I knew early from my law school days that I had zero interest in litigation. It was probably from Moot Court when that second year law student admonished my tie. I late discovered this second year law student was the...more
Some proxy advisors and institutional investors have made changes to their diversity policies and mandates, including the following ...more
On March 4, 2025, CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (“CK Hutchison”), controlled by the Li Ka-Shing family, announced a significant transaction on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: the proposed sale of 80% equity in its port business...more
On February 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) successfully obtained a temporary restraining order against Blackrock Services, Inc. and its associated entities and individuals. The court order aims to halt the defendants’...more
Under the new administration, several shifts in E&S have impacted public companies across a number of different practice areas. In light of these developments, companies are taking a wide array of approaches to disclosure,...more
Citing recent DEI developments in the U.S., ISS released its Statement on Diversity Factors in Director Elections on February 11, 2025 announcing that it will “indefinitely halt consideration of certain diversity factors in...more
On January 10th, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the court) ruled that American Airlines, Inc. (American) and the American Airlines Employee Benefits Committee (together, the Defendants)...more
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an opinion in Spence v. Am. Airlines, Inc. (N.D. Tex. Jan. 10, 2025) holding that fiduciaries of two American Airlines 401(k) plans...more
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that American Airlines and its employee benefit committee (EBC) breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2025 proxy season, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, recently issued...more
Whether, and the extent to which, a plan fiduciary can consider nonpecuniary environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) objectives in selecting plan investments has been a hot-button issue for many years, with the view on...more
Following a bench trial, Judge O'Connor (N.D. Tex.) held that “that Defendants breached their fiduciary duty by failing to loyally act solely in the retirement plan's best financial interests by allowing their corporate...more
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
The day before Thanksgiving, eleven Republican state attorneys-general (representing Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, West Virginia and Wyoming) filed a lawsuit against three...more
As we discussed in our white paper “ESG and Public Pension Investing in 2023: A Year-to-Date Recap and Analysis”, there was a surge in legislative activity in 2023 among red states curtailing the use of environmental, social...more
In this week’s U.S.-focused edition, we look at the world’s largest asset manager’s updated voting guidelines which seek to strike a balance amidst the fraught political rhetoric surrounding sustainable investment. The...more
The government had another busy year in 2023, investigating and prosecuting healthcare fraud cases on multiple fronts. Contending with the enormous healthcare crises of the now-concluded COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing...more
For nearly 200 years after its inception in 1792, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) faced insignificant competition as the premier stock exchange within the United States. Then, alongside the technological surge of the...more
The Court of Appeal’s (“CA”) ruling in April 2024 in the case of BlackRock Holdco 5 LLC v HMRC (“BlackRock”) considered the deductibility of interest on a $4 billion intra-group loan put in place as part of the funding...more
Demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is rapidly growing across the decentralized finance (DeFi) community, with growing interest among existing crypto-native participants and across the traditional finance industry...more
This is the final post in our 2024 Year in Preview series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year... Politicians in Republican-led states have painted a target on environmental,...more
Morrison Foerster’s State and Local Government Task Force is pleased to provide our bimonthly newsletter summarizing some of the most important and interesting developments from state attorneys general across the country and...more
Here are curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: •Washington AG Adds to Nationwide Efforts to Prevent (A)I,...more
A group of 15 Republican AGs sent a letter to BlackRock, Inc.’s fund directors (collectively, “BlackRock”) reiterating concerns as to whether the investment adviser has sufficiently investigated its ESG policies and potential...more
Texas AG Ken Paxton announced that, “until further notice,” Barclays is no longer permitted to purchase or underwrite public securities, or otherwise be a party to a covered contract relating to the public security, after...more