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As noted in @Sarah Abrams’s recent guest post (here), President Trump last week proposed in a social media post changing the periodic reporting requirements for public companies from quarterly to semi-annual. Based on a separate interview of SEC Chair Paul Atkins published last week, it appears that the agency is prepared to move forward quickly with this proposal. We can expect to hear a lot of debate in the coming days about whether the proposed changed reporting requirements are a good idea. The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on Saturday about the proposed change, clearly coming down on the side that the proposed change is not a good idea. As discussed below, the article also had some interesting information and comparisons that will add to the discussion about the proposal.Continue Reading All the Problems with Eliminating Quarterly Reporting

The idea that companies might be able to avoid securities class action litigation through the adoption of bylaws requiring securities law claims to be submitted to arbitration has been around for years.

Traditionally, the SEC has opposed these types of bylaw provisions. However, in an interesting development, on September 17, 2025, the Commission, in a new policy statement approved by a 3-1 vote along party lines, announced that the decision whether or not to “accelerate the effectiveness of a registration statement” will “not be affected” by the presence of provision requiring the arbitration of investor claims arising under the federal securities laws.

This development suggests that in the future IPO investors could find themselves compelled to arbitrate securities law claims rather than being able to file a securities class action, although, as noted below, there is a lot more that is yet to be told on these issues.Continue Reading SEC Revises Policy on Arbitration Provisions in IPO Companies’ Bylaws

Sarah Abrams

In a social media post earlier this week, President Trump proposed eliminating quarterly reporting for public companies. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at the President’s proposal and considers its prospects and potential implications. I would like to thank…

Sarah Abrams

In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a closer look at the civil and criminal litigation filed against casual dining company Fat Brands and considers the implication of the litigation for Sides A and B coverage under a D&O insurance policy. 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: Fat Chance

In my recent roundup of the top current stories in the world of D&O, I noted the increasing importance of geopolitical issues as a source of D&O claims risk. Among the factors supporting this trend is the rising relevance of cross-border enforcement initiatives, which in many instances had led to D&O claims. In the latest sign of the importance of cross-border enforcement issues, the SEC has announced the formation of a cross-border task force to “identify and combat cross-border fraud harming U.S. investors.” The SEC’s September 5, 2025, press release about the task force can be found here.  A September 10, 2025, post on TheCorporateCounsel.net blog about the new task force’s formation can be found here.Continue Reading SEC Forms Task Force to Combat Cross-Border Fraud

In the following guest post, Ed Whitworth, the Head of Financial Lines at Inigo, and Yera Patel, Head of Casualty & Financial Lines Claims and Analytics for Inigo, summarize the results of a recent survey Inigo conducted of U.S. securities litigation defense counsel. The original of the survey summary previously was published on Inigo’s blog, here. I would like to thank Ed, Yera, and Inigo for allowing me to publish the report summary on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to the blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Inigo’s 2025 Defense Counsel Survey

One of the signature features of the Dodd-Frank Act was its creation of the SEC whistleblower program, which includes the possibility for whistleblowers to receive generous bounties. The program has grown substantially since its inception. However, there are signs that the program may be undergoing a significant change in direction, as the SEC is “denying a record percentage of whistleblower claims,” according to a July 22, 2025, Bloomberg article, here. According to the article, the recent number of denials suggests that “the agency is enforcing rules and scrutinizing claims more strictly than in past years.”Continue Reading SEC Rejects Record Percentage of Whistleblower Award Claims

Sarah Abrams

There is no doubt that under the current Trump administration, cryptocurrency is enjoying a more hospitable environment. The environment not only affords crypto firms increased business opportunities, such as, for example, with respect to exchange-traded digital assets, but the environment may lend itself to opportunities for D&O insurers as well. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, reviews some of the details about the current crypto environment, as well as the opportunities and risks that the environment may represent for D&O insurers. 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:  Crypto-Verse D&O Opportunity

Among the many executive orders launched at the outset of the current Trump administration was the January 23, 2025 Executive Order that declared the administration’s commitment to maintaining the U.S. at the “forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.” The Executive Order set out the administration’s commitment to removing policies and directives that “act as barriers to American AI innovation.”

The Executive Order meant a variety of things when it referred to removing barriers, and the statement does at least raise the question about what the administration’s – and in particular, the SEC’s – enforcement approach to AI will be, if the goal is to remove barriers. As discussed below, there are signs to suggest that the administration will continue to monitor and address AI-related misrepresentations, notwithstanding its commitment to removing barriers to AI innovation.  Continue Reading What About AI-Related Enforcement Under the Trump Administration?

Sarah Abrams

We are now well into the new Trump administration. The President’s nominee to head the SEC, Paul Atkins, has now been sworn in. At the same time, the SEC is also dealing with the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last term in the Jarkesy case. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams takes a look at what all this could mean for the SEC. Sarah is Head of Claims, Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on my 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 The Post-Jarkesy, Atkins SEC