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There is no doubt that the SEC under current Chair Paul Atkins has taken a different enforcement approach than under the prior administration. The statistics (at least those through the end of the last fiscal year) show a notable decrease in the number of SEC enforcement actions under the Trump administration.  As questions arise about the current administration’s enforcement approach, including whether the agency’s approach might embolden would-be wrongdoers, one particular question has been with respect to the Director of the agency’s Enforcement Division. Observers have asked whether the division director, Margaret “Meg” Ryan, who was nominated to her position last August, is deliberately leading the division in a hands-off approach.Continue Reading SEC Enforcement Division Director Assures of Continued Vigilance

Mayme Donahue

In recent months, the SEC’s position with respect to AI regulation and enforcement has emerged, with important implications for reporting companies. In the following guest post, Mayme Donohue, a partner in the Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm takes a detailed look at the SEC’s emerging approach and provides specific pointers for reporting companies’ AI-related disclosures. I would like to thank Mayme for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Mayme’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: AI, the SEC, and the 2026 Reporting Season

It is no secret that the SEC under the Trump Administration is taking a very different approach to cryptocurrency than the agency did under the Biden Administration. Indeed, a detailed December 2025 New York Times article (here) made it clear – if there were any doubt — that the administration’s more restrained approach to crypto starts at the very top. But what does the more restrained crypto approach mean in practical terms? A January 22, 2026, report from Cornerstone Research, which can be found here, spells out in detail what it means, both in terms of reduced numbers of crypto-related enforcement actions and in diminished crypto-related recoveries.Continue Reading SEC: Less Crypto Enforcement, Lower Crypto Recoveries

Sarah Abrams

In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, examines the question whether the SEC should adopt AI-specific disclosure guidelines with reference to two recent enforcement actions involving tech companies allegedly fraudulent claims about their technology. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Would Specific SEC Disclosure Guidelines Deter AI-Washing?

The U.S. Supreme Court only rarely agrees to take up consideration of cases involving securities law issues, so it was a noteworthy event when the Court agreed late last week to take up a case involving the SEC’s enforcement powers. As discussed below, the case involves questions of what the SEC has to prove in order to secure disgorgement from alleged wrongdoers. The Court’s ruling in the case, which is captioned Sripetch v. SEC, will address a split in the Circuit Courts on the question of whether the SEC must prove that investors were harmed by the wrongdoers’ acts in order to obtain disgorgement.Continue Reading Supreme Court Agrees to Consider SEC’s Disgorgement Remedy Rights

The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2025 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 2026 – and possibly for years to come.  I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2025, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Thursday, January 15, 2026 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 2025. Registration for the webinar can be found here. Please join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2025

The possibility of a securities class action lawsuit being filed against a company after it experiences a data breach is a long-standing risk. For most of 2025, there were relatively few of these kinds of suits filed, at least compared to recent years. However, last week, two different companies – the e-commerce firm Coupang and the application security firm F5 – were each hit with new cybersecurity-related securities class action lawsuits. The new lawsuits have several interesting features, as discussed below, and at a minimum underscore the fact that the threat of these kinds of cybersecurity suits is ongoing.Continue Reading Two Tech Companies Hit with Data Breach-Related Securities Suits

Sarah Abrams

Among one of many changes afoot at the SEC under its current Chair Paul Atkins is Atkins’s proposal calling for the agency to reconsider its rule allowing shareholders to include non-binding shareholder resolutions in corporate proxy materials. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at Atkins’s proposal concerning shareholder resolutions and considers the potential impact of a rule change on D&O liability. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on this site.Continue Reading Guest Post: Is the SEC Signaling the End of ESG Shareholder Proposals?

Just about every company these days is grappling with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI). But what should companies be telling their investors about the impact of AI deployment on their operations and financial results? At a recent meeting, the SEC’s Investment Advisory Committee recommended that the agency issue guidance requiring issuers to provide disclosures about the impact on the company from AI. As discussed below, while the committee’s recommendations may be unlikely to cause the agency to issue AI disclosure rules or guidance, the committee’s recommendations do provide a useful framwork to consider corporate AI-related disclosure best practices.Continue Reading SEC Investor Advisory Committee Recommends AI-Related Disclosure Guidelines

It is already well understood that there has been a change in direction at the SEC under the current Trump Administration and SEC Chair Paul Atkins. In a speech earlier this week at the New York Stock Exchange entitled “Revitalizing America’s Markets at 250,” Atkins described the ways in which he thought the agency in recent times has lost its direction, particularly with respect to its public company disclosure requirements. With the stated aim of restoring its original mission, Atkins identified two main public company disclosure reform goals for the agency. He also set out “three pillars” to “make IPOs great again.” Atkins’s IPO-related remarks include brief but noteworthy comments about securities class action litigation reform that have largely been overlooked in the press coverage of his speech.Continue Reading SEC Chair Paul Atkins and Public Company Disclosure Reform