Sky Blog
In the United Kingdom, successive codes of best practice in corporate governance have highlighted the important role of outside or non-executive directors in ensuring that corporations are run for the benefit of their shareholders. While the first code of best …
In recent years, shareholder plaintiffs have brought a series of claims before the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging that directors of Delaware companies have abused their discretion in granting themselves excessive equity compensation for their board service. These cases raised …
The board of directors is the highest decision-making authority in a corporation. But sometimes boards struggle to make decisions. In surveys, 67 percent of directors report the inability to decide about some issues in the boardroom. Moreover, 37 percent say …
In 2018, corporate boards will increasingly be called upon to respond to how innovative competitors disrupt their companies’ business models. These competitors use technology, scale, and sharp insights into consumers to lower prices, improve products and services, and draw customers …
On November 16, 2017, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) issued its updated proxy voting guidelines for the upcoming 2018 proxy season. Notable updates applicable to U.S. companies include new or revised policies:
The Federal Reserve’s proposed supervisory guidance on corporate governance is a breath of fresh air that should encourage banking boards to focus on their core responsibilities and avoid blurring the distinctions between executive and non-executive duties. It is also a …
The corporate governance literature has shown a strong link between good governance practices and firm value. The mechanisms, however, that determine the choice of effective corporate governance and board arrangements in a changing global market are not well studied. In …
Delaware has reigned as the preeminent corporate law jurisdiction in the United States for over a century, weathering the rivalry of eager state competitors (such as Maryland and Nevada) and the looming presence of – and occasional intervention by – …
In our recent study, we find that institutional investors follow high-performing directors to new firms and make larger initial investments in those firms than in other firms. Fama (1980) and Fama and Jensen (1983) support our finding and propose that …
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 …
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:
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 …
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 …
The growth in cybersecurity threats combined with the increasing demands placed on outside directors create challenges that often go beyond the risks that public companies face from employee and client communications. If public companies cannot communicate quickly with directors or …
To read influential corporate lawyers, legal academics, and jurists, shareholders are an alarmingly myopic bunch who demand that corporate directors and managers make short-term decisions that sacrifice long-term value. The group receiving the most scolding of late is hedge fund …