Shareholder proposal rule
Public companies are revisiting their disclosures to keep up with recent EOs and SEC developments this proxy season....more
This guide discusses important themes from the 2024 proxy season and developing trends we are monitoring for 2025. It also includes a “housekeeping checklist” designed to assist you as you prepare your proxy statement. For...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently reported on trends in corporate political activity disclosures and related shareholder proposals over the past decade, noting that “[o]ver the past decade, shareholder...more
Recently, Glass Lewis announced the release of its 2025 U.S. Benchmark Policy Guidelines and guidelines for Shareholder Proposals & ESG-Related Issues that apply across markets. Here are 8 things to know about this year’s...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently released its “U.S. Shareholder Proposals: A Decade in Motion,” in which it examines trends in shareholder proposals submitted at U.S. companies from July 2014 to June 2024, as...more
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) recently released its Annual Benchmark Policy Survey (the "Policy Survey"). In keeping with its prior practice, ISS seeks responses from institutional shareholders, issuers,...more
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick’s Securities Law Update....more
Over the past decade, environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics have featured heavily in social and political discourse. ESG has also become prominent in the boardroom as directors navigate how best to address...more
The ESG litigation landscape is rapidly developing. Activist claimants, whose end-goal is to effect change in the management, ESG policies or ESG credentials of companies or regulated firms, are progressively pressurising...more
On December 19, 2023, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) released its updates to its Proxy Voting Guidelines. Somewhat unusually, ISS made only one change to its voting recommendation policies for U.S. public...more
In late July 2023, House Republicans on the Financial Services Committee introduced four bills targeting various business and market activities that implicate environmental, social, and governance issues. In a statement...more
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters are now the subject of significantly greater regulatory scrutiny and are becoming a more prominent part of public companies’ mandatory filings, shareholder proposals, and...more
Environmental advocacy group As You Sow has sent climate-focused shareholder resolutions to five major U.S. banks. The resolutions request that the banks disclose their climate transition plans for meeting financed emissions...more
Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), the two major proxy advisory firms, recently issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. These policy updates...more
As companies grapple with the business challenges that rising interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook present, there are the inevitable questions about whether companies should worry less about environmental, social...more
In this program, we will focus on SEC developments affecting, and practical aspects of preparing for, public companies’ annual meetings and annual reports, including compensation, shareholder proposals and corporate...more
ESG-related shareholder proposals featured prominently in the most recent proxy season, with nearly 40% of large-cap public companies facing a shareholder vote on ESG topics over the first half of 2022. As introduced in an...more
ESG-related shareholder proposals featured prominently in the most recent proxy season, with nearly 40% of large-cap public companies facing a shareholder vote on ESG topics in the last six months. We reviewed ESG-related...more
On January 6, Katten Capital Markets partner Farzad Damania, along with Zally Ahmadi of D.F. King, George Lu of ADEC ESG Solutions and Ari Frankel of Solebury Trout, presented a program sharing their insights into the trends...more
In this alert, we provide a round-up of the latest developments in ESG for UK corporates. In this month’s ESG Market Alert: The UK has adopted mandatory climate-related financial disclosures applicable to the UK’s largest...more
The enduring COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact corporate governance practices and trends in 2021, while other notable developments, including a surge in shareholder proposals, changes to the proxy rules, and increased...more
During 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rule changes and provided public companies with useful guidance on various topics. In December, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) released its...more
On December 2, Larry Levin and Alyse Sagalchik, partners in Katten's Capital Markets practice, along with Ernst & Young LLP and Meridian Compensation Partners (Meridian), shared updates for the 2022 proxy season as part of...more
In the past few weeks, both major proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), have issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. These...more
Introduction - Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently published its 2022 updates to its benchmark proxy voting policies. The policies will govern ISS’ voting recommendations for shareholder meetings held on or...more