Tech Debt is Common. What does it mean for IPO readiness from a cybersecurity perspective?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Makes it a Securities Offering?
A Day in the Life of a Financial Services General Counsel - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Has the SPAC Bubble Burst? Part 2: The SEC’s New Rules
Has the SPAC Bubble Burst? Lessons Learned From the Early Days of SPAC Mania
Fast Track to IPO: Why Are Series A Startups Snatching Topflight CFOs?
The Brave New Frontier of Securing D&O Insurance for SPACs and deSPACs
Venture Capital: Global State of the Market
Nota Bene Episode 95: Mapping Capital Markets and Securities Enforcement in the Current COVID-19 Moment with Jamie Mercer and John Stigi
Compliance and Coronavirus-Michael Beber on M&A, IPOs and SPACs During and After Covid-19
What Is a Direct Listing?
Compliance into the Weeds-Episode 85-Professor Coffee on the Dearth of IPOs
Life Sciences Quarterly: A View From Washington: What to Expect From the SEC
Dual-track IPOs
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 175-Debra Bruce on new methods for law firm funding and its implications
Advanced Intellectual Property Strategies for Defending Your Life Sciences IPO
The M&A Word of the Day® from the Book of Jargon® – Global Mergers & Acquisitions is Dual Track Process
Why Choose the Dual Track Process?
Navigating the Dual Track M&A/IPO– Part One
Form 10s as Alternatives to Traditional IPOs – Interview with Bill Hicks, Member, Mintz Levin
This month's SPAC Notebook follows up on our recent discussion of risk mitigation and due diligence tips for foreign companies going public in the US. We want to share more information on the current litigation environment...more
Imagine that you are a startup founder and CEO. You toil for years in the hot sun, painstakingly cultivating your business as it grows from a vulnerable seed into a promising sapling. It’s grow or die. You grow. Now you...more
Here we are again—another year of SPAC ennui. We’re hearing derisive comments about the death of SPACs, unending deadline extensions, almost 200 liquidations, 70 deal terminations, and general SPAC malaise. If you’ve followed...more
Despite fewer companies going public in 2023, we saw an unwelcome uptick in class action lawsuit filings. After a period of relief in securities class action (SCA) filings—three years to be exact—the tide is officially...more
Woodruff Sawyer's D&O DataBox™ Year-End Report provides insights about securities class action activities, developments, and historical trends—sourced from DataBox, our proprietary database and leading resource for securities...more
Tumultuous, exasperating, difficult, nerve-wracking, and frustrating are all apt descriptions of the 2022 SPAC market. We’ve summarized some of its ups and downs in our year in review blog post from October and have touched...more
In the first nine months of 2022, plaintiffs filed 157 securities class action lawsuits, according to Cornerstone Research — a figure only slightly lower than the 162 filings in the same period in 2021. Looking behind the...more
In 2021, there were 613 initial public offerings (“IPOs”) of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”), after 248 SPACs went public in 2020 and 59 in 2019. Prior to 2021, there had not been more than 500 IPOs of any...more
The SPAC market has withstood many challenges throughout 2021, including softening of the private investment in public equity (PIPE) market for a majority of the year after a very robust first quarter for initial business...more
In one of the most high-profile actions recently undertaken by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Fort Worth Office, the SEC in late October settled securities fraud charges for nearly $40 million against Akazoo, S.A.,...more
On September 20, 2021, in a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 (1933 Act) apply to direct listings of company shares, including...more
Delaware Court of Chancery Awards Attorneys’ Fees After Gilead’s “Glaringly Egregious” Litigation Conduct; S.D.N.Y Grants Plaintiffs’ Partial Summary Judgment in Securities Class Action Against Perrigo; SPAC Investors Launch...more
On July 13, 2021, the SEC announced charges against Stable Road Acquisition Company (“Stable Road”), its sponsor, SRC-NI, its CEO, Brian Kabot, Stable Road’s proposed merger target Momentus Inc.(“Momentus”), and Momentus’s...more
A Supreme Court decision could resolve significant inconsistency among trial courts as to the applicability of the PSLRA discovery stay. Key Points: ..While federal district courts have consistently applied the...more
In many ways, 2020 was an unprecedented year. In midMarch, the United States abruptly went into lockdown as coronavirus cases began to spike; a national emergency was declared, travel bans and gathering restrictions were...more
Private companies with cutting-edge technology have become particularly attractive targets for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). These private companies may choose to go public via SPAC for a number of reasons...more
As previously discussed in our Sept. 10, 2020, client alert, in Wong v. Restoration Robotics, Inc., Case No. 18-CIV-02609 (Cal. Super. Ct. Sept. 1, 2020), the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo dismissed...more
Delaware Supreme Court Holds Appraisal Action is Not “Securities Claim” Covered by D&O Insurance Policy; Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Dismissal of Derivative Claims Against Life Sciences Company For Failure to Plead Demand...more
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are increasingly being used as an alternate vehicle to traditional initial public offerings. Companies that go public through a traditional IPO process are often subject to...more
Thanks to a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the risk of IPO-related securities litigation has never been higher with class actions often brought by plaintiffs in both federal and state courts. With Congress not...more
Despite political and economic uncertainties, markets and deal activity were resilient in 2019, and strong fundamentals remain in place heading into 2020. Companies continue to face a challenging litigation and enforcement...more
In Sciabacucchi v. Salzberg, C.A. No. 2017-0931-JTL, 2018 WL 6719718 (Del. Ch. Dec. 19, 2018), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Laster, V.C.) held that a forum-selection provision in a Delaware corporation’s charter or bylaws...more