David A. Bell is partner at Fenwick & West LLP. This post is based on his Fenwick memorandum.
As outside legal counsel to a wide range of public companies in the technology and life sciences industries, many of which are based in Silicon Valley, Fenwick has collected information on corporate governance in order to counsel our clients on best practices and industry norms. We have collected this data since 2003 and believe this unique body of information is useful for all Silicon Valley companies as well as other public companies in the United States and their advisors.
Fenwick’s annual survey covers a variety of corporate governance practices and data for the companies included in the Standard & Poor’s 100 Index (S&P 100), which are often presented as a desired norm, compared to the technology and life sciences companies included in the Fenwick – Bloomberg Law Silicon Valley 150 List (SV 150), where the needs and circumstances of public companies can be quite different.
Comparative data is presented for the S&P 100 companies and the SV 150, as well as trend information over the history of the survey. In a number of instances the report also presents data showing comparison of the top 15 (which are of a scale similar to the S&P 100), top 50, middle 50 and bottom 50 companies of the SV 150 (in terms of revenue), illustrating the impact of scale on the relevant governance practices.
This in-depth survey was developed as a resource for board members, senior executives, in house legal counsel and their advisors, based in Silicon Valley and throughout the United States.
A Letter to the SEC Chairman
More from: Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren is U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. This post is based on her letter to outgoing SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.
I am writing in regards to the notice that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) will, on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, consider adopting rules that “will require resource extraction issuers to disclose payments made to the U.S. federal government or foreign governments for the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals.” [1] While these rules are mandated by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), [2] which requires “that all oil, gas, and mineral companies on the
U.S. stock exchange disclose any payments they make to foreign governments for licenses or permits for development,” [3] the SEC’s proposal fails to combat corruption and hold bad actors accountable. Instead, the SEC’s proposal “would make such disclosures so general as to be of little value.” [4] Rather than rushing to push through a grievously flawed final rule in the final few days of the Trump administration and your tenure as SEC chair, the Commission should not hold a vote on the rule until these concerns are addressed.
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