The Informed Board Podcast | Pass-Through Voting: Empowering Shareholders or Increasing the Influence of Proxy Advisors?
ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
What are ISS and Glass Lewis and Why Should My Bank Care?
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
As most public companies know, shareholder outreach is often an important part of the playbook when a company is seeking approval of compensation-related proposals at an annual meeting. A company may engage with shareholders...more
President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to power on January 20, 2025, has created uncertainty and challenges for proxy advisory firms, such as ISS and Glass Lewis, which provide voting recommendations to investors on...more
Shall we catch up on some of the recent developments regarding the SEC’s proxy advisor rules? First, let’s take a look at what’s happening with the appeal of the opinion of the D.C. Federal District Court in ISS v. SEC,...more
Is it ok for an agency to change its mind? Well that depends. If the agency was “arbitrary and capricious” in failing to provide an adequate explanation to justify its change, a court may well vacate that about-face. At...more
SEC enforcement director speaks on AI ‘washing’ - In our April 2024 One-Minute Reads, we covered the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) “washing.” Gurbir Grewal, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission...more
In February, a federal district judge in the District of Columbia awarded proxy advisers a victory by vacating an SEC rule provision that they opposed....more
In Seven Questions About Proxy Advisors, from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford, the authors, David Larcker and Brian Tayan, examine the proxy advisory firm industry—all two of them. Well, actually, as the...more
You probably remember the saga about the SEC’s rules regarding proxy advisory firms? Back in 2019, the SEC issued interpretive guidance that proxy advisory firms’ vote recommendations were, in the view of the SEC,...more
On February 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in a case dating back to 2019, vacated certain SEC rule amendments regarding proxy advisory firms, holding that “the SEC acted contrary to law and in...more
The court vacated the last of the three conditions that were applied to proxy advisory firms as a result of the SEC’s 2020 regulation of Proxy Advisory Firms. As a result of this ruling, Proxy Advisory Firms are no longer...more
While your winter blues are hopefully melting away, recent rule making from the Securities and Exchange Commission is feeling the heat of several lawsuits. In this Snapshot, we review the legal challenges facing the SEC’s...more
A Federal District Court has just held invalid the SEC’s rule regarding proxy advisory firms. The case dates back to 2019(!), when ISS sued the SEC and then-SEC Chair Jay Clayton in connection with the SEC’s interpretive...more
A change to DGCL Section 102(b)(7) that took effect last year permits Delaware corporations to eliminate or limit the personal liability of corporate officers for monetary damages to stockholders for breaches of their...more
Canadian shareholder activism continued its post-pandemic resurgence into the first half of 2023. Emerging trends include the “activist swarm,” where multiple—yet uncoordinated—activists converge on a single target with...more
In December last year, the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas issued an Order granting summary judgment to the SEC and Chair Gary Gensler and denying summary judgment to the National Association of...more
Today, Mayer Brown’s Larry Cunningham provided testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on shareholder proposals and related issues. Read an excerpt below...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2023 proxy season, we note that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, issued...more
For many insiders at a newly formed public company, a large portion of their net worth is potentially tied up in holdings of their company’s publicly-traded shares. These insiders often face challenges obtaining liquidity...more
Is it ok for an agency to change its mind? The Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas seems to think so—at least if the agency’s decision is “reasonable and reasonably explained.” So says this Order...more
Public companies initiating the year-end reporting process will need to consider, and in many cases take steps to address, a number of significant developments and issues. To assist companies in this process, Mintz has...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. Their voting...more
The SEC adopted final clawback rules last month, here, a mere seven years after they were originally proposed! After publication of the final rules in the federal register (soon), stock exchanges must propose listing...more
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to rescind several amendments to its rules governing proxy voting advice (the Final Amendments). The vote reversed some of the key provisions...more
On September 19, 2022, amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules governing proxy solicitations became effective. The amendments, proposed on November 17, 2021, seek to address concerns by investors and...more