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

The Retention Effects of Unvested Equity: Evidence from Accelerated Option Vesting

Demand for general human capital is rising across the economy, which makes it important to understand how firms can retain highly talented managers. One key retention mechanism is to defer parts of managers’ compensation into the future, by granting equity that does not vest for several years. Managers who voluntarily depart their firms typically forfeit […]

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The Misuse of Tobin’s Q

In our paper, The Misuse of Tobin’s Q, which we recently posted to the Social Science Research Network, we examine the common and growing misuse of Tobin’s q as a proxy for firm value within the law and finance literatures. For several decades, Tobin’s q has been one of the most important concepts in business […]

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Regulating Proxy Advisors is Anticompetitive, Counterproductive, and Possibly Unconstitutional

A party line vote in the House of Representatives approved H.R. 4015, titled, with typical Capitol Hill oxymoronic newspeak the “Corporate Governance Reform and Transparency Act of 2017.” said in a statement that while proxy-advisory firms play an important role in advising clients. This bill is not just stupid and completely contrary to its stated […]

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Posted in Boards of Directors, Corporate Elections & Voting, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Weekly Roundup: February 23–March 1, 2018

The Supreme Court and the Scope of Whistleblowing Anti-retaliation Protections Posted by Cydney Posner, Cooley LLP, on Friday, February 23, 2018 Tags: Disclosure, Dodd-Frank Act, Exchange Act, Misconduct, Rule 21F-2, Sarbanes–Oxley Act, SEC, Securities regulation, Supreme Court, U.S. federal courts, Whistleblowers Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures Posted by Kara M. Stein, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Friday, February 23, 2018 Tags: Cybersecurity, Disclosure, Public firms, Public interest, Risk disclosure, Risk management, Securities regulation Key Trends […]

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Boardroom Accountability

Following up on the successful “Boardroom Accountability Project” launched in the fall of 2014 to give investors a meaningful voice in director elections through proxy access, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and the New York City Pension Funds (the “NYC Funds”) launched the “Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0” in September 2017. The next phase […]

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The New New Regime in Delaware Appraisal Law

A recent spate of appraisal decisions signals that the Delaware courts will be skeptical of claims that the “fair value” of a company’s stock, as determined in a judicial proceeding brought by a dissenter from the merger, will be higher than the price paid in the transaction. To the contrary, in the context of strategic […]

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The Governance of Foundation-Owned Firms

A number of highly successful companies around the world are owned by foundations. Examples include world-class companies such as Bertelsmann, Heineken, Ikea, Robert Bosch, Rolex, the Tata Group, and Carlsberg. The so-called “industrial foundations” that own them are nonprofit institutions which typically combine business ownership and philanthropy, but give priority to the business goal. Contrary […]

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Securities Law in the Sixties: The Supreme Court, the Second Circuit, and the Triumph of Purpose Over Text

Key pillars of modern securities law—insider trading regulation, implied private rights of action, and “federal corporation law”—were born in the 1960s, not as a result of legislative enactment, but rather, judicial pronouncement. In our paper, Securities Law in the Sixties: The Supreme Court, the Second Circuit, and the Triumph of Purpose over Text, we show […]

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Looking Beyond Sustainability Disclosure

For years, a growing number of institutional investors have pressured companies to disclose more of their ESG practices. Companies are responding, but voluntary disclosure has its limits in providing a full picture of companies’ ESG risks. In 2018, we anticipate that the disclosure movement reaches a tipping point, as investors seek broader data sources that […]

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An Overview of U.S. Shareholder Proposal Filings

The 2018 U.S. proxy season is around the corner, and an early overview of shareholder proposal filings may give us a first taste of what is in store for investors and companies in terms of hot-button issues and overall market dynamics. Based on our analysis of shareholder proposal filings available in ISS’ shareholder filings database, […]

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