-
Supported By:


Subscribe or Follow
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
Cyber Lessons from the SEC?
Public companies worried about cybersecurity risk would be well served to pay attention to a recent crackdown by the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission on the use of automated technology to detect investment advisor fraud. A recent settlement with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc., a registered investment adviser and broker dealer, suggests that the Commission isn’t […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Accounting, Cybersecurity, Risk management, SEC, Securities regulation
Comments Off on Cyber Lessons from the SEC?
The SEC and Foreign Private Issuers: A Path to Optimal Public Enforcement
The question of finding an optimal approach to securities law liability and enforcement against foreign issuers in U.S. markets remains open. Seeking to find answers to this policy question, my recent article presents relevant empirical, doctrinal, economic, and institutional arguments. To my knowledge, this paper is the first empirical survey of the recent changes in […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Academic Research, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation
Tagged Compliance and disclosure interpretation, FCPA, Foreign issuers, International governance, Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., SEC, SEC enforcement, Section 10(b), Securities enforcement, Securities fraud, Securities regulation
Comments Off on The SEC and Foreign Private Issuers: A Path to Optimal Public Enforcement
Testimony on “Oversight of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management”
Chairman Huizenga, Ranking Member Maloney, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today about the work of the Division of Investment Management (the “Division”). I would also like to thank you for your interest in asset management and the efforts of our Division in this space. The asset […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation, Speeches & Testimony
Tagged Capital markets, Cryptocurrency, Derivatives, Disclosure, Engagement, Exchange-traded funds, Human capital, Investment advisers, Oversight, Retail investors, SEC, US House
Comments Off on Testimony on “Oversight of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management”
On Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Corporate Governance
There was something Trumpian in Elon Musk’s tweet about taking Tesla private. “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured”, he boldly and succinctly announced on August 7, claiming that the necessary capital has been confirmed from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi sovereign fund that is seeking to become the region’s largest […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation
Tagged Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Information environment, Investor protection, Market reaction, Rule 10b-5, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, Securities regulation, Social media, Tesla
Comments Off on On Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Corporate Governance
Corporate Governance Update: Shareholder Activism Is the Next Phase of #MeToo
As the #MeToo movement continues to make itself felt in all facets of American life, public company boards of directors that are newly focused on the issue of workplace harassment have seen corporate responses evolve. In recent months, many boards have overseen the addition of anti- harassment policies to corporate codes of conduct, the establishment […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Boards of Directors, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged #MeToo, Accountability, Board composition, Boards of Directors, Compensation ratios, Corporate culture, Diversity, Human capital, Institutional Investors, Misconduct, Risk management, Shareholder activism, Shareholder voting
Comments Off on Corporate Governance Update: Shareholder Activism Is the Next Phase of #MeToo
How Blockchain will Disrupt Corporate Organizations
Closed, hierarchical organizations have dominated political, economic and social life for the past several hundred years. Such organizations are characterized by (i) a centralized source of authority; (ii) a formal hierarchy with clearly differentiated functional “roles”; and, (iii) standardized operational systems and procedures dictated by the authority/hierarchy. This type of organization has exerted an enormous […]
Click here to read the complete postWeekly Roundup: September 21-27, 2018
Confronting a New Agency Problem Posted by Adi Libson (Bar-Ilan University), on Friday, September 21, 2018 Tags: Corporate Social Responsibility, Diversity, Engagement, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Shareholder power, Shareholder proposals, Shareholder voting Fake News: Evidence from Financial Markets Posted by Shimon Kogan (IDC Herzliya), Tobias Moskowitz (Yale School of Management), and Marina Niessner (AQR Capital Management), on Saturday, September 22, 2018 Tags: Financial reporting, Information environment, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, Securities […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Weekly Roundup
Comments Off on Weekly Roundup: September 21-27, 2018
Digital Tokens: No Such Thing as a Free Launch
The issuance of digital tokens in exchange for services rather than money still can constitute an offering of securities, according to findings recently made by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a settled enforcement action, In the Matter of Tomahawk Exploration LLC and David Thompson Laurance, Securities Act Rel. No. 33-10530, Exchange Act Rel. No. […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation
Tagged Blockchain, Capital formation, Cryptocurrency, Equity offerings, Howey test, ICOs, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, Securities fraud, Securities regulation
Comments Off on Digital Tokens: No Such Thing as a Free Launch
Short-Changing Compliance
Our paper Short-Changing Compliance argues for a refashioning of the rules of director liability for failures of compliance oversight, the so-called Caremark standard, in light of changing patterns of executive and director compensation that create short-termist pressures to under-invest in compliance. We propose a regime of fact-finding and clawbacks that runs through an alternative dispute […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Academic Research, Boards of Directors, Executive Compensation
Tagged Agency costs, Board independence, Board oversight, Boards of Directors, Caremark, Clawbacks, Compliance & ethics, Director liability, Duty of care, Equity-based compensation, Executive Compensation, Fiduciary duties, Management
Comments Off on Short-Changing Compliance
Can the First Dutch Stewardship Code Encourage Investors to Act as Stewards
Introduction On July 3rd, 2018, Eumedion published the first Dutch Stewardship Code (the “Code”), following a public consultation launched in September 2017. The Code provides a set of principles for stewardship by asset owners and asset managers towards Dutch listed investee companies. Eumedion is a cooperative body of mainly Dutch institutional investors, although in recent […]
Click here to read the complete post
Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Boards of Directors, Institutional Investors, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Boards of Directors, Engagement, Institutional Investors, International governance, Long-Term value, Netherlands, Securities lending, Shareholder voting, Stewardship, Stewardship Code, UK
Comments Off on Can the First Dutch Stewardship Code Encourage Investors to Act as Stewards