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SEC Adopts Amendments to Rule 14a-8 Eligibility Standards for Submission of Shareholder Proposals

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, effective January 4, 2021 increasing the economic interest of the shareholder/proponent for eligibility to submit a shareholder...more

Proposed SEC Amendment Could Reduce Compliance Costs for Smaller Public Companies

Under a mandate from Congress under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed an amendment to the definition of “smaller reporting company” that...more

Non-GAAP Financial Disclosures – Redux

Prefaced by public statements of SEC officials about improper use of non-GAAP financial measures, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance issued new and revised Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) on...more

How the FAST Act Will Impact Securities Laws

On December 4, 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the FAST Act) was signed into law. Although the majority of the Act concerns transportation and infrastructure, it also contains several provisions that...more

SEC Provides Guidance on Exclusion of Shareholder Proposals Under the “Ordinary Business” and “Direct Conflict” Exclusions of Rule...

On October 22, 2015, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14H (SLB 14H), which addresses issues related to shareholder proposals that conflict with a company’s own proposal or...more

D.C. Circuit Court Re-Affirms Decision that Portions of SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rules are Unconstitutional

On August 18, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in likely the first majority opinion citing Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities) and George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four), re-affirmed its...more

SEC Adopts Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule

On August 5, 2015, the SEC, by a 3 to 2 vote, adopted the controversial “pay ratio rule,” which requires public companies to disclose the ratio of the annual total compensation of the chief executive officer (CEO) to the...more

SEC Radically Revamps Regulation A - Part 3

Reporting and Blue Sky Issues - For many years, SEC Regulation A languished as an exemption from registration that nobody really used. Although securities issued in a Regulation A offering are not “restricted...more

SEC Radically Revamps Regulation A - Part 2

Contents of Offering Statement - For many years, SEC Regulation A languished as an exemption from registration that nobody really used. Although securities issued in a Regulation A offering are not “restricted...more

SEC Radically Revamps Regulation A - Part 1

Eligibility and Offering Size - For many years, SEC Regulation A languished as an exemption from registration that nobody really used. Although securities issued in a Regulation A offering are not “restricted securities”...more

Third Circuit Lets Wal-Mart Exclude Firearms Proposal Under the “Ordinary Business Operations” Exception

On April 14, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit summarily reversed a troubling decision of the Federal District Court in Delaware that required Wal-Mart to include in its 2015 proxy materials a shareholder...more

SEC Charges KBR, Inc. with Using a Confidentiality Agreement that Could "Chill" Whistleblowing

About six months ago, the Director of the Office of the Whistleblower warned that the SEC was “going to bring a case where somebody has asked an employee or forced an employee to sign a document that in order of substance...more

SEC Proposes Rules for Hedging Disclosure

On February 9, 2015, the SEC proposed rules that would require domestic public companies to disclose in proxy and information statements whether the company permits any of its directors or employees (including officers) to...more

SEC Proposes New Exchange Act Registration Thresholds and Changes to Certain “Held of Record” Definitions

On December 18, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules regarding the thresholds at which issuers may become reporting companies under Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended...more

SEC Continues Its “Strict Liability” Enforcement Campaigns, Focusing on Filing Failures and Rule 105 Violations

Nearly five years ago, the SEC launched an extensive "crackdown" on violations of Rule 105 of Regulation M, which prohibits short selling securities and then participating in secondary offerings of the same securities within...more

SEC Issues Staff Legal Bulletin No. 20: Clarifying Disclosure Requirements For Proxy Advisory Firms

Background - On June 30, 2014, the SEC’s Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance released Staff Legal Bulletin No. 20, a set of thirteen Questions and Answers offering guidance on...more

SEC Issues Interpretive Advice About Verification Safe Harbors Under Rule 506(c)

The availability of the private placement exemption under SEC Rule 506 depends in large measure upon determinations that purchasers are “accredited investors” under the rules. Where there is no general solicitation, Rule...more

Federal Appeals Court Largely Upholds Conflict Minerals Rules

On April 14, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its much anticipated decision regarding the challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Conflict Minerals Rules. The Court largely...more

SEC No-Action Letter Allows Certain Kinds of “M&A Brokers” to Avoid Broker-Dealer Registration Under the Exchange Act

On January 31, 2014, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a significant no-action letter permitting the involvement of “M&A Brokers” in business acquisition transactions involving privately-held companies. The...more

SEC Releases Proposed Rule Amendments to Regulation A

On December 18, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its proposed rule amendments to Regulation A, which were required by Section 401 of the JOBS Act. Among the changes, the proposed rules create two tiers of...more

Equity Crowdfunding Under Federal Law: Intermediaries

On October 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules for implementing the crowdfunding exemption from the Securities Act registration requirements that is set forth in the Jumpstart Our Business...more

Equity Crowdfunding Under Federal Law: Issuers

On October 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules for implementing the crowdfunding exemption from the Securities Act registration requirements that is set forth in the Jumpstart Our Business...more

SEC Proposes Rules for Pay Ratio Disclosure

On September 18, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to Item 402 of Regulation S-K (Item 402) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) that will require issuers to disclose the...more

SEC Proposes Amendments to Regulation D, Form D and Rule 156

On July 10, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules amending Rule 506 of Regulation D to permit general solicitation and to disqualify felons and other “bad actors” from participating in certain...more

Federal District Court Upholds the SEC's Conflict Minerals Rules

As we previously reported, in August 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted controversial rules requiring public companies to attempt to determine if they use any of four “conflict minerals” - tantalite,...more

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