In December 2024, BlackRock released its updated U.S. proxy voting guidelines for benchmark policies. The changes will become effective as of January 2025. ...more
12/27/2024
/ BlackRock ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Directors ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Guidance Update ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Stock Options ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
Voting Rights
Institutional Shareholder Services updated its Benchmark proxy voting policies on December 17—with updated policies generally applying to shareholder meetings taking place on or after February 1.
The updates for U.S....more
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick’s Securities Law Update....more
11/26/2024
/ Audit Committee ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EDGAR ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Filing Requirements ,
Form 10-K ,
Glass Lewis ,
Independent Directors ,
PCAOB ,
Proxy Statements ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy voting advisory firms in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the U.S. market for the 2024...more
1/4/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholders
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. Their voting...more
12/6/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Overboarding ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Voting Rights
Corporate boardroom diversity has increased significantly over the last few years, and the interest in and demand for gender and racial/ethnic diversity on boards of directors remain high. Lack of corporate board diversity...more
6/3/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Gender Equity ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Nasdaq ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. Their voting...more
12/10/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules requiring the use of universal proxy cards in contested director elections as discussed in Release No. 34-93596 (the Adopting Release). Universal...more
11/30/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Contested Elections ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure ,
New Rules ,
Nominee Directors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Universal Proxy Cards
Glass Lewis announced updates to its United States Proxy Voting Policy Guidelines late November 2020. The 2021 Proxy Voting Policy Guidelines include a variety of changes from the 2020 version, including new provisions...more
12/10/2020
/ Board of Directors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure ,
Diversity ,
Glass Lewis ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Investors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
State and Local Government ,
Virtual Meetings
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 22, 2020, adopted amendments tightening regulation of proxy voting advice from proxy advisory firms (Release No. 34-89372). The final rule implements additional regulations...more
7/28/2020
/ Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure ,
Filing Requirements ,
New Amendments ,
New Guidance ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In January 2020, Institutional Shareholder Services and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to stay litigation filed by ISS in October challenging the SEC’s interpretation and guidance related to voting...more
2/20/2020
/ Corporate Governance ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Interpretive Opinions ,
Motions to Stay Proceedings ,
New Guidance ,
Pending Litigation ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Recently, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis released revisions to their respective proxy voting guidelines for 2020. The ISS and Glass Lewis updates applicable to U.S. companies are discussed separately...more
11/21/2019
/ Audit Committee ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Equity Compensation ,
Equity Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholder Rights
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments to the proxy solicitation rules, directly targeting proxy advisory firms (Release No. 34-87457). Consistent with the updated interpretative guidance the SEC...more
11/19/2019
/ Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exemptions ,
Filing Requirements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Statements ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Meetings
Possibly signaling the future direction of regulation of proxy advisers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Aug. 21 issued two sets of interpretive guidance, one regarding proxy advisory firms under the...more