The arrival of a securities class action lawsuit can be and often is a watershed moment in the life a public company. In the following guest post, Edgar A. Neely IV and Scott N. Sherman provide a basic briefing for directors concerned about securities litigation. Edgar and Scott
The D&O Diary was on assignment in Florida last week, with stops in both Orlando and Miami. It is always a pleasure to be in Florida, even though this time the Orlando leg of the trip was unusually cold.
The primary purpose of the Orlando visit was to attend the annual Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) Conference. As always, the Conference was well-organized and well-attended. It was a pleasure to see so many old friends and to make new friends as well. It was gratifying to learn how many of the new members of our industry follow The D&O Diary. It was also my honor to be able to participate as a panelist for one of the sessions, as reflected in the picture below. My congratulations to the PLUS staff for another excellent event.Continue Reading Orlando and Miami: PLUS Conference and LatAm Underwriters’ Meeting
In 2023, China introduced a number of significant revisions to its Company Law. Among other things, the revisions introduced a number corporate governance and liability reforms. According to a October 9, 2025 memo from the Hogan Lovells law firm, which can be found here, the legal reforms are among several factors contributing to “particularly sharp increases” in the number of D&O claims in China. According to the memo, these developments present D&O insurers with both “challenges and opportunities.”Continue Reading China’s Legal Reforms Fuel Increase in D&O Claims, Interest in D&O Insurance
In the following guest post, Doug Greene, Partner at the BakerHostetler law firm and Chair of the firm’s Securities and Governance Litigation Team, takes a look at the growing problems with the defense of securities litigation, including skyrocketing defense costs, and proposes some solutions to these problems. A version of this article previously was published on The D&O Discourse blog. I would like to thank Doug for allowing me 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 site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Doug’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: The Future of Securities Litigation Defense
In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at the D&O underwriting issues associated with Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), in the context of a pending securities class action lawsuit involving a cannabis-focused REIT. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: High on REITs
In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, Anne Ray, Lead Counsel of D&O and EPL Claims, Bowhead Specialty Underwriters, Inc., Elan Kandel, Member, Bailey Cavalieri LLC, and James Talbert, Associate, Bailey Cavalieri LLC, take a look at the top professional liability insurance coverage decisions from 2024. I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Lessons from 2024: A Review of Key Insurance Coverage Decisions
The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2024 was a particularly eventful year, with important consequences for the D&O insurance marketplace. The past year’s many developments also have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2025 – and possibly for years to come. I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST, my colleagues Marissa Streckfus, Chris Bertola, and I will be conducting a free, hour-long webinar in which we will discuss The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024. Registration for the webinar can be found here. I hope you can join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024
As reflected in my recent post, last week I attended the PLUS D&O Symposium in New York. The sessions were great, but based on some comments of various panelists, there are some items for follow-up – for example, references that panelists made that need to be checked out, items that panelists suggested we should pursue, and so on. I have run down these various items, and I link to them below. I emphasize that these items will be of interest even if you didn’t attend the Symposium. I have also included below several other items from around the Internet as well.Continue Reading PLUS D&O Symposium Follow-Up and Other Notes
This week I was in New York for the 2024 PLUS D&O Symposium, along with a thousand or so professionals from around the D&O insurance community. PLUS staged the conference at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, the bright, beating heart of NYC. No matter how many times you may visit, there is still something special about being in New York. The conference was great as well, a great chance to catch up on the latest news and developments, to meet with my many friends in the industry, and to make some new friends, as well.Continue Reading PLUS D&O Symposium 2024
The D&O Diary was on the road again this week, albeit this time for domestic travels only. The main event this week was a stop in Nashville to attend Arch Insurance’s Executive Assurance Division’s 2024 Offsite Meeting. At least by contrast to some of my recent international travel, this was a quick trip; because it was such a quick trip, I didn’t get a chance to see much of Nashville itself, but the trip was still a lot of fun.Continue Reading Nashville