Sky Blog
Whether you’re here in person or participating virtually from around the country, or even overseas, I thank you for joining us.
As is customary, my remarks this morning are in my official capacity as Director of the Securities and Exchange …
Traders in the United States now routinely trade hundreds of crypto assets in secondary crypto markets, and the pool of tradable assets is growing. Through these transactions, traders have seen financial gains and losses, which at times have been substantial. …
Today, Columbia is honoring Jack Coffee, a leader of securities law scholarship and policy. I hope Columbia one day might invite me back to celebrate your career, Professor Fox. Caveat inviter, though, at the SEC, we are Merritt neutral. As …
On March 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted an administrative stay of the SEC’s climate disclosure rules, which were adopted on March 6. The rules are discussed in our earlier post here.
The 20-word …
This update provides an overview of the major developments in federal and state securities litigation since our 2023 Mid-Year Securities Litigation Update:
Data from a recent NERA Economic Consulting (“NERA”) study illustrates several trend changes. …
When it comes to recovering money for shareholders injured by corporate fraud, do the plaintiffs’ lawyers matter? Intuitively, the answer seems like it must be yes. The most talented lawyers should develop more creative legal theories and uncover more evidence …
The shareholder proposal process has gone too far. How else to interpret the proposal recently sponsored by the climate activist investors Arjuna Capital and Follow This at ExxonMobil, which called on the oil giant to reduce further its carbon footprint? …
Does the enforcement of securities law by government authorities make a difference for market outcomes? This is an important question for policymakers and scholars and our focus in a forthcoming book chapter.
The academic debate on the question began with …
Today [March 6], the Commission is considering whether to adopt final rules to mandate climate risk disclosures by public companies and in public offerings. I am pleased to support this adoption because it benefits investors and issuers alike. It would …
Plaintiffs bringing retaliation claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act do not have to prove their employers’ “retaliatory intent,” only that their whistleblowing activity contributed to their termination, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a unanimous opinion …
Proponents of ESG have recently had to contend with several developments that, at first blush, appear inconvenient. Investor support for ESG-focused shareholder proposals seems to have declined year-on-year, and some investors have abandoned ESG-themed funds while others have withdrawn from …
Last year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed ambitious rules relating to artificial intelligence (AI) that have drawn significant commentary and criticism. While it is unlikely that any changes in the law are imminent, other initiatives by the …
On January 24, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules that impose significant additional procedural and disclosure requirements on initial public offerings (IPOs) by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving SPACs (de-SPACs). …
Scarlett Johansson played
Many claims have been made about the current pace of SEC rulemaking, some inconsistent with reality. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, has claimed that under Chair Gary Gensler the SEC launched an “unprecedented” “barrage of rulemaking.”[1] A …