The slow death of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate disclosure rules continued on March 27, 2025, with the SEC Commissioners voting to discontinue the defense of such rules before the Eighth Circuit, Iowa...more
4/3/2025
/ California ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State and Local Government
After not accepting California Governor Newsom’s proposal to delay implementing California’s Climate Accountability laws by two years, the California legislature passed amendments on August 31, 2024, to California’s 2023...more
California recently has passed three climate disclosure laws, with yet another still pending. These new laws are aimed at increasing transparency and consistency in climate-related disclosures, including greenhouse gas (GHG)...more
As the global economy faces the third year of the pandemic, manufacturers are no longer focused on figuring out when things will return to “normal.” Instead, they are applying lessons learned from the past few years to become...more
7/7/2022
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Audits ,
BPA ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ,
Copyright ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Ethics ,
False Advertising ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Greenwashing ,
Human Rights ,
ICFR ,
Internet of Things ,
Investment ,
Liability ,
Machine Learning ,
Manufacturers ,
Mexico ,
Model Contract Clauses ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Patents ,
PFAS ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Remote Working ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Supply Shortages ,
Sustainability ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unions ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
On March 21, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a comprehensive set of proposed rules mandating climate-related risk disclosures for public companies (Proposed Rule). For some the release marks...more
3/25/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
ICFR ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Management ,
SASB ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
On May 26, 2021, a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell Plc (“Shell”) to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% (from 2019 levels) by 2030. Shell had previously pledged to reduce its emissions by 20% (from 2016 levels) by...more
It’s no secret that the Biden Administration is focused on environmental justice and climate change issues, as evidenced by the president’s selection of Congresswoman Debra Haaland as Secretary of the Interior and former EPA...more
This paper attempts to provide a definition and context for the term, Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”), explain how and why it is used, demonstrate how investors are driving the proliferation of ESG reporting,...more
12/10/2020
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
GAO ,
Human Rights ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Popular ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
SASB ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Sustainability ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
Uniformity ,
United Nations
Although the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting sharp economic pullback has caused BlackRock to temporarily pause the prioritization of its ESG focus for issuers on climate change and related risk, Public Company boards...more
Making waves in the financial world on January 14th, Laurence Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, announced that BlackRock will be increasingly disposed to vote against board directors if...more
1/27/2020
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Economic Growth ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment ,
MD&A Statements ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
SASB ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Sustainability
Sender Primary Liability for Misstatements in PPMs and Prospectuses: Lorenzo v. SEC (No. 17-1077 -- U.S. – 2019).
On March 27th, the Supreme Court issued a 1934 Act Rule 10b-5 opinion that will have implications for...more
4/5/2019
/ Corporate Officers ,
Custody Rule ,
Digital Assets ,
Directors ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Investment Funds ,
Janus Capital Group Inc v First Derivative Traders ,
Lorenzo v SEC ,
No-Action Relief ,
Personal Liability ,
Proposed Rules ,
Puerto Rico ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
In what is believed to be the first case nationwide seeking to strike down a groundbreaking corporate bylaw aimed at combatting frivolous shareholder class actions, Emergent Capital, Inc., has secured the dismissal with...more
10/20/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Bylaws ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Officers ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Litigation