In this article from the Harvard Business Review, the authors, from global leadership advisory firm ghSMART, discuss the growing number of instances in which companies appoint CEOs from the board. According to the article,...more
Back in February, in ISS v. SEC, the D.C. Federal District Court vacated the SEC’s 2020 rule that advice from proxy advisory firms was a “solicitation” under the proxy rules. Both the SEC and National Association of...more
In this settled action, In the Matter of Elanco Animal Health, Inc., Elanco, a manufacturer and seller of animal health products, such as flea and tick medications, was charged with “failure to disclose material information...more
The title of PwC’s new 2024 Corporate Directors’ Survey, Uncertainty and transformation in the modern boardroom, might clue you in to one of its themes: uncertainty—anxiety?—arising out of the looming election. According...more
There’s been a lot of attention lately to the use of ESG metrics as incentives in executive compensation, perhaps because the concept of ESG has become something of a lightning rod in the political landscape—particularly...more
On Tuesday, the SEC announced settled charges against four companies for “making materially misleading disclosures regarding cybersecurity risks and intrusions. The charges against the companies, Unisys Corp., Avaya Holdings...more
Are you ever surprised that more companies don’t fail their say-on-pay votes? Say on pay was adopted by the SEC under a Dodd-Frank mandate signed into law against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis. The mandate was...more
Here are a few interesting snippets regarding shareholder proposals and Item 1.05 Form 8-K from this week’s 2024 Proxy Disclosure & 21st Annual Executive Compensation Conferences from CCR Corp. On the panels, the watchword of...more
The NYSE has proposed a new rule change: if a company is out of compliance with a continued listing standard and it owes the NYSE any unpaid fees, the NYSE will not review a compliance plan submitted by that company and,...more
In this article in the Harvard Business Review, a law professor from the University of Calgary makes “The Case for More Company Insiders on Boards.” From the end of World War II to the 1970s, he observes, the composition of...more
In July, the SEC posted a Nasdaq rule change proposal to “modify the application of the bid price compliance periods where a listed company takes an action to achieve compliance with the bid price requirement and that action...more
Last week, the SEC announced settled charges against James R. Craigie, a former CEO, Chair and board member of Church & Dwight Co. Inc., an NYSE-listed “manufacturer of consumer-packaged goods,” for “violating proxy...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law Senate Bill 219, a bill that tweaks some of the requirements of California’s climate disclosure bills, SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and SB 261,...more
The PCAOB has released a new Spotlight on auditor independence, which provides observations from PCAOB inspections regarding independence issues and identifies considerations for both auditors and audit committees. Auditor...more
In case it escaped your notice a few months back—as it did mine—Bloomberg is now reporting that the SEC has “quietly disbanded” its Enforcement Division’s Climate and ESG Task Force. You remember the task force? Back in...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
In 2023, when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills related to climate disclosure—Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and SB 261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial...more
In this 2023 article in Fortune, a survey of 2,800 managers and executives conducted by management consulting firm Aon showed that business leaders “weren’t very concerned about AI….Not only is AI not the top risk that they...more
This article from Morningstar published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance examines three major trends of the 2024 proxy season regarding environmental, social and governance shareholder proposals. The...more
In May, Nasdaq proposed to revise some of its corporate governance rules—specifically Rules 5605, 5615 and 5810—to modify the phase-in schedules for the independent director and committee requirements in connection with a...more
This new report, Corporate Underwriters: Where the Rubber Hits the Road, from the nonpartisan Center for Political Accountability, examines “the scope of corporate political spending and its impact on state and national...more
As soon as the SEC adopted final rules “to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings” in March, there was a deluge of litigation—even though, in the final rules, the SEC...more
In this recent case, Kellner v. AIM ImmunoTech, the Delaware Supreme Court articulated a two-part framework for judicial consideration of advance notice bylaws in the event of a challenge to their adoption, amendment or...more
In 2022, after seven years of marinating on the SEC’s long-term agenda, the SEC adopted rules to implement Section 954 of Dodd-Frank, the clawback provision. The rules directed the national securities exchanges to establish...more
In this Comment from a Reuters magazine, the author attempts to rescue the underlying environmental, social and governance principles from the often disparaged term, “ESG.” ESG, he observes, was “[o]riginally conceived as a...more