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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
The Real Effects of Mandatory CSR Disclosure on Emissions: Evidence from the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
As economist John Kenneth Galbraith remarked in a 1994 interview, knowing someone is watching can make a difference in the behavior of the watched. It is not surprising, then, that societies seek to use monitoring and disclosure as tools to encourage desirable business practices, especially in the area of social responsibility such as businesses’ environmental […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Accounting & Disclosure, Corporate Social Responsibility, Empirical Research, ESG
Tagged Climate change, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Information environment, Oversight, Reputation, Stakeholders
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Going Public Report: First Half 2021
A Record-Breaking First Half of 2021 Technology and life sciences companies continued to go public at an extraordinary rate in the first half of 2021 via initial public offerings, de-SPAC mergers and direct listings. IPOs IPOs outpaced the second half of 2020, which was previously the most active six months for the space since we […]
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Posted in Mergers & Acquisitions, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Capital formation, IPOs, Mergers & acquisitions, SPACs, Special purpose vehicles, Tech companies
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Testimony By Chair Gensler Before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Good morning, Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and members of the Committee. I’m honored to appear before you today for the first time as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. I’d like to thank you for your support in my confirmation this spring. As is customary, I will note that my views are my […]
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Posted in Practitioner Publications, Regulators Materials, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation, Speeches & Testimony
Tagged Cryptocurrency, Derivatives, Disclosure, Investor protection, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, Securities regulation, SPACs, Swaps
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Market Efficiency and Limits to Arbitrage: Evidence from the Volkswagen Short Squeeze
On October 26, 2008, Porsche announced a largely unexpected takeover plan for Volkswagen (VW). The resulting short squeeze in VW’s stock briefly made it the most valuable listed company in the world. In our paper, forthcoming in the Journal of Financial Economics, we argue that this was a manipulation designed to save Porsche from insolvency […]
Click here to read the complete postUptick in Clients Seeking to Discuss ESG Investing
ESG is a popular topic within the investment community. ISS Market Intelligence conducted interviews with 779 financial advisors between July 27th and August 11th, 2021 in order to learn more about advisor perception and behavior when it comes to ESG investing. All respondents are Series 6 and 7 licensed financial advisors or state/SEC-registered RIAs and make […]
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Posted in ESG, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Climate change, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Institutional Investors, Proxy advisors, Stakeholders
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Beyond “Market Transparency”: Investor Disclosure and Corporate Governance
The ability to identify a firm’s shareholders is essential to modern corporate governance practice. Corporate managers, activist hedge funds, shareholder proposal sponsors, and other market actors all use this information in their efforts to shape corporate action. This information—the identities of a company’s investors—seems elementary, if not downright primitive. In today’s world of algorithmic traders, […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Accounting & Disclosure, Securities Regulation
Tagged Disclosure, Information asymmetries, Information environment, Schedule 13F, Securities regulation, Transparency
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The FCA and SEC Annual Reports—A Statistical Comparison
Key Points The SEC and the FCA each publish annual reports on their enforcement actions. Whilst enforcement data only shows a snapshot of the regulators’ activities, there is much to be learned from these reports, particularly as it can help to identify trends, themes and priorities in the regulators’ approach to enforcement. As well as […]
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Posted in International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged FCA, International governance, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, UK
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Discharging the Discharge for Value Defense
For those seeking watershed moments in contemporary contract law, the area of corporate debt seems an unlikely target. Though gargantuan in size, debt markets have a storied reputation as a refuge for the risk averse—participants expecting stable payouts, low volatility, and few surprises. Nevertheless, corporate debt contracts are themselves notably lengthy and complex. When parlayed […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Court Cases, Empirical Research, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged Contracts, Debt, Debt contracts, Debtor-creditor law, Securities litigation
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Boeing’s MAX Woes Reach the Boardroom
In an important decision this week, the Delaware Court of Chancery permitted a Caremark duty-of-oversight claim to proceed against the directors of the Boeing Company. Stockholder plaintiffs sued Boeing’s board, seeking to recover costs and economic losses associated with the crash of two 737 MAX jetliners. The plaintiffs’ complaint alleged that the directors failed to […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Boards of Directors, Court Cases, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement
Tagged Boards of Directors, Boeing, Caremark, Delaware cases, Delaware law, Derivative suits, Director liability, Liability standards, Risk oversight, Shareholder suits
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