Sky Blog
How much should someone pay to use another person’s property without permission? The question sounds like a law school hypothetical (ok, it already is one), but it is anything but hypothetical in several real-world licensing markets. Music streaming, natural gas …
When a corporation cancels your shares in a cash-out merger you did not support, it is exercising a form of governmental power. Your personal property is taken without your consent through a legislative act, and you are handed a check …
On September 17, 2026, two days after the Clarity Act failed to advance in the U.S. Senate, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a highly question-begging and likely illegal “Order” granting five-year conditional exemptions from the definitions of exchange and …
On October 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) announced its first civil penalty under the Outbound Investment Security Program (the “OISP”). Treasury fined Amidi, LLC (“Amidi”) $200,000 for failing to notify Treasury of an investment that Amidi’s …
How does stronger securities enforcement affect stock prices? The conventional wisdom is that it deters fraud, improves disclosure, and lowers the cost of raising outside capital, so shareholders should welcome it. The most relevant evidence supports that view. When the …
On September 16, 2026, the SEC issued its much-anticipated proposal to rescind Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), the shareholder proposal rule, in its entirety. If adopted, the proposal would eliminate the federal framework …
There are four forms of corporate bad faith: intentional misconduct, knowing violation of law (Massey), violation of the duty of oversight (Caremark), and corporate waste. Each is a distinct theory of the case in a cause …
On September 30, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) issued two proposing releases that could significantly expand retail access to private market strategies through regulated fund structures. The first proposed rulemaking would permit advisers to registered investment …
Corporate officers occupy an unusual place in corporate law. They are among the most important actors in the modern corporation, making many of the decisions that shape a company’s day-to-day operations, strategy, risk taking, and compliance.[1] Yet compared with …
The SEC has clarified that a recent letter on structured note disclosures does not affect, limit or condition long-standing staff guidance and does not impose legal requirements.
In a 1996 no-action letter (the Morgan Stanley Letter), the SEC’s …
We oppose rescission of SEC Rule 14a-8.
Rule 14a-8 has for 80 years been a useful, congressionally authorized component of the U.S. capital markets, fully compatible with the long-standing dual state and federal system governing public companies. Reasonable people may …
On Friday, September 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced revisions to two Justice Manual sections governing False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement. The revisions narrow DOJ’s enforcement approach in two respects. First, DOJ revised Justice Manual § 1-19.000 …
A growing case law is recognizing private damages claims for market manipulation such as spoofing. A spoofer places orders for an asset while intending to cancel the orders before they execute. The point is to move the price of the …
Executive Summary
Under corporate law, boards of directors have long had the right to rely on reports and other information supplied by management. This “right of reliance” derives from the board’s power to delegate day-to-day operational responsibility to management. However, it is …
On September 17, 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposal”)[1] to modernize and reform its framework for reviewing transactions under the Bank Merger Act (the “BMA”).[2] The Proposal is intended to …
For more than a century, exchanges have governed markets as much as they have operated them. While creating liquidity, they have also functioned as private lawmakers within a public regulatory framework by establishing listing standards and disclosure obligations, monitoring issuers, …
On September 28, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the SEC) Office of Chief Accountant Kurt Hohl and Division of Investment Management Director Brian Daly (collectively, the Staff), issued a joint statement on fair value measurement and disclosure considerations …
Greenwashing is usually treated as a problem of corporate deception. Firms make environmental claims that exaggerate, selectively disclose, or obscure their actual sustainability performance. Greenwashing leaves investors, consumers, employees, and regulators with an overly favorable impression, thereby stifling true progress. …
On September 17, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or the “SEC”) issued two conditional exemptions to facilitate permissioned trading of tokenized national market system (“NMS”) stocks.[1] Collectively known as the “Innovation Exemption,” the relief exempts qualifying …