Milbank Discusses Universal Proxy and “Horizontal” Conflicts

By Neil Whoriskey May 10, 2023 by renholding

There is reason to believe the SEC’s new universal proxy Rule 14a-19 will result in more stockholder nominees being elected to the boards of public companies.

First, the rule allows voting stockholders to make their own ad hoc choice of …

ISS Discusses $4 Billion in Settlements Expected to Kick-Off 2022

By Jeff Lubitz January 13, 2022 by renholding

As 2021 came to a close, the final tally of new U.S. shareholder class action complaints declined for the second straight year (this followed a record number of new cases from 2017 – 2019). Industry experts point to three factors

…

Consumer Protection Settlements: Theory and Policy Issues

By James E. McNulty September 10, 2021 by renholding

In a new paper, I compare private and public class action settlements. I find a dearth of theoretical law and economics literature on public class actions, so I use the private class actions literature and a pivotal case study to …

Simpson Thacher Discusses SEC Framework for Use of Derivatives by Regulated Funds

By David Blass, Ryan Brizek, Rajib Chanda, Debbie Sutter and Andy Madore March 12, 2021 by Nisha Chandra

In a widely anticipated action that was years in the making, the SEC adopted Rule 18f-4 under the 1940 Act prior to the conclusion of former Chair Jay Clayton’s tenure. The rule overhauls the regulatory framework for the use of …

Gibson Dunn Updates 2019 Year-End Securities Litigation

By Robert F. Serio, Brian M. Lutz, Monica K. Loseman, Jefferson E. Bell and Mark H. Mixon, Jr. February 26, 2020 by renholding

The number of securities cases filed in federal court continued at a furious pace for the third year in a row. This year-end update highlights what you most need to know in securities litigation trends and developments for the last …

Recent Trends in SEC Penalties Against Public Companies

By David Rosenfeld February 10, 2020 by renholding

Over the past 20 years, civil penalties have become an increasingly important part of the SEC’s enforcement program. The agency frequently imposes large monetary penalties, highlights those penalties in press releases, and touts them in end-of-year statistics. Civil penalties are …

Admissions in SEC Enforcement Cases: The Revolution that Wasn’t

By David Rosenfeld October 26, 2017 by renholding

In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a new policy of sometimes requiring admissions when settling enforcement actions. The policy was a radical departure from the agency’s more than four decades-old practice of allowing companies and individuals to settle …

The Race to the Bottom: Is the Last Stop New York?

By John C. Coffee, Jr. March 20, 2017 by renholding

The practice of nominal shareholder plaintiffs challenging virtually every sizable corporate merger with a lawsuit alleging a fiduciary breach has been a scandal for some time. At least when brought by the “bottom fishers” of the plaintiff’s bar, these suits …

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