TheCorporateCounsel.net

We are honored to welcome David Lynn to our team. Dave left his post as Chief Counsel of the Division of Corporation Finance on Friday, after serving in that capacity for the past four years. This was his second tour of duty in Corp Fin, having spent some time at WilmerHale in between.

In addition to helping implement the record amount of rulemaking that occurred in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley, Dave was one of the key point persons on the SEC’s proxy disclosure rules and, most recently, has been primarily responsible for the overhaul of the SEC’s Telephone Interpretations Manual. Dave and I worked together at the SEC a while back and I couldn’t imagine a better partner to spend the next few decades churning out the news and analysis for you on this site.

The “Skinny” on Dave

So what will Dave be doing? Initially, Dave will be providing badly needed help on TheCorporateCounsel.net, serving as an Editor of the site along with me – and even splitting blogging duties starting next week. Dave actually ran an internal blog in Corp Fin so he is not afraid to stick his neck out. Dave also will be helping out on CompensationStandards.com, run our secret special project division and weigh in with his ten cents on some of our print publications, like The Corporate Counsel.

As evident from his biography, Dave is a man of multiple talents. Who else could come up a “going away” speech in the form of a CD&A (actually, several CD&As). And Dave will be able to help all of us decipher some of the more interesting comment letters that get filed with the SEC. Dave can be reached at dave@thecorporatecounsel.net. Let him know how much you want to love him…

The Rise of the “B’s”

In our “Credit Ratings, Arrangements, & Facilities” Practice Area, we have posted a report on the rise in numbers of companies in the US with “B” credit rated debt. It notes the dramatic decline in percentage of companies with AAA/AA rated debt, as well as the percentage of companies with “B” rated debt that have filed for bankruptcy.