As discussed in these PubCo posts from Monday, Saturday and Tuesday, on March 15, in a one-sentence order, the Fifth Circuit granted a motion by Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC for an administrative stay...more
Recently, the SEC announced settled charges against Skechers U.S.A., Inc., a public footwear company traded on the NYSE, for allegedly failing to disclose payments to executives’ immediate family members and loans to...more
As discussed in these PubCo posts from Monday and Saturday, on March 15, in a one-sentence order, the Fifth Circuit granted a motion by Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC for an administrative stay of the SEC...more
On March 6, the SEC adopted final rules “to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings.” Even though, in the final rules, the SEC scaled back significantly on the...more
Is it pencils down already? As has previously been reported, a number of groups have filed petitions in different circuits requesting review of the SEC’s final climate disclosure rules. On March 6, the date of adoption of the...more
Last week the SEC adopted final rules “to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings.” The disclosure, which will be included in registration statements and annual reports,...more
Last week, by a vote of three to two, the SEC adopted final rules “to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings.” The disclosure, which will be included in registration...more
We’ve been trying to read the tea leaves for two years now, speculating about where SEC’s final climate disclosure rules might land, especially as criticism about the proposal from the corporate sphere and from Congress...more
Since many of you may, like me, be having the vapors waiting for the SEC to finally divulge the new climate disclosure rules, I thought I’d share this latest scoop from Reuters. According to Reuters, not only is the SEC...more
It’s almost as if someone put a hex on electric vehicle manufacturers that went public through de-SPACs. In 2022, SEC Enforcement charged Nikola Corporation, an aspiring manufacturer of low- or zero-emission semi-trucks,...more
Consideration of the SEC’s long anticipated climate disclosure rules—the “Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors”—is finally on the SEC’s open meeting agenda for March 6. There have been...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
Many thanks to thecorporatecounsel.net blog for posting this memorandum to the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits from three members of that committee regarding their informal discussions with SEC staff about a couple...more
Today, Reuters reported exclusively that the SEC is indeed planning to eliminate some of the more controversial requirements in its climate disclosure proposal. Of course, we’re talking Scope 3. (See this PubCo post, this...more
In August 2021, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal for new listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure, accompanied by a proposal to provide free access to a board recruiting service. The new listing rules adopted...more
As reported by Bloomberglaw.com, during an interview on “Balance of Power” on Bloomberg Television, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said that he does not intend to “rush” the SEC’s agenda “to get ahead of possible political changes in...more
Yesterday, in remarks at Yale Law School, SEC Chair Gary Gensler talked about the opportunities and challenges of AI. According to Gensler, while AI “opens up tremendous opportunities for humanity,” it “also raises a host of...more
As you know, the shareholder primacy theory is widely attributed to the Chicago school of economists, beginning in the 1970s, with economist Milton Friedman famously arguing that the only “social responsibility of business is...more
On December 19, a Fifth Circuit panel pulled the plug on the SEC’s Share Repurchase Disclosure Modernization rule, issuing an opinion vacating the rule. On Friday last week, Corp Fin announced that, yes, the rule had been...more
SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter has posted a new Statement. What’s on his mind? Apparently, he is disturbed that, in recent inspections of audits, the PCAOB has reported a “troubling” increase in deficiency rates—meaning...more
You remember that, in January, ExxonMobil filed a lawsuit against Arjuna Capital, LLC and Follow This, two proponents of a climate-related shareholder proposal submitted to Exxon, seeking a declaratory judgment that it may...more
You remember California’s climate legislation signed into law just last year—Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and Senate Bill 261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial risk? (See this...more
Ideagen AuditAnalytics has just released its 2024 Report on Critical Audit Matters, a 3-Year Review, covering the years 2020 to 2022. Under the auditing standard for the auditor’s report (AS 3101), adopted in 2017, CAMs are...more
Perfectly calibrated to slap an exclamation point on last Wednesday’s 581-page SPAC release (see this PubCo post), this new SEC Order, posted the following day, reflects settled charges against Northern Star Investment Corp....more
Back in 2014, a few companies, facing shareholder proposals from the prolific shareholder-proposal activist, John Chevedden, and his associates, adopted a “direct-to-court” strategy, bypassing the standard SEC no-action...more