Sky Blog
Each year numerous surveys, reports, and analyses assess boards of directors, or BoDs. One from PwC landed about the same time as another from SquareWell Partners in the past couple of months, inviting a comparison.
PwC has surveyed CEOs and …
Most industry and academic discussion about the Fed focuses, as is appropriate, on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ role in managing monetary policy and, in particular, its tools for managing interest rates and inflation in the shadow of tariffs …
In a significant step towards modernizing Bank Secrecy Act compliance, FinCEN and certain banking agencies are providing flexibility in “know your customer” requirements for banks.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), …
On June 17, 2025, the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, shorthand for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, by a bipartisan vote of 68-30, with 18 Democratic Senators supporting the Bill. The GENIUS Act would amend …
On July 2, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the reinvigoration of their False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement efforts through the formation of a joint FCA Working Group. The announcement …
Decades of marijuana prohibition in the U.S. have proven costly, consuming billions in enforcement dollars and burdening the criminal justice system with millions of marijuana-related arrests. However, as societal attitudes toward marijuana have shifted and the benefits of legalization have …
Board structure sits at the heart of corporate governance, but its optimal form remains a subject of debate. A longstanding view – championed by Jensen (1993) and Yermack (1996) – advocates for smaller boards, arguing they are more efficient and …
Eighteen months after signing, the highly publicized U. S. Steel – Nippon Steel deal reached a successful conclusion, closing on June 18 and proving that cross-border transactions continue to be not only viable, but also in many cases the most …
Climate change has become a central topic of discussion among banking regulators and policymakers. While many policymakers focus primarily on addressing the environmental externalities associated with carbon emissions, banking regulators confront a unique set of challenges that the current regulatory …
On July 1, Paramount Global settled the lawsuit brought by President Trump claiming personal harm from alleged “election interference” in the editing of an interview with Kamala Harris by CBS News’ 60 minutes. The agreement called for the company to …
The World Resource Institute’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (the “GHG Protocol”) has been widely adopted as a framework for companies to report Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. By allowing companies to apply market-based procurement …
The corporate law discourse on climate change has largely focused on the “internal dimension” of directors’ duties – whether boards must consider climate-related risks and opportunities that affect firm-specific financial performance. While this question has gained significant traction, a more …
On June 23, 2025, the District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a Section 11 claim where non-executive employees of the issuer were permitted to sell a portion of their preexisting shares to the public in connection with …
Last month, we circulated Shadow SEC Statement No. 4, which urged caution in legislating major changes in the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) or its funding. The Senate nonetheless took up a bill that would have transferred the PCAOB’s …
The “anti-ESG” proposal arose somewhat recently, becoming more common within the past five or so years. Similar in spirit to ESG proposals, but their opposite. Like their conventional counterpart, they request a company consider or study or write a report
When a team of researchers asked an artificial intelligence system to design a railway network that minimized the risk of train collisions, the AI delivered a surprising solution: Halt all trains entirely. No motion, no crashes. A perfect safety record, …
Shareholders and investor advocacy groups have long criticized executives for being paid top dollar while achieving subpar returns for shareholders. In response, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which has two, related provisions that …
On June 16, 2025, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division (“NSD”) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced a landmark declination to prosecute private equity firm White Deer Management LLC following its voluntary self-disclosure …