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Program on Corporate Governance Advisory Board
- Peter Atkins
- David Bell
- Kerry E. Berchem
- Richard Brand
- Daniel Burch
- Paul Choi
- Jesse Cohn
- Arthur B. Crozier Christine Davine
- Renata J. Ferrari
- Andrew Freedman
- Ray Garcia
- Byron Georgiou
- Joseph Hall
- Jason M. Halper William P. Mills
- David Millstone
- Theodore Mirvis
- Philip Richter
- Elina Tetelbaum
- Sebastian Tiller
- Marc Trevino Jonathan Watkins
- Steven J. Williams
HLS Faculty & Senior Fellows
Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
Global Climate and Sustainability Reporting Continues to Grow
The momentum toward universal mandatory reporting and disclosure on climate risk and sustainability has gained additional strength with recent developments at the international, domestic and state levels. These steps follow years of calls from investors for standardized and comparable climate-related disclosures. International. In June, the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors issued a statement […]
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Posted in ESG, Institutional Investors, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Climate change, Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Institutional Investors, International governance, SEC, Securities regulation, Sustainability
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Speech by Commissioner Peirce on ESG Disclosure
Thank you, Aaron [Klein], for that introduction. This summer was the summer of the cicadas. The dull hum of their song permeated the solitude of an evening stroll, along with the disconcerting crunch as pedestrian attempts to avoid squashing the creatures inevitably failed. Every seventeen years the beady-eyed cicadas emerge from underground—a natural wonder, perhaps […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Practitioner Publications, Regulators Materials, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation, Speeches & Testimony
Tagged Climate change, Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Materiality, SEC, SEC rulemaking, Securities regulation, Stakeholders, Sustainability
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Using ESG Tools to Help Combat Racial Inequity
The events of last summer galvanized the nation and the world and drew much-needed attention to how systemic racism and injustice continues to burden communities of color, who also disproportionately bore the weight of the pandemic. In the months that followed, we witnessed a marked shift in corporate America. This shift was evidenced not only […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Accountability, Board composition, Board oversight, Boards of Directors, Diversity, ESG, Institutional Investors, Stakeholders, Transparency
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Warnings Persist for Corporate Directors Evaluating LBO and Other Multi-Step Transactions
I. Executive Summary. As the year 2020 was coming to a close, District Judge Rakoff issued a decision in In re Nine W. LBO Sec. Litig., No. 20 MD. 2941 (JSR), 2020 WL 7090277 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 4, 2020) (“Nine West”) that sent some shockwaves through the M&A community with respect to the future of corporate […]
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Posted in Boards of Directors, Court Cases, Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged Boards of Directors, Charter & bylaws, Director liability, Fiduciary duties, Leveraged acquisitions, Merger litigation, Mergers & acquisitions, Securities litigation, Shareholder value, U.S. federal courts
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Further on the Purpose of the Corporation
In recent years, the concept of “corporate purpose” has been invoked as a shorthand to address a corporation’s commitment to include stakeholder governance—and with it commitments to sustainability, diversity, inclusion, social responsibility and other ESG issues—as part of a corporate strategy that achieves sustainable long-term growth and creates long-term value for the benefit of all […]
Click here to read the complete postSPAC IPOs and Sponsor Network Centrality
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)—the shell companies whose sole purpose is to identify a private firm to merge with—have become an increasingly important channel for firms to raise money. In 2020, for instance, in the U.S. alone, 248 SPAC IPOS raised $83.4 billion, much more than that raised by traditional IPOs. However, SPACs are also […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Mergers & Acquisitions
Tagged IPOs, Mergers & acquisitions, Social networks, SPACs, Special purpose vehicles
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President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition
President Biden signed an ambitious Executive Order on July 9, 2021, which pushes several federal agencies to advance competition principles in a range of economic sectors, and establishes a White House Competition Council within the Executive Office of the President. Much of the Executive Order is broad and its true effects are not likely to […]
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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Regulation, Legislative & Regulatory Developments, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Antitrust, Banks, Common ownership, Consumer protection, DOJ, Federal Reserve, Financial institutions, Joe Biden, Mergers & acquisitions
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Putting the F into ESG—The Importance of Financial Materiality in ESG Investing
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing has evolved greatly as a concept over the past two decades. It now reaches nearly every aspect of the corporate and investment decision-making process, and rightfully so. This growth has presented so many amazing opportunities for investors and corporations to measure and improve practices across all aspects of the […]
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Posted in ESG, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged ESG, Institutional Investors, Long-Term value, Materiality, Proxy advisors, Stakeholders, Sustainability
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Breach of Fiduciary Duties in Administering Defined Contribution Plans
On July 2, 2021, the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401, to address the pleading standard that applies to breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Hughes is one of now hundreds of cases filed in recent years against the company sponsors and fiduciaries […]
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Posted in Court Cases, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged ERISA, Fiduciary duties, Institutional Investors, Pension funds, Retirement plans, Supreme Court
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