TheCorporateCounsel.net

April 17, 2017

“Financial Choice Act 2.0” Taking Shape…

As noted in this WSJ article, the bartering to tweak the “Financial Choice Act” continues. Most of the Corp Fin-related notables in the bill remain untouched (eg. pay ratio would still get the axe) – but there are a few proposed changes that would impact you, such as changes to the ownership thresholds under Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal rule. This chart contains the changes – so far – from “Financial Choice Act 1.0.”

Of course, it’s still too soon to say what form the Choice Act will ultimately wind up taking – and even too soon to know if this legislation will eventually be “the one” put forward to replace Dodd-Frank…

By the way, the White House recently issued this memo, which affirms that its executive order with the “kill two rules-for-adopting one” mandate isn’t binding on independent agencies – like the SEC. But this new memo also reaffirms President Trump’s encouragement that independent agencies voluntarily abide by this mandate. The new memo dovetails with OMB’s Interim Guidance from a few months back on this topic…

Katherine Blair: Life as a Corporate Lawyer

In this 32-minute podcast, Katherine Blair of Manatt Phelps discusses her long & enjoyable career, including.

– Where did you grow up?
– How did you wind up becoming a lawyer?
– How did you wind up selecting securities laws?
– How has practicing in a law firm evolved over time?
– What is corporate practice in Los Angeles like?
– How active are the LA County & California bars?
– What types of tasks do you enjoy the most?

This podcast is also posted as part of my “Big Legal Minds” podcast series. Remember that these podcasts are also available on iTunes or Google Play (use the “My Podcasts” app on your iPhone and search for “Big Legal Minds”; you can subscribe to the feed so that any new podcast automatically downloads…

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Resource Extraction: 12 Senate Democrats Want to Try Again

Recently, a group of a dozen Senate Democrats sent this letter to the SEC asking that they try again with a resource extraction rule. I wouldn’t bet on that happening. This counters the letter that 6 Senate Republicans sent down to the SEC a few months ago…

Broc Romanek