Welcome to the first Annual Benesch Corporate Governance Report focused on trends and best practices at mid-market public companies. While we have seen many reports focused on corporate governance practices of Fortune 100...more
As an early step in preparing for the upcoming proxy season, issuers should familiarize themselves with the Canadian proxy voting guidelines recently published by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis...more
As part of BakerHostetler’s commitment to serve as a strategic business partner, we are pleased to publish this first edition of our Securities & Governance Bulletin. This resource is designed to keep executives, corporate...more
Dear clients and friends, We present our traditional year-end issue of Snell & Wilmer’s Corporate Communicator to help you prepare for the upcoming annual report and proxy season. This issue highlights SEC reporting and...more
On November 16, 2016, Skadden hosted a webinar titled “Preparing for the Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII); Skadden M&A and corporate...more
SEC/CORPORATE - SEC Proposes Amendments To Require Universal Proxy Cards in Contested Elections - On October 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose amendments to the proxy rules that would...more
ISS has announced the adoption of QualityScore, a benchmark of corporate governance. QualityScore was previously known as QuickScore, and before that by the monikers “GRId” and “CGQ.” For US companies, the following is a...more
At the end of January, Nasdaq filed with the SEC a rule proposal related to third-party compensation of directors in connection with their candidacy for and/or service on company boards, often referred to as “golden leash”...more
Companies that have previously adopted mainstream proxy access bylaws received a vote of confidence from the SEC earlier this month when the agency issued 18 no-action letters, 15 of which allowed the company to exclude...more
The 2016 proxy season occurs in an environment of heightened shareholder activism and an ever-increasing focus on compensation and corporate governance disclosures. This Proxy Season Field Guide provides you with an overview...more
Regulatory Developments - Client Alert: FINRA Releases 2016 Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter - Goodwin Procter’s Investment Management practice has issued a client alert on FINRA’s Jan. 5 release of its...more
Some things are as certain as death, taxes and Adobe updates. There will always be a proxy season, and maybe 15 years ago we started to think about ISS. Now the list has grown to include Scott Stringer, Comptroller of the...more
ISS has published two FAQs that supplement its 2016 Proxy Voting Guidelines Updates for the Americas that we summarized in our client alert ISS Policy Changes for the 2016 Proxy Season (December 8, 2015). The new FAQs provide...more
ISS has issued a U.S. Equity Compensation Plans FAQ, U.S. Executive Compensation Policies FAQ and a U.S. Policies and Procedures FAQ. Here is a rough comparison of the 2015 U.S. Compensation Policies FAQ to the 2016 U.S....more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis), two of the leading providers of corporate governance research and proxy voting services, have published their updated proxy voting guidelines for...more
Proxy Access - ISS has determined not to alter its basic approach to management and shareholder proxy access proposals for 2016. However, ISS has stated that it expects to release a FAQ in December 2015 that will provide...more
ISS has issued a series of 26 FAQs on its Equity Plan Scorecard, or EPSC. The basic EPSC policy has not changed, but effective for meetings as of Feb. 1, 2016, the FAQs state the following adjustments will apply to EPSC...more
ISS has issued the following policy updates for 2016. Overboarding - Current ISS policy considers a director “overboarded” if he or she sits on more than six public company boards – or if he or she is also a CEO,...more
On September 17, 2015, Skadden presented a webinar titled “Proxy Access: Latest Developments.” The panelists were Art Crozier, Chairman of Innisfree M&A Incorporated; Mike Garland, Assistant Comptroller for Corporate...more