The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed amendments to Rule 14a-8 that revise three of the thirteen existing bases for the exclusion of shareholder proposals from a publicly traded company’s proxy statement...more
On November 3 the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued Staff Legal Bulletin 14L (SLB 14L) to provide new guidance on the application of the “ordinary business” and “economic relevance” exceptions to a public company’s...more
Climate-related issues have taken on an enhanced level of concern at the federal government level since the Biden administration rejoined the Paris Agreement in an effort to stem climate change impacts, and the administration...more
On November 3, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Staff Legal Bulletin (SLB 14L) limiting the ability of public companies to exclude from proxy statements shareholder proposals that relate to...more
On November 3, 2021, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L (SLB 14L), providing information regarding the...more
On November 3, 2021, the Division of Corporation Finance (“Corp Fin”) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released Shareholder Proposals: Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L(CF) (the “SLB”) to provide information for...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented economic disruptions worldwide. Businesses that were previously flourishing are now seeing rapid declines in demand and revenue, disruptions in their supply chains, and other...more
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance recently provided helpful clarity regarding the exclusion of certain shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. The guidance, Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14K, relates to the “ordinary...more
In November 2017, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance concerning companies’ ability to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its Shareholder Proposals: Staff Legal Bulletin 14J on Rule 14a-8 earlier this week, following its November 2017 Staff Legal Bulletin 14I. This most recent Staff...more
Apple sought to exclude a shareholder proposal regarding the establishment of a Human Rights Committee on the basis that it involved the company’s ordinary business operations under Rule 14a-8(i)(7)....more
On November 1, 2017, the staff of the Division of Corporate Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I. SLB 14I provides additional guidance to companies and shareholders...more
On Nov. 1, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I(CF), which articulates important interpretive guidance relating to shareholder proposals submitted to public companies for...more
On November 1, 2017, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission published in Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I guidance relating to the excludability of certain shareholder proposals...more
On November 1, 2017, the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB 14I), which provides important guidance to public companies reviewing...more
On October 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance (Division) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14H (SLB 14H), which (1) sets forth a new standard for determining when a shareholder proposal...more
On July 6, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its opinion in Trinity Wall Street v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The holding permitted Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart") to exclude a shareholder proposal...more
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
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision on April 14, 2015 that reversed a U.S. District Court opinion and vacated a permanent injunction that would have required Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to include a...more