant Comptroller for Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment in the Office of...more
Planning for the 2018 Proxy Season - There are number of important considerations that public companies should be aware of as they begin preparing for the 2018 proxy season, including potential changes in law, pay ratio...more
Board composition is increasingly at the forefront of governance activists’ focus and initiatives. A recent, high-profile example of this comes from New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and the New York City Pension...more
The Background: The NYC Pension Funds, which led the largely successful campaign to implement proxy access rights across corporate America, have launched a new crusade to improve the diversity of corporate boards....more
On September 8, 2017, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and the New York City Pension Funds announced the launch of the “Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0.” The goal of Project 2.0 is to make the boards of 151...more
In 2014, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, who oversees the NYC pension funds, submitted proxy access proposals to 75 companies—and ignited the push for proxy access at public companies across the U.S. The form of proxy access...more
A review of 2017 proxy season activity, including the trend toward adoptions of proxy access bylaws, is here. A suggestion that the big news of the 2017 proxy season was climate change proposals and the shift in Blackrock,...more