This guide discusses important themes from the 2024 proxy season and developing trends we are monitoring for 2025. It also includes a “housekeeping checklist” designed to assist you as you prepare your proxy statement.
For...more
12/24/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Clawbacks ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
The shocking murder of Brian Thompson, the Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthcare, while walking to an investor meeting in New York City on December 4, 2024, has caused many boards of directors and executive teams to...more
The 2024 proxy season is just around the corner. This quick reference guide, which is intended to supplement Shearman & Sterling’s 21st Annual Corporate Governance & Executive Compensation Survey, summarizes themes from the...more
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement has increasingly put the spotlight on disclosure controls— the processes that public companies use to collect information for disclosures in their public filings. The agency recently charged...more
The 2023 proxy season is just around the corner. This quick reference guide, which is intended to supplement Shearman & Sterling’s 20th Annual Corporate Governance & Executive Compensation Survey, summarizes themes from the...more
1/26/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Compensation ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Proxy Voting ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
The 2022 proxy season is just around the corner. This quick reference guide, which is intended to supplement Shearman & Sterling’s 19th Annual Corporate Governance & Executive Compensation Survey, summarizes themes from the...more
Today, Shearman & Sterling released its 19th annual Corporate Governance & Executive Compensation Survey, which finds that the boards of directors of the largest 100 U.S. companies have maintained their strong focus on...more
11/4/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Management ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Corporate Strategy ,
Cybersecurity ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Equity ,
Executive Compensation ,
Human Capital ,
Shareholders
In last year’s Survey, we noted that concern for environmental and social issues (the “E” and the “S” of “ESG”) had reached an inflection point, having taken center stage from the more traditional governance issues (the “G”...more
10/2/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Markets ,
CEOs ,
Commercial Real Estate Market ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Diversity ,
Executive Compensation ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Shareholders
On December 30, 2019, New York State enacted the “Women on Corporate Boards Study Act” (the “Act”), which requires the New York Department of State and the Department of Taxation and Finance to conduct a study on the number...more
Concern for environmental and social issues has reached an inflection point. While traditional governance issues that have been a staple of investor advocacy and discussion (the “G” of ESG) continue to be important,...more
9/11/2019
/ Best Practices ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Capital Markets ,
CEOs ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Pay Ratio ,
Popular ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Stakeholder Engagement ,
Woman Board Members
On October 26, 2016, the SEC proposed amendments to the proxy rules that would require the use of universal proxies in all non-exempt solicitations in contested elections of directors. The focus of the SEC proposal is to...more
On October 21, 2013, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) published its key draft policy changes for the 2014 proxy season (the “Draft Policies”). There are only two proposed updates for the US, neither of which...more