Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Year in Review: Delaware Corporate Law and Litigation

Introduction In 2019, the Delaware courts issued a broad range of important decisions addressing various corporate law and governance issues—including board compensation, controlling stockholder conflicts, board oversight obligations, M&A structuring issues, director liability for unlawful dividends, and advance notice bylaws. The case law from 2019 is relevant for both public and private companies—particularly because Delaware […]

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Leading Boards Rethinking Strategy and Enabling Innovation

Staying future focused can lead to sustainability In November 2019, the EY Center for Board Matters welcomed a group of corporate directors—who collectively represent more than 80 boards and $1 trillion in market capitalization—to its Strategy and Innovation Board Summit in New York City. The objective was to share experiences and discern how boards can […]

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Strengthening the Board’s Effectiveness in 2020: A Framework for Board Evaluations

The board self-evaluation process has evolved from a “check-the-box” obligation into a highly effective tool to help boards of directors take a critical look at their capabilities and readiness to meet the growing expectations of investors and other corporate stakeholders. As directors think about the opportunities and challenges their companies face in 2020 and beyond, […]

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Private Equity—Year in Review and 2020 Outlook

Private equity had a strong finish to the decade. Global PE-backed buyout volume reached nearly $400 billion by year end, which represented a 20% decline relative to 2018 but was still quite robust by historical standards, fueled by a number of megadeals, significant dry powder and record-low interest rates. We review below some of the key […]

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Delaware Year-End Review: M&A and Shareholder Litigation

It has been another busy year for the Delaware courts, with opinions issued in a number of key areas. The Delaware Supreme Court confirmed that Caremark claims, although generally very difficult to maintain, can survive a motion to dismiss. Meanwhile, the Court of Chancery showed that there is still a high bar to establishing a […]

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2020 Governance Outlook

Today, the accelerating pace and intensifying complexity of change are creating a fundamentally different operating reality that is putting the competitiveness and governance of many businesses to the test. NACD’s most recent Public Company Governance Survey found that looking forward to 2020, directors are most concerned about the impact of growing business-model disruptions, the slowing […]

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CII Letter to SEC on Proposed Amendments to Exemptions from the Proxy Rules for Proxy Voting Advice

This letter focuses on claims by certain corporate representatives that there are pervasive factual inaccuracies in proxy advisors’ reports, claims that we believe were relied on in the Release and in the decision of a majority of SEC commissioners to support proposing a new regulatory regime for independent proxy advisors. We believe that the claims […]

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Self-Dealing in a Comparative Light

Scholars have long disagreed over which of two fiduciary rules is more effective for controlling self-dealing. Some scholars defend the “strict” no-conflict rule, which categorically bans self-dealing by directors (Marsh, 1966; Brudney, 1985; Criddle, 2017). Others prefer the “flexible” and “pragmatic” fairness rule, which allows self-dealing if it is fair to the corporation and its […]

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8-K Trading Gap Act

Last week, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at closing what lawmakers have called a “loophole” for insider trading—corporate insiders trading between the occurrence of a corporate event and its disclosure through a Form 8-K filing (the “8-K Gap”). The 8-K Trading Gap Act (“the Bill”) passed with broad bipartisan support. If passed by the […]

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Weekly Roundup: January 31-February 6, 2020

Navigating the ESG Landscape Posted by Sandra Flow, Caroline Hailey, and Ahsan Sayed, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, on Friday, January 31, 2020 Tags: Climate change, Disclosure, Engagement, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Institutional Investors, Stakeholders, Sustainability 2019 Year-End Securities Enforcement Update Posted by Mark K. Schonfeld, Tina Samanta, and Amy Mayer, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, on Friday, January 31, 2020 Tags: Accounting, Cryptocurrency, Financial technology, Insider trading, Investment advisers, Regulation […]

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