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Husch Blackwell LLP

SEC Staff Issues New Guidance on Shareholder Proposals and Schedule 13G Eligibility

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On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M) setting forth staff guidance on shareholder proposals submitted...more

Robinson & Cole LLP

Legal Update: Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules Struck Down in Court

Robinson & Cole LLP on

On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC, held that the approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Nasdaq...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Fifth Circuit Nullifies Nasdaq’s Diversity Rule for Corporate Boards

A federal circuit court recently vacated a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order approving Nasdaq’s diversity rule for boards of directors of public companies....more

Venable LLP

Fifth Circuit Vacates Nasdaq's Board Diversity Rules: Key Implications for the 2025 Proxy Season

Venable LLP on

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

McDermott Will & Emery

Fifth Circuit Vacates SEC Order Approving Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules

McDermott Will & Emery on

On December 11, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) order approving The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC’s (Nasdaq) board diversity rules, holding that the...more

Goodwin

Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules Vacated by En Banc Fifth Circuit Decision

Goodwin on

In an en banc decision filed on December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Fifth Circuit) vacated the 2021 approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of rules adopted by The Nasdaq...more

Cooley LLP

UPDATED—en banc Fifth Circuit puts the kibosh on the Nasdaq board diversity rules

Cooley LLP on

(This post updates my post of December 12 to add further discussion of the decision.) - In August 2021, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal for new listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure, accompanied by a...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Board Diversity Rules in En Banc Decision

In a 9-8 en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked the Nasdaq board diversity rules, ruling that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lacked the authority to approve the rules....more

Fenwick & West LLP

Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules Struck Down by Fifth Circuit

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In August 2021, the SEC approved new board diversity rules requiring Nasdaq-listed companies (i) to include a board diversity matrix in their proxy statement or on their website and (ii) to disclose whether they have one...more

BCLP

Nasdaq Concedes Invalidation of Board Diversity Rule by Divided Fifth Circuit en Banc

BCLP on

On December 11, in a 9-8 ruling, the Fifth Circuit invalidated the SEC’s approval of the Nasdaq board diversity rule in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC. Invoking the “major questions” doctrine, the court ruled the...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DEI Under Scrutiny, Part XI: Fifth Circuit Reconsiders Nasdaq’s Board Diversity Rule

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will likely weigh in soon on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rule that will require listed companies to disclose...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Fifth Circuit Upholds Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule

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Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Nasdaq's board diversity rule, which the SEC first approved in August 2021 and was then challenged as unconstitutionally discriminatory and an improper...more

A&O Shearman

Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Exchange Act Claims Against Acquired Public Company, Holding That Shareholders Of An M&A...

A&O Shearman on

On September 30, 2022, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissing a putative securities fraud...more

Holland & Knight LLP

SEC, Nasdaq Square Off Against Challengers to Nasdaq's Board Diversity Rule

Holland & Knight LLP on

The SEC was once again before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Aug. 29, 2022, this time in connection with the agency's approval of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC's (Nasdaq) Board Diversity Rule (Rule). The...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Revisiting Share Repurchases in Volatile Times

In light of the recent increased volatility in the global financial markets, a number of companies have raised questions regarding the desirability of repurchasing shares at reduced market prices. This alert addresses...more

BCLP

Excluding a Shareholder Proposal? Not So Fast…

BCLP on

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

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

NYSE Restores Thresholds for Related Party Transactions To Align With SEC Disclosure Requirements

On August 19, 2021, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed an immediately effective rule change (Rule Proposal) restoring a transaction value and materiality threshold for related party transactions that require independent...more

Allen Matkins

Challenge To Nasdaq Diversity Rule Filed In Federal Court Of Appeals

Allen Matkins on

Professor Stephen Bainbridge writes that the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment has filed a petition for review with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging Nasdaq's board diversity rule.  Some readers may be...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Issues to Consider When Officers Grant Equity Awards

Equity-based awards are often a significant element of a company’s compensation program. However, unlike more broad-based employee benefit programs, which are generally only subject to federal laws, equity-based compensation...more

Goodwin

A Win for Deal Certainty, Delaware Court of Chancery Orders Closing of Cake Supplier Acquisition

Goodwin on

A Win for Deal Certainty, Delaware Court of Chancery Orders Closing of Cake Supplier Acquisition; Under Armour to Pay $9M to Settle SEC Charges Involving Disclosure Failures; First Circuit Upholds Decision Applying Federal...more

Allen Matkins

Committee Authority To Authorize Share Repurchases

Allen Matkins on

Section 311 of the California Corporations Code authorizes the creation of one or more committees.  Unlike Delaware, a committee of the board must have two or more members.  The board of directors may vest all of the...more

BCLP

Latest Twists in Long and Winding Road to Board Diversity Disclosure

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The House Committee on Financial Services met virtually on April 20, 2021 to consider legislation that, among other things, would require public companies to annually disclose the voluntarily, self-identified gender, race,...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

Senate Republicans Attack NASDAQ’s Board Diversity Rule

On February 12, 2021, the Republican members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs wrote a letter to the Acting Chair of the SEC bashing a recently proposed rule of Nasdaq that would promote corporate...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Poison Pill Deep Dive Series: The Inadvertent Triggering Exception

The first of a six-part series examining six specific and evolving rights plan provisions. An increasing number of companies are choosing to adopt shareholder rights plans (otherwise known as “poison pills”) in response to...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Considerations for the 2020 proxy season

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

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