TheCorporateCounsel.net

Yesterday, Corp Fin posted this useful guide that foreign private issuers can use to determine how to access the US capital markets.

SEC Chair Walter on Sophisticated Technology

A few days ago, SEC Chair Elisse Walter delivered this speech on technology. This was not a social media speech – in fact, “social media” was not mentioned. Rather, it was a speech about sophisticated technologies with numerous acronyms (along with explanations of what they meant), all of which I didn’t recognize. See if you do:

– MIDAS
– CAT
– Reg SCI
– ARP
– API
– TCR
– ABAP

Meanwhile, this Washington Post article notes that Chair Walter is pressing forward even though Mary Jo White is on deck. Chair Walter delivered this testimony to Congress last week on the SEC’s state of affairs. And Commissioner Luis Aguilar delivered this speech yesterday on proxy disclosure…

Harriet Pearson on Sen. Rockefeller’s Cybersecurity Approach

In this podcast, Harriet Pearson of Hogan Lovells provides analysis into Sen. Rockefeller’s survey of corporate responses to his cybersecurity questionnaire and the overall challenges in this area (check out the “Chronicle of Data Protection Blog” that Harriet contributes to), including:

– Why is cybersecurity a hot topic for lawyers now, and not just IT?
– Tell us a little bit about yourself and your practice. In particular, about your experience at IBM and how that’s relevant to cybersecurity.
– Senator Rockefeller recently published a report on his interactions with the CEOs of a number of US companies on cybersecurity. What did he – and they – say, and what’s the significance of that?
– What is driving Rockefeller?
– So it seems that concern about this issue on the part of Senator Rockefeller, the President, the SEC and others, will not go away. Do you agree? Where is cyber-security on the policy curve for legislation and regulation?
– What about the SEC? How is that regulator looking at this set of risks?
– Since it’s not going away as a policy and political issue, what do you recommend companies do to manage the risk back at their companies?

Gunster’s Robert White blogs about how cybersecurity legislation continues to move forward…and this time perhaps without resistance from the Fortune 500. And there is this Executive Order from President Obama last week for government and companies to jointly create a framework to share information on cyberattacks for critical infrastructure.

– Broc Romanek