The D&O Databox™ Mid-Year Report provides insights about securities class action activities, developments, and historical trends—sourced from Databox, our proprietary database and leading resource for securities class action...more
8/7/2025
/ Class Action ,
Corporate Governance ,
D&O Insurance ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Shareholder Litigation
As they go through their initial public offering (IPO) and the subsequent merger & acquisition (M&A) process, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) face many regulatory, legal, and business hurdles. Obtaining the...more
Private to Public Timeline -
Click/tap an area of the timeline to learn more about the D&O insurance process for companies going public. While the timeline below is specific to IPO companies, the milestones are relevant to...more
There is significant complexity to the process of protecting a company and its directors and officers as they undertake the process of going public. This resource is your guide to the D&O insurance process for de-SPAC...more
Woodruff Sawyer’s D&O Databox™ Year-End Report provides insights about securities class action activities, developments, and historical trends—sourced from Databox, our proprietary database and leading resource for securities...more
The streak of good news in D&O litigation risk ends this year, with a rise in class action filings and bigger settlements. But the D&O market is still soft, so staying on top of the evolving risk landscape will help you...more
8/6/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
D&O Insurance ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insurance Costs ,
Insurance Industry ,
New Rules ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Webinars
It has been two years since public companies saw a marked decrease in the number of securities class action filings against them. In 2022, 168 class actions were filed, a record low since 2014; however, 2024 activity is...more
As they go through their initial public offering (IPO) and the subsequent merger & acquisition (M&A) process, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) face many regulatory, legal, and business hurdles. Obtaining the...more
Woodruff Sawyer is the market leader when it comes to placing D&O insurance for companies going public, be it through an IPO, direct listing, or merger with a SPAC (a “de-SPAC” transaction). Experience matters in this arena....more
Despite fewer companies going public in 2023, we saw an unwelcome uptick in class action lawsuit filings. After a period of relief in securities class action (SCA) filings—three years to be exact—the tide is officially...more
A year ago, you couldn’t avoid the talk about a brutal recession on the horizon—yet it didn’t materialize. At the end of 2023, economists said the data pointed to either a small recession or an avoidance altogether in 2023,...more
Companies that have been waiting to do their IPO until conditions improve are gearing up. In fact, EY predicts the global IPO market will turn around in 2024 due to some improvements in key macroeconomic factors and...more
Securities class action activity in 2023 reflects the environment the business community is experiencing: Economic activity has slowed as companies deal with the high costs of doing business. In the first half of 2023, the...more
As they go through their initial public offering (IPO) and the subsequent merger & acquisition (M&A) process, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) face many regulatory, legal, and business hurdles. Obtaining the...more
Late-stage private companies may be disappointed that the economic slowdown has largely closed the initial public offering (IPO) window. The upside? More time to prepare for public company life when the IPO window re-opens....more
The D&O liability landscape is poised to change—or not—depending on how the US Supreme Court rules in the long-running Section 11 case against Slack. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in this case on April 17, 2023, and...more
Non-US companies are attracted to going public on a US exchange for a variety of reasons, such as access to capital, increased liquidity, and in some cases, more flexible rules and regulations compared to other markets....more
While it’s true that the recent SPAC craze has significantly cooled, there are still more than 300 SPACs searching for a deal, according to SPAC Insider. The good news for those still searching for a deal is that there isn’t...more
A question that comes up at the time of an IPO is this: Should we place a tail policy on our private company D&O insurance? Although this is a complex question, the answer is straightforward: No, if you can avoid a past acts...more
Woodruff Sawyer's D&O DataBox™ Year-End Report provides insights about securities class action activities, developments, and historical trends—sourced from DataBox, our proprietary database and leading resource for securities...more
How accurate is all the talk about never-ending inflation and an inevitable, brutal recession in 2023? Maybe not that accurate. The data seems to be telling a very different story. Earlier this month, Woodruff Sawyer hosted...more
Woodruff Sawyer is the market leader when it comes to placing D&O insurance for companies going public. Experience matters when it comes to IPOs and direct listings. You want a specialist on your insurance brokerage team to...more
Insights Priya Cherian Huskins, Esq.Senior Vice President, Management LiabilityEditor, Management Liability/D&O May 10, 2022 /Management Liability/D&O While the life sciences sector has experienced a slowdown in IPO activity...more
SPACs are running into choppy water these days. Delaware Court of Chancery’s January 2022 opinion denying motions to dismiss in the MultiPlan Corp. litigation may be a significant source of concern for SPACs. Certainly, the...more
There is significant complexity to the process of protecting a company and its directors and officers as they undertake the process of going public. This resource is your guide to the D&O insurance process for de-SPAC...more