Should Your Company Take a Stand on Political and Social Issues?
Why Every Day Is Proxy Season for Public Companies
Corporate Law Report - Office Party Holiday Risks, Human Trafficking, the Fiscal Cliff, More
Just in time for the commencement of proxy season we have this reminder from SEC Enforcement about disclosures of related-person transactions. Failure to properly report on a related-person transaction has been a subject of...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 9-8 en banc decision, vacated the approval of Nasdaq's board diversity rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The court held that the...more
Public companies can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, that the Securities and Exchange Commission's 14a-8 regulatory process for excluding shareholder proposals remains intact....more
For the upcoming 2024 proxy and annual reporting season, there are a number of key issues to consider and keep an eye on for further developments as preparations commence. This alert provides an overview of these issues and...more
As public companies prepare their 2022 annual reports and 2023 proxy statements, they will need to contend with a host of new requirements and disclosure updates stemming from the current geopolitical and economic...more
Looking ahead to the upcoming 2023 proxy season, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has adopted new compensation disclosure obligations that will require significant thought, preparation, and lead time. These...more
On August 31, 2022, the universal proxy rules adopted last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will go into effect. The rules require proxy cards distributed by public companies and activist shareholders in a...more
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed revisions to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to amend certain substantive bases on which U.S. public companies can exclude...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
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance recently published Legal Bulletin 14L (CF) (the “Bulletin”) providing updated guidance on excluding shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8 under the Exchange Act. Specifically, the...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 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
When finalizing proxy materials for annual shareholder meetings, companies should consider the following Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules and related guidance, as well as stock exchange listing standards and...more
On September 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the “shareholder proposal rule” set forth in Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which governs the process for a shareholder to have...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 23 adopted final rules amending the shareholder proposal rules in Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The final rules: - Require that a shareholder...more
On September 23rd, the Commission adopted rules altering the shareholder proposals submission (and re-submission) framework under Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act for the first time in over twenty years....more
On July 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt amendments (Amendments) to certain of its rules governing proxy solicitations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). The...more
The Situation: Late last year, a shareholder sued NorthWestern Corporation ("NWE") to compel the company to include a climate-change related proposal in its 2020 proxy materials after NWE had notified the staff of the...more
The nation’s largest shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), recently filed suit against the SEC over new guidelines meant to give investors more transparency into how proxy advisory firms...more
With many year-end companies working on initial drafts of their 2020 proxy statements, we thought it might be worth sending a quick reminder of two recent rule changes – briefly summarized below – that will (modestly) impact...more
Companies preparing for their annual shareholder meetings will need to consider a variety of factors, including new guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and recommendations from Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass...more
Passive hedge funds are increasingly considering active roles when they are dissatisfied with the management of specific portfolio companies. After describing such a scenario, the author discusses the steps a dissatisfied...more
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which requires a public company to include shareholder proposals in the company’s own proxy...more
At an open meeting on November 5, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to propose amendments to 1) the exemptions from “solicitation” relied upon by proxy advisory firms and 2) certain of the...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued several important recent updates regarding shareholder proposals and the related no-action request process for companies to consider ahead of the 2019-2020 proxy...more