In a widely anticipated move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it will no longer defend the agency’s climate disclosure rule issued during the Biden administration. The disclosure rule...more
3/28/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On March 20, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff issued a set of Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs). In particular, SEC staff revised or withdrew several C&DIs to allow all Form S-3s,...more
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Division of Corporation Finance (SEC Staff) published new and revised Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) regarding private offering...more
3/17/2025
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Markets ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Regulation D ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Act ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On March 6, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published (1) a revised Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation (C&DI) regarding lock-up agreements in business combinations and (2) five new C&DIs...more
In March 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is expanding the accommodations available for issuers that submit draft registration statements for nonpublic review. The SEC’s Division of...more
Earlier this week, Mark Uyeda, the Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), began the process of unwinding that agency’s final climate disclosure rule enacted during the Biden administration. In a...more
On February 11, 2025, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced that it is suspending the consideration of diversity factors when making voting recommendations for directors at U.S. public companies. ISS’s press...more
2/13/2025
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Shareholders ,
Trump Administration ,
Voting Rights
As companies begin preparing for the 2025 proxy season, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, recently issued...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, sitting en banc, ruled that The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) cannot enforce previously adopted listing rules requiring Nasdaq-listed companies to have...more
Key topics in Akin’s July 2024 Sustainability/ESG Policy and Regulatory Update include: Updated Assessment of SFDR by EU Regulators: The European Supervisory Authorities have proposed changes to the Sustainable Finance...more
8/2/2024
/ Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Products ,
Greenwashing ,
NRDC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
UK
On June 24, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published five new Form 8-K Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) expanding the agency’s interpretations of cybersecurity incident disclosures...more
On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important decision in the case of Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L.P., No. 22-1165. Justice Sotomayor, writing for a unanimous Court, ruled that “pure...more
Key Points - On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the SEC in a 3-2 vote adopted “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” (Final Rule). The Final Rule will require public companies to...more
3/12/2024
/ Annual Reports ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Statements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Transparency
Akin’s newsletter on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policy and regulatory developments, provides a timely digest of ESG topics, news items and other relevant information regarding significant ESG policy...more
3/7/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability ,
UNFCCC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently adopted final rules (available here; also see the fact sheet and press release) representing significant changes to special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), shell...more
On September 27, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release announcing charges against officers, directors and large investors in public companies for failure to timely make Section 16, Schedule...more
As discussed in our prior publication (found here), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments on December 14, 2022, regarding Rule 10b5-1 insider trading plans and related disclosures. On May 25, 2023,...more
On May 15, 2023, the Eastern District of California ruled that California Assembly Bill No. 979 (“AB 979”) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. As enacted,...more
On May 15, 2023, a district court judge sitting in the Eastern District of California ruled that California Assembly Bill No. 979 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment and 42...more
On May 3, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments requiring disclosure related to issuers’ share repurchases. Item 703 of Regulation S-K currently requires issuers to disclose information about...more
5/10/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Repurchase Agreements ,
Repurchases ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stock Repurchases
Key Points -
On March 1, 2023, the SEC and DOJ filed insider trading charges against a public company executive alleging he traded pursuant to 10b5-1 trading plans he adopted while he was in possession of material...more
Key Points -
On February 3, 2023, Activision Blizzard settled charges with the SEC, agreeing to pay $35 million to resolve novel claims that the company failed to maintain adequate disclosure controls to track workplace...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2023 proxy season, we note that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, issued...more
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments regarding Rule 10b5-1 insider trading plans and related disclosures. The amendments aim to strengthen investor protections concerning...more
On October 26, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted long-awaited final rules implementing the “clawback” provisions of Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act....more