Should Your Company Take a Stand on Political and Social Issues?
Why Every Day Is Proxy Season for Public Companies
Corporate Law Report - Office Party Holiday Risks, Human Trafficking, the Fiscal Cliff, More
This year’s proxy season saw a significant increase in the number of companies rejecting director nominations by dissident stockholders due to purported non-compliance with the company’s advance notice bylaws....more
With the 2023 proxy season now over for most companies, we took a fresh look at recent bylaw and charter amendments at the Silicon Valley 150 (the SV150) to better understand how companies are addressing i) new Rule 14a-19,...more
Shareholder meetings held this year are subject to new rules that require both companies and activist shareholders to use “universal” proxy cards in contested board elections. Until now, the company and the dissident...more
Not long ago, companies could reliably project when shareholder activists would strike — and ready their defenses in advance. As sure as the seasons would turn, proposals would begin to appear around the holidays, voting...more
As you are likely aware, Rule 14a-19 (the "Universal Proxy Rules") of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, went into effect for stockholder meetings held after August 31, 2022. The Universal Proxy Rules...more
As discussed in our November 17, 2021 post, management of public companies are required to use universal proxy cards for shareholder meetings involving most election contests held after August 31, 2022. This means that both...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) published its proxy voting guidelines updates for 2021 (“Policy Updates”) on November 12, 2020. The changes that are likely to be of most interest to companies include new and...more
As COVID-19 rages on, companies are again flocking to virtual annual meetings for the 2021 proxy season, but with one important difference: the luxury of time. Many companies are already exploring retention of virtual annual...more
April, May and June are typically the most popular months for public companies to host their annual meetings of shareholders. This year, the unprecedented public health concern resulting from the coronavirus or COVID-19...more
Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is causing governments, companies, associations and colleges and universities to take unprecedented steps to address the spread and transmission of COVID-19. These steps...more
Last week Institutional Shareholder Services updated its proxy voting guidelines for annual shareholder meetings to be held on or after February 1, 2020. The updates take a major step forward to advocate greater gender...more
On November 11, 2019, Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”) published its proxy voting guidelines updates (the “2020 Updates”) for the 2020 proxy season, effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2020. The...more
The Background: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("the SEC") has announced that it may no longer review no-action letter requests relating to shareholder proposals submitted to companies under Rule 14a-8. The SEC...more
ISS has updated its frequently asked questions on U.S. Proxy Voting Research Procedures & Policies (Excluding Compensation-Related). New and updated questions include...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
As we approach the end of the 2017 proxy season, the third since the New York City comptroller launched the Boardroom Accountability Project to enact proxy access across the U.S. market, proxy access has begun to transition...more
As discussed in this December 2016 Cooley Alert, this proxy season, the policies of ISS and Glass Lewis provide that they will recommend voting against the re-election of directors of “newly public” companies that, prior to...more
ISS and Glass Lewis are continuing to apply special scrutiny to certain corporate governance provisions of "newly public" companies (generally, companies that have gone public in 2014 or later). In short, the latest policies...more
The following are some important reminders and updates for the 2017 proxy season. Say-When-on-Pay - Required Vote in 2017 - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires companies to conduct a...more
Dear clients and friends, We present our traditional year-end issue of Snell & Wilmer’s Corporate Communicator to help you prepare for the upcoming annual report and proxy season. This issue highlights SEC reporting and...more
As the 2017 proxy season begins to unfold, proxy access continues to be a focus of shareholder proposals. Last year, companies that had already adopted mainstream proxy access bylaws, or that were planning to put mainstream...more
On November 16, 2016, Skadden hosted a webinar titled “Preparing for the Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII); Skadden M&A and corporate...more
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”) recently updated the guidelines they will use to inform their voting recommendations for the 2017 proxy season. The updates address...more
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) has published its voting policy updates for the 2017 proxy season, and those involved with public company compliance can add “generally insignificant changes to ISS voting...more
The staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued three additional responses to company no-action requests to exclude shareholder-proposed amendments to proxy access bylaw...more