Sky Blog
Debate about the ideal tenure length for directors has been reignited with the recent international proposals to limit the terms of independent directors. The underlying motivation for such proposals is to ensure that “the purpose behind the independent director rule …
Following last May’s announcement of the “Delaware Blockchain Initiative” by former Delaware Governor Jack Markell[1], on March 13, 2017, the Corporate Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association released groundbreaking draft legislation proposing …
When high-profile cases of fraud make the news, we often focus our attention on the CEO or other C-suite executives, asking what signs were missed and how we might better anticipate who might commit fraud. Academics have researched the characteristics …
Many financial institutions1 have implemented the three Lines of Defense (LoD) model to help define their risk management frameworks and bolster supervisors’ (e.g., desk heads and senior traders) abilities to monitor risk.2 However, as frameworks for managing financial …
The New York Stock Exchange requires that the board of each publicly traded corporation “conduct a self-evaluation at least annually to determine whether it and its committees are functioning effectively.” The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that boards …
In the past 20 years, many corporate law scholars have come to the view that governance arrangements protecting incumbents from removal are what really matter for firm value, arguing that such arrangements help entrench managers and harm shareholders. A major …
It has long been a policy of corporate law1 that the informed business decisions of independent and disinterested directors are protected by the presumption of the business judgment rule.2 Courts are reluctant to second-guess decisions that are made …
President Trump has repeatedly used his Twitter account to single out companies for criticism of their business practices, raising the question for a broad range of public companies of how to prepare for and potentially respond to such criticism. Of …
Hedge funds have boosted shareholder activism worldwide. In my recent article, I discuss the policy response to hedge fund activism. I argue that the short-termism debate cannot shed light on the desirability of such activism. Rather, hedge fund activism should …
Multiple recent developments suggest that governing boards will continue to be called upon to address the personal liability concerns of corporate gatekeepers and other executives. There may be no clear indication yet of whether the Trump administration will endorse government …
This past year witnessed a number of new corporate governance initiatives. Among the most significant:
On November 29, 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May’s government issued a green paper[1] (the “Green Paper”) to canvass opinion on proposed reforms to the UK’s corporate governance framework.
A green paper is a government consultation document that …
Corporate governance has become even more important since the collapse of major firms in the 1990s and the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, and the relationship between financial reporting and the capital markets is a big reason why. The debate …
Shareholder activism remains a major force in corporate decision-making in 2016 but is increasingly operating in an environment of robust, multi-faceted shareholder engagement, particularly at large companies. The time and effort that companies and institutional investors have spent developing a …
In In re Chelsea Therapeutics International LTD Stockholders Litigation, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed claims that Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd.’s (Chelsea) board of directors acted in bad faith by selling Chelsea to …
In September 2009, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis suddenly announced his intention to retire by the end of the year. The company’s board was taken by surprise as it scrambled to find a successor and was further embarrassed as …
The Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015) articulated a new defendant-friendly rule for post-closing damages actions for breaches of fiduciary duties. The Delaware Supreme Court held that where a …
The two most influential proxy advisory firms–Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis)–recently released their updated proxy voting guidelines for 2017. The key changes to the ISS and Glass Lewis policies are described below along with …
For a long time, the academic literature has largely supported the view that staggered boards — which require challengers to win at least two election cycles to gain a board majority — entrench directors and managers to the detriment of …
Corporate compliance — the internal processes that firms use to ensure that their employees do not violate applicable laws and regulations — has become big business. Regulation of business continues to grow, punctuated by landmark laws that have re-shaped the …