Shareholder proposal rule
In this recent podcast, Trends and takeaways from the 2025 proxy season, KPMG Board Leadership Center (BLC) Senior Advisor Stephen Brown and Freshfields Partner Pamela Marcogliese discuss shareholder proposal trends and...more
Proxy voting trends and outcomes, shareholder engagement, activism, and lessons for boards. KPMG Board Leadership Center Senior Advisor Stephen Brown and Freshfields Partner Pamela Marcogliese share their takeaways for...more
On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2337 (“SB 2337”), a novel regulation that will require significant disclosure obligations for proxy advisors, such as ISS and Glass Lewis, for their voting...more
The 2025 proxy season (July 1, 2024 – June 20, 2025, meetings) concluded with a significant drop in the volume of shareholder proposals from the 2024 proxy season’s record high, as environmental and social (E&S) proposals...more
Recently, BlackRock released its “2024 Investment Stewardship Annual Report” – here’s a 25-page executive summary. Here are six lessons learned – although note this is all about last year; not the latest proxy season...more
On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2337 ("SB 2337") to impose first-of-its-kind regulation and significant disclosure obligations on proxy advisors, such as ISS and Glass Lewis. SB 2337 aims to...more
On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 2337 (SB 2337), which imposes new regulations on proxy advisory firms — such as ISS and Glass Lewis — when providing voting recommendations and other...more
In a significant but not unsurprising policy shift, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the withdrawal of proposed rules aimed at enhancing ESG disclosures and modifying shareholder proposal...more
In the first Trump Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission promulgated certain rules that had the effect of erecting barriers to activist investors seeking to have shareholder proposals--often involving topics...more
SEC Issues New Guidance on Exclusion of Shareholder Proposals - Since the beginning of the year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance staff (Corp Fin Staff) has issued several...more
Public companies are revisiting their disclosures to keep up with recent EOs and SEC developments this proxy season....more
For those who use “March Madness” to describe proxy season rather than basketball, they'll immediately know that the “economic relevance” exclusion under Rule 14a-8(i)(5) is something of a lore in the SEC's shareholder...more
The SEC rescinded Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L and issued updated guidance on the exclusion of shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8 and certain other aspects of Rule 14a-8....more
Only a short time has elapsed since President Trump named Mark T. Uyeda as Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on January 21, 2025. Already, however, the regulatory climate has shifted significantly...more
As we reported in our Preparing for the 2025 Proxy Season client alert, Glass Lewis announced on February 18, 2025, that it was reviewing its diversity-related voting guidelines “in the face of the U.S. Administration’s...more
Public companies navigating the 2025 proxy season just got some breathing room—at least when it comes to excluding certain shareholder proposals. Last week, the Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance—in a...more
On November 14, 2024, Glass Lewis published its 2025 U.S. Benchmark Policy Guidelines (U.S. Guidelines), and its 2025 Shareholder Proposals & ESG-Related Benchmark Policy Guidelines (ESG Guidelines), both effective for...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
Our checklist and analysis present matters for companies to consider as they conduct their 2025 annual meetings and file reports to meet upcoming regulatory, shareholder and advisory deadlines. We outline key issues to...more
Over the last five years, stockholder activism has undergone significant transformation, shaped by changing market conditions, regulatory developments, and evolving societal expectations. Activism has continued to spread...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
Summary of June 2024 Annual General Shareholder Meeting Season Shareholder Proposals - - While the total number of shareholder proposals is comparable to the June 2023 general meeting season, the number of companies...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
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