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HLS Faculty & Senior Fellows
Program on Corporate Governance Advisory Board
- Peter Atkins
- David Bell
- Kerry E. Berchem
- Richard Brand
- Daniel Burch
- Paul Choi
- Jesse Cohn
- Arthur B. Crozier
- Renata J. Ferrari
- Andrew Freedman
- Ray Garcia
- Joseph Hall
- Jason M. Halper William P. Mills
- David Millstone
- Theodore Mirvis
- Philip Richter
- Elina Tetelbaum
- Sebastian Tiller
- Marc Trevino
- Steven J. Williams
Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
Shareholder Activism at Closed-End Funds in the Wake of Covid-19
Shareholder activism in the United States and worldwide was noticeably down in 2020 when compared to 2019, and that decline was largely due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, for US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered closed-end investment funds, COVID-19 had the opposite effect. In the wake of the market dislocations […]
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Posted in Corporate Elections & Voting, Institutional Investors, Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications
Tagged COVID-19, Hedge funds, Institutional Investors, Mergers & acquisitions, Mutual funds, Private funds, Shareholder activism
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Preparing Your 2020 Form 20-F
This post highlights some considerations for the preparation of your 2020 annual report on Form 20-F. As in previous years, we discuss both disclosure developments and continued areas of focus for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, we highlight certain U.S.-related enforcement matters and other developments of interest to foreign private issuers […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Compliance and disclosure interpretation, Cybersecurity, Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Financial reporting, Management, Mergers & acquisitions, SEC enforcement, SEC rulemaking, Securities enforcement, Securities regulation
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A General Defense of Information Fiduciaries
Countless high-profile abuses of user data have put Facebook, Google, and other digital companies within the sights of lawmakers. Across the political spectrum, legislators condemn these firms’ conduct, accusing them of undermining user privacy and data security. Scholars and other commentators seek greater oversight of digital enterprises. In this environment, one especially influential reform proposal […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Boards of Directors, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation
Tagged Boards of Directors, Cybersecurity, Delaware law, Facebook, Fiduciary duties, Privacy
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The Big Three and Board Gender Diversity: The Effectiveness of Shareholder Voice
In 2017, “The Big Three” institutional investors (BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard) launched campaigns to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. BlackRock and State Street’s campaigns included policies of voting against directors’ reelection at firms that made insufficient progress toward a gender-diverse board. In our paper, The Big Three and Board Gender Diversity: The Effectiveness […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Boards of Directors, Corporate Elections & Voting, Empirical Research, ESG, Institutional Investors
Tagged Asset management, Board composition, Boards of Directors, Diversity, ESG, Index funds, Institutional Investors, Shareholder proposals, Shareholder voting
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Private Enforcement of Shareholder Rights: A Comparison of Selected Jurisdictions and Policy Alternatives for Brazil
Introduction The OECD recently published a report Private Enforcement of Shareholder Rights: A Comparison of Selected Jurisdictions and Policy Alternatives for Brazil, which is the joint project with Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários-CVM) and the Ministry of Economy. Building on a comparative review of ten countries—Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, […]
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Posted in Institutional Investors, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Arbitration, Brazil, Derivative suits, Institutional Investors, International governance, Mergers & acquisitions, Shareholder activism, Shareholder suits
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Reforms of the Auditing Profession: Improving Quality Transparency, Governance and Accountability
Beginning with the passage of the 1933 Securities Act, Congress has required an Independent Audit for every public listed company in the United States. At the time the 1933 Act was debated by Congress, it was discussed as to whether to have audits performed by employees of the government. Banks regulated by the Federal Reserve, […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Accounting, Accounting standards, Audits, Disclosure, External auditors, PCAOB, SEC, Securities regulation
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ESG Drivers and the COVID-19 Catalyst
Despite the global economic and health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have continued to intensify their efforts to improve their management approaches and communications in relation to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. In many instances, the ongoing crisis has, in fact, accelerated pre-existing trends towards greater ESG integration by underscoring the […]
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Posted in ESG, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Climate change, COVID-19, ESG, Human capital, Institutional Investors, Reputation, Risk management, Sustainability
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Securities Litigation Premised on Failure to Disclose Alleged Underlying Illegal Conduct
In our Summer 2018 update, we discussed a number of recent district court decisions in securities cases premised on the theory that the company failed to disclose, in alleged violation of the securities laws, that it was engaged in underlying anti-competitive conduct. In each of those cases, the court held that the heightened pleading standard […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Court Cases, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged Antitrust, Disclosure, Fraud-on-the-Market, PSLRA, Securities fraud, Securities litigation, U.S. federal courts
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Remember Enron? It Could Happen Again on Biden’s Watch
Remember Enron, the energy trading company that collapsed in a massive accounting fraud, devastating employees and investors? For members of the transition team, the sordid story may be far from top of mind. But it could happen again on President-elect Joe Biden’s watch, diverting him from his agenda and inflicting new damage on the economy. […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Accounting, Accounting standards, Audits, Enron, External auditors, Financial reporting, Joe Biden, PCAOB, Sarbanes–Oxley Act, Securities regulation
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Are CEOs’ Purchases More Profitable Than They Appear?
A basic tenet of contracting theory is that risk-averse agents require higher expected returns for taking on more risk. However, this principle appears to be at odds with the modest (i.e., 3%) abnormal returns that undiversified CEOs tend to earn on voluntary purchases of their firm’s stock. In contrast to research that focuses on direct […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation, Empirical Research
Tagged Decision-making, Executive performance, Executive turnover, Incentives, Information asymmetries, Information environment, Inside information, Insider trading, Management, Stock returns
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