Recently, I blogged about the 20 Corp Fin Directors we’ve had at the SEC (we haven’t heard yet who will be the new Corp Fin Director) – and it got me thinking about Manny Cohen, whom many of us don’t know much about since he worked at the SEC so long ago. Here’s an excerpt about Manny from an “SEC Historical Society” interview with David …
The Latest in ‘What Directors Think’
The survey results from this “What Directors Think” publication from Corporate Board Member, Diligent Institute and FTI Consulting are based on the thoughts of more than 200 US public company directors. Here are a dozen lessons learned from the results: 1. Growth is back on the agenda. After years of defensive strategies, 76% of directors are prioritizing growth initiatives in 2025, signaling a shift from …
The Upcoming Society Conference: Proxy Season Wristbands!
If you’re attending the ‘Society of Corporate Governance’ Conference in Colorado in a few weeks, look for one of our Cooley people – including me – so that you can procure one of our nifty “proxy season wristbands.” You can visit us at our cocktail party on Thursday, July 10th at “The Golden Bee” at the Broadmoor starting at 7:30 pm – everyone attending the …
Where Do Corp Fin Directors Hail From?
As we await word as to who the next Corp Fin Director is, I thought it might be useful to investigate where these folks typically hail from. Below is an analysis of this list of Corp Fin Directors that I created long ago on TheCorporateCounsel.net. As you can see the bulk of the twenty Directors had served on the Staff in some capacity at a …
Unintended Consequences of the SEC’s Buyouts: Few “Going-Away” Parties
As noted in this USA Today article, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner sent a letter a few weeks ago to the GAO requesting an investigation into the impact of the SEC’s recent buyouts and the upcoming layoffs resulting from DOGE activities. Anecdotally, it sounds like about 700 staffers accepted buyouts – and that certain Divisions were impacted more than others (like the Division of …
Celebrating 23 Years of Blogging!
Hard to believe but yesterday was my 23rd year blogging anniversary. Someone recently asked me how I came to be one of the first lawyers to blog. The few other lawyers with a blog at that time blogged solely about marketing for lawyers; not about the law itself. I was unique. Back in early ’02, I was reading one of the dying tech magazines – …
How Will Deep Cuts to the SEC Staff Impact You?
With this Administration moving fast to deeply cut the federal workforce, you may be wondering what a trimmed-down SEC might look like. This is just conjecture – but here are five thoughts on how that might impact you:
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Provides Some Tea Leaves
Normally, I don’t pay too much attention to the speeches that SEC Commissioners deliver because it’s the SEC Chair that wields the real clout. But given where we are with a new SEC Chair to be sworn in over the coming months – and the fact that SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce worked with Paul Atkins when he was last an SEC Commissioner – I found …
Your Top 12 Decision Points for EDGAR Next – Part 2
As I blogged about in Part 1 last month, there are actions you should be taking now to prepare for the SEC’s new EDGAR Next, including becoming educated about what this is all about. Here are the last of the dozen questions you should be asking yourself – with a big hat tip to McKesson’s Jim Brashear for helping to sort this out: 5. What …
New SEC Chair Nominee is Paul Atkins
Former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins has been selected as the new SEC Chair nominee. Paul served as a Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and was a staffer at the SEC during the ’90s. Here are articles about this selection: