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Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 2, 2013

STOCK Act Gets Shot In the Foot: Not So Funny

As noted in this article, Congress – and President Obama – partially repealed part of the STOCK Act quietly last week. The repeal kills an obligation to provide public disclosure for trades made by all Hill – and nearly all executive branch – staffers. So now the transparency provisions of the STOCK Act apply to just the President, Vice President, members of Congress (including those running for Congress) and a handful of the highest-ranking executive branch officials.

A repeal certainly is not good optics, as made clear by this hilarious segment from Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Not so funny is that the STOCK Act has so many loopholes that it might not do anything to prevent insider trading anyways, as noted in this article. Doesn’t anyone inside the Beltway recognize – or care – that this is not the way to rehabilitate a very tarnished image in the minds of the general public…

Here’s an interesting Bloomberg article entitled “Does Congress Have a Clue on Insider Trading?” – today’s Washington Post has a front-page article about this case…

Rule 10b5-1 Plans: Director Abuses?

The Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporting into Rule 10b5-1 plans continues. This April 25th article questions the use of these plans by directors who are also large shareholders at three companies – either individually or through funds they control. Then this follow-up article from Tuesday – entitled “Insider-Trading Probe Trains Lens on Boards” – notes that the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York issued subpoenas requesting information from the companies and funds cited in the April 25th article. Kevin LaCroix has blogged about these articles…

Happy Anniversary Baby! 11 Years of Blogging and Counting

Tomorrow marks 11 years of my blither and bother on this blog (note the DealLawyers.com Blog is nearly 10 years old – not shabby!). It’s one time of the year that I feel entitled to toot my own horn – as it takes stamina and boldness to blog for so long. A hearty “thanks” to all those that read this blog for putting up with my personality. I’m sure I won’t get more refined with age…

– Broc Romanek

May 1, 2013

The “Proxy Season BrocScape”

Inspired by the LumaScapes that are popular out in Silicon Valley, I recently cobbled together this “Proxy Season BrocScape” that includes some of the service providers that help us get through the proxy season. Each logo is a link to that service provider’s site. Let me know if you think I am missing anyone – including whether I am missing any providers in this extensive new list of service providers. Thanks to Randi Morrison for helping to identify service providers – and Mike Wilkinson for doing the BrocScape graphics!

Life as SEC’s Inspector General

In this podcast, David Kotz of Berkeley Research Group discusses his time at the SEC, including:

– How did you wind up at the SEC?
– How did you decide which tires to kick at the SEC?
– How long did it typically take between the start of an investigation and finalizing a report?
– What is the hardest part of being an Inspector General at a federal agency?
– What skills did you refine at the SEC that help you in your new job?

Our May Eminders is Posted!

We have posted the May issue of our complimentary monthly email newsletter. Sign up today to receive it by simply inputting your email address!

– Broc Romanek