Keith Paul Bishop

Keith Paul Bishop

Keith Bishop works with privately-held and publicly-traded companies on federal and state corporate and securities transactions, compliance, and governance matters. He is highly-regarded for his in-depth knowledge of the distinctive corporate and regulatory requirements faced by corporations in the state of California. While many law firms have a great deal of expertise in federal or Delaware corporate law, Keith’s specific focus on California corporate and securities law is uncommon. A former California state regulator of securities and financial institutions, Keith has decades of experience navigating the regulatory-intensive state’s rules. For companies with substantial operations in California but incorporated elsewhere, Keith is an exceptional resource. He is frequently called in to help with issues arising under California’s “blue sky” and lender laws. An avid writer, Keith’s blog, www.calcorporatelaw.com, covers a diverse collection of California corporate and securities law issues and has served as a valued resource for other attorneys, business executives, judges, and media, nationwide.

Recent Posts

In This Case, The Contract Had No Beginning

Known for the elegance of his Latin, French humanist Marc Antoine Muret observed "que Graece Latineque sciat, is, quocunque terrarum venerit, apud plerosque admirationi erit (and whoever knows Greek or Latin, wherever in the world she shall go, will...

Governor Proposes To Expand Department Of Business Oversight Authority And Funding

Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom delivered his proposed budget for California's 2020-2021 fiscal year. The Governor is proposing to rename the Department of Business Oversight as the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation as of the...

Secretary Of State Seeks To Rework Entity Name Requirements While Retaining Ineluctable Incertitude

Ten years ago today, I penned an opinion piece decrying the inconsistencies of California's statutory requirements for entity names.  

Is Coal A Mineral And Why Ask?

The Securities and Exchange Commission is trying for the third time to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers. In that Act, Congress...

In This Case, The First Filed Case Was Last

In 2014, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a Delaware corporation, spun off Halyard Health, Inc., a Delaware corporation, pursuant to a distribution agreement. The distribution agreement required Halyard to indemnify Kimberly-Clark against certain claims....

Academicians Find Firms With All Male Boards Have Left The State

In November, I wrote about an academic study finding that companies experienced "a large negative stock market reaction" when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law California's female board quota mandate (SB 826). The authors of this study recently...

The SEC Insists On "Terminological Inexactitude" For Resource Extraction Issuer Rule

As previously mentioned in this blog, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying for the third time to implement Congress' directive to adopt rules requiring disclosure by "resource extraction issuers".  See The SEC's Extraction Distraction.  ...

Department Issues "Opinion" That Deferred Payment Product Meets Definitions Of "Loans"

As mentioned in my post last week, the Department of Business Oversight issued a press release shortly after Christmas announcing that it had issued a "legal opinion" concerning whether a point-of-sale product constitute loans for purposes of the...

Department Of Business Oversight Takes Aim At Point-Of-Sale Transactions

Late last month, the California Department of Business Oversight took the unusual step of issuing a press release announcing that it had denied an application by Sezzle Inc. for a lender's license under the California Financing Law (Cal. Fin. Code §...