Here’s the intro from this Cooley blog penned by Luke Cadigan, Tejal Shah, Elizabeth Skey and Samantha Kirby: “On June 4, 2026, the US Supreme Court held that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) need not prove that investors suffered actual financial loss to obtain disgorgement in a civil action. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, Sripetch v. SEC, the Court reached this conclusion by relying …
Can The SEC Conduct Business If It Only Has Two Commissioners?
I’ve seen this movie before and it’s not as scary as you would think. When I worked at the SEC during the mid-‘90s, the SEC only had two Commissioners for a spell – Chair Arthur Levitt and Commissioner Steven Wallman – and the only odd thing about it was that it looked a little silly during an open (or closed) Commission meeting as only two …
SEC Proposes Broad Expansion of Shelf Registration Access and Capital Markets Efficiencies
Here’s an excerpt from this Cooley Alert penned by Rich Segal, Chad Mills, Julia Boesch, Reid Hooper, Liz Dunshee, Luci Altman, Victoria Peluso, Katherine Denby and Christine Turner: “The proposal, if adopted, would restructure the registered offering framework. The significance of the changes will depend on where an issuer sits in the capital markets landscape. For large-cap, exchange-listed issuers that are WKSIs under the current …
Have We Seen the Last of the Open Commission Meetings? (Does It Matter?)
Did you notice that the SEC hasn’t held an open Commission meeting so far this year? Me neither. Which should lead us both to conclude that it doesn’t matter. Because it doesn’t. In fact, the SEC has only held four open Commission meetings in 2025. That is the fewest in memory for me. On average, the SEC held about 22 open meetings before Covid – …
Corp Fin Director Jim Moloney Discusses the Latest
Episode 2 of SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ new podcast “Material Matters” featured Corp Fin Director Jim Moloney. Here’s ten things that Jim said during the 25-minute podcast:
SEC Proposes Sea Change in Compensation Disclosure Rules (For All But Largest Issuers)
Here’s an excerpt from this Cooley Alert penned by Ali Murata and Michael Bergmann: “According to the SEC, the percentage of issuers entitled to scaled disclosure relief would increase from 44% to 81% of registrants. The ability to rely on the scaled compensation disclosure is a significant advantage. Among other things, there is no requirement for a Compensation Discussion & Analysis or CEO pay ratio …
SEC Solicits Comments to Boldly Modernize the IPO Process
On the heels of last week’s proposals from the SEC on “registered offering reform” and “filer status reform,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins delivered a speech two days ago seeking comment to boldly and creatively modernize the IPO process. As noted at the end of the speech, comments should be submitted by July 27th – which is the same deadline for comments on registered offering reform. …
SEC Proposes Simplified Filer Status Rules and Expanded Disclosure Accommodations
Here’s an excerpt from this Cooley Alert penned by Brad Goldberg, Beth Sasfai, Amanda Weiss, Su Lian Lu, Luci Altman, Liz Dunshee and Julia Boesch: Open questions and areas for comment The proposal raises several interpretive and policy questions on which the SEC has invited comment, and that may attract significant attention from practitioners and issuers, including:
The SEC Proposes to Ease Form S-3 Eligibility & More: Five Things
A few days ago, the SEC proposed major changes to the registered public offering process in an effort to dramatically increase the number of issuers eligible for shelf offerings and enhanced registration benefits – which combined with the proposal to simplify disclosure that I blogged about yesterday is one of the most significant reforms in decades. Here’s the 511-page proposing release – and here’s the …
SEC Looking to Rescind Enforcement’s “Gag Rule”: Four Things to Know
Last week, the SEC had this pop up on OIRA’s regulatory dashboard: “Rescission of Policy Regarding Denials in Settlements of Enforcement Actions.” It’s listed there as a “final rule” and not a “proposal” – so it looks like the SEC will be changing its “neither admit nor deny” settlement policy. Here are four things to know: