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

October 2011 Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress Report

This posting, the October Davis Polk Dodd-Frank Progress Report, is the seventh in a series of Davis Polk presentations that illustrate graphically the progress of the rulemaking work that has been done and is yet to occur under the Dodd-Frank Act. The Progress Report has been prepared using data from the Davis Polk Regulatory Tracker™, […]

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Posted in Legislative & Regulatory Developments, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Good Faith — Not Just an Aspiration

In a recent Kirkland M&A Update, we reviewed a Georgia appellate decision upholding a $281 million jury award to a spurned suitor, showing that even careful drafting of “non binding” language in a letter of intent may not be effective in avoiding unanticipated binding obligations if the parties’ conduct is inconsistent with those provisions. We […]

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Posted in Court Cases, Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pay for Regulator Performance

Few doubt that executive compensation arrangements encouraged the excessive risk taking by banks that led to the recent Financial Crisis. Accordingly, academics and lawmakers have called for the reform of banker pay practices. In our paper, Pay for Regulator Performance, forthcoming in the Southern California Law Review, we argue that regulator pay is to blame […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Banking & Financial Institutions, Executive Compensation, Financial Crisis | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Proposed Restructuring of the UK Financial Regulatory Framework

The UK Government has published a white paper and draft bill setting out further details of its proposals for a new structure of financial regulation. The FSA, currently the sole regulator of the financial sector, will be replaced with two bodies: (i) a prudential regulator, to be known as the Prudential Regulation Authority and (ii) […]

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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Proposed Restructuring of the UK Financial Regulatory Framework

Proxy Voting for Sustainability

It’s illogical – and quite myopic – that many of the nation’s largest institutional investors refer to shareholder-sponsored resolutions addressing material topics such as climate change, resource constraints and environmental stewardship as “special interest,” “non-routine” or involving “special circumstances.” The opposite is in fact the case. We strongly agree with David Lubin and Daniel Esty’s […]

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Posted in Corporate Elections & Voting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

SEC Staff Focus on Offshore Cash Holdings

As reported recently in the press, the SEC staff has, with greater regularity, been issuing comments to companies seeking disclosure of the extent of offshore cash holdings and the impact of such offshore holdings on the company’s liquidity position.  In general, the staff appears to be concerned about the U.S. federal income tax consequences of […]

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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on SEC Staff Focus on Offshore Cash Holdings

Executive Overconfidence and the Slippery Slope to Financial Misreporting

In the paper, Executive Overconfidence and the Slippery Slope to Financial Misreporting, forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting and Economics as published by Elsevier, our detailed analysis of a sample of 49 firms subject to SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) suggests two distinct explanations for the misstatements. Just over one quarter of the […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Accounting & Disclosure, Empirical Research | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Territorial Reach of U.S. Securities Laws After Morrison v. National Australia Bank

In June 2010, in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, the U.S. Supreme Court held that U.S. securities antifraud laws do not reach transactions by non-U.S. investors in securities of non-U.S. companies effected on non-U.S. exchanges, even if the investors claim that their losses arose from conduct in the United States. In its decision, which overturned […]

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Posted in Court Cases, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Volcker Rule – Proposed Regulations

This week, the Federal Banking Agencies released their proposed regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. Rather than prepare a traditional law firm summary, we have prepared two sets of slides – one that graphically maps the key restrictions on proprietary trading and another that maps the key restrictions on relationships with hedge funds or private equity […]

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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Practitioner Publications, Private Equity, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Volcker Rule – Proposed Regulations

The Most Influential People in Corporate Governance

A review of the most recent Directorship 100 list – a list of the most influential people in corporate governance put together each year by Directorship magazine – indicates that individuals affiliated with Harvard Law School and its Program on Corporate Governance play a central role in the corporate governance landscape. This year’s Directorship 100 […]

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