Corporate Governance

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Michael W. Peregrine

In the following guest post, Michael W. Peregrine, a partner at the McDermott, Will & Emery law firm, take a look at regulators’ new “gatekeeper” expectations that now face corporate directors. This article is reprinted with permission from Corporate Board Member, First Quarter, 2016. I would like to thank Michael for his willingness to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Michael’s guest post.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Managing Gatekeeper Anxiety

floridaOne of the more interesting recent developments in the world of corporate and securities litigation has been the litigation reform bylaw movement. Among the types of bylaws with which various companies have experimented are the forum selection bylaws (now permitted by statute in Delaware) and fee-shifting bylaws (now prohibited in Delaware for stock corporations, as discussed here). Yet another type of litigation reform bylaw that has  attracted attention is the minimum stake to sue bylaw, which requires shareholder claimants to show that the represent a specified interest of the company’s ownership interest in order to be able to pursue a class or derivative claim.
Continue Reading Lawsuit Challenging Minimum Stake to Sue Bylaw Dismissed

NevadaAs I noted in a recent post, when the Wall Street Journal has a front-page article asking the question whether Delaware’s claim as the preferred home jurisdiction for many U.S. corporations continues to be warranted, it might be time to wonder whether Delaware’s preeminence might actually be under serious challenge. And if a recent article on Law 360 is any indication, the good citizens of Nevada – or at least one member of its legal bar in particular – are quite sure where U.S. companies should turn next, at least for the resolution of corporate disputes. That is, Nevada.

That’s right, Nevada.

In an August 11, 2015 article entitled “Strike Suit Certainty Remains the Status Quo in Nevada” (here, subscription required), Jeffrey S. Rugg of the Browstein Hyatt Farber Schreck law firm in Las Vegas argues that Nevada provides an advantageous forum compared to Delaware because of the expeditiousness with which Nevada courts resolve M&A-related strike suits. In Delaware, Rugg argues, “the consideration and resolution of strike suits … has become increasingly uncertain and, as a result, expensive,” whereas Nevada “continues to provide all parties with the certainty of consistent application of law and efficient resolution of motions.”
Continue Reading Should Nevada Be the New Preferred Forum? (That’s Right, Nevada.)

Lebovitch_Mark_300dpiOne of the more significant recent developments in the corporate and securities litigation arena has been the emergence of the debate over fee-shifting bylaws following the Delaware Supreme Court’s May 2014 decision in ATP Tour, Inc. v. Deutscher Tennis Bund. Draft proposed legislation is now being considered by the Delaware legislature that would address…

floridaIn prior posts, I have noted the growing phenomenon of companies adopting various types of bylaws as a self-help version of litigation reform. Delaware’s courts have already approved the facially validity of both forum-selection bylaws and of fee-shifting bylaws, although measures pending in Delaware legislature in 2015 could address the fee-shifting bylaw. Other …

hbr4The fiduciary duties of members of corporate boards are usually invoked in connection with directors’ potential liability exposures. However, in their January 2015 Harvard Business Review article entitled “Where Boards Fall Short” (here), Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Co., and Mark Wiseman, President and CEO of the Canada …

oklachomaOne of the most interesting recent developments has been the onset of innovative litigation reform efforts in the form of bylaw revisions. Among the most intriguing of these efforts involves fee shifting bylaws, whereby an unsuccessful claimant in intracorporate litigation must pay the other party’s costs. As discussed here, earlier this year, the Delaware …

gsMany companies provide advancement, indemnification and insurance benefits and protection for their officers and directors. However, it is not always clear who is an “officer” for purposes of claiming the benefits and protection. The long-running and high-profile saga of Sergey Aleynikov, the former Goldman Sachs computer programmer and company Vice President accused of stealing proprietary…

del1Following the Delaware Chancery Court’s June 2013 ruling upholding the facial validity of the bylaw of Chevron Corporation designating Delaware as the exclusive forum for intra-corporate disputes, the adoption of forum selection bylaws has become mainstream. But while a number of companies have now adopted forum selection bylaws, the circumstances surrounding the adoption by…

delsealThe Delaware Supreme Court stirred up quite a bit of controversy earlier this year in the ATP Tours, Inc. v. Deutscher Tennis Bund case when it upheld the facial validity of a fee-shifting by law. The bylaw provided that an unsuccessful shareholder claimant in intracorporate litigation would have to pay his or her adversaries’ cost …