TheCorporateCounsel.net

In this second 30-minute podcast tribute to his friend & “Radio Show” co-host Marty Dunn, who died on June 15, 2020, Dave Lynn welcomes Marty’s colleagues from Corp Fin, private practice and the conference circuit to share their memories of Marty. Highlights include:

– The story behind the Dave & Marty puppet show
– Marty’s game saving “play at the plate” for the Corp Fin softball team
– Making a newcomer feel welcome
– Spending time with Marty & his family
– What it was like to be one of “Marty’s people”
– Marty’s extraordinary ability as a teacher and mentor
– Marty’s rendition of “Midnight Train to Georgia”

The podcast is accompanied by two of Dave & Marty’s legendary puppet shows from our 2015 & 2018 Proxy Disclosure Conferences.

Diversity: You Too, Plaintiffs’ Bar!

Lynn recently blogged about shareholder derivative lawsuits against Facebook & Oracle arising out of alleged inaction on diversity issues. In light of the plaintiffs’ bar’s fondness for diversity-based fiduciary duty claims, I thought it was fitting that the federal district court judge presiding over the Robinhood class action case decided that the plaintiffs’ bar needed to pay a little attention to its own diversity practices.

According to Alison Frankel’s recent blog, Judge James Donato rejected the application of two major plaintiffs firms to serve as lead counsel for the Robinhood litigation. This excerpt from the blog explains why:

Judge Donato, in an order Tuesday night, consolidated the cases – but rejected the leadership proposal. There was no doubt, he said, that Kaplan Fox and Cotchett would provide “highly professional and sophisticated representation” to the prospective class, given their “impressive history.” But Judge Donato said he was concerned that the proposed team lacked diversity.

There were no women among the proposed leaders of the case, the judge pointed out. He also noted that the list includes a lot of lawyers and law firms that frequently head class actions and MDLs. That experience might benefit the prospective class, he said, but “highlights the ‘repeat player’ problem in class counsel appointments that has burdened class action litigation and MDL proceedings.”

The judge’s order permitted the law firms to reapply after they reshuffled their starting lineups, but the blog says that the order may raise constitutional concerns based on Justice Samuel Alito’s criticism of a similar order in an antitrust case.

Going Concern: Update on Covid-19’s Toll

Back in May, I blogged about an Audit Analytics survey that identified 30 public company audit opinionsthat cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a contributing factor to substantial doubt about a company’s ability to continue as a going concern for the next twelve months. A more recent Audit Analytics survey says that the toll continues to grow:

Since our last update in May 2020, there have been 12 additional audit opinions filed with a going concern modification citing COVID-19 – a 40% increase over 7 weeks. For 3 of those companies, it was their first going concern, bringing the total up to 17 companies that were issued their first going concern in the last 5 years specifically citing the pandemic as a reason.

The blog is accompanied by a chart identifying the companies in question and the reasons they cited as contributing to the going concern qualification in their audit opinions.

– John Jenkins