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

Legal Challenge To California Board Gender Quota Law Filed

As mentioned in yesterday's post, a much predicted challenge to California's board gender quota law was recently filed.  The complaint alleges a single cause of action - violation of Article I, Section 31 of the California Constitution. That...

A Corporation May Be An Individual But What About Tony The Tiger?

The California legislature was so upset by the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) that it passed a resolution memorializing its disagreement and asseverating that "Corporations are not...

Does Incorporation In Delaware Constitute "Abuse Of The Corporation"?

Until I happened upon a working paper by Professors Martin Gelter and Lécia Vicente, I had not encountered the notion of abusing a corporation merely by choosing where to incorporate it.  The authors describe abuse as follows:

The CSL And Foreign Subsidiaries

I suspect that many lawyers do not give a great deal of thought to the application of the California Corporate Securities Law of 1968 to the issuance of shares in connection with the incorporation of a wholly owned subsidiary. Section 25102(i)(2) is...

Exceptions To Section 2115

Yesterday's post concerned the application Section 2115 of the California Corporations Code to parent and subsidiary corporations. A foreign corporation that satisfies the business and shareholder tests of the statute will be subject to numerous...

Parents, Subsidiaries And Section 2115

California famously applies many of the provisions of its General Corporation Law to foreign corporations that meet the specific tests set forth in Corporations Code Section 2115. The first of these tests is a business test - the average of the...

Is There Securities Fraud Without Reliance And Causation?

Section 25401 of the Corporations Code is California's securities fraud statute.  Readers of this space will know that that scienter was not required under the former version of the statute but that the legislature rewrote Section 25401 to conform to...

CeDe - Acronym, Initialism or Portmanteau?

The Depository Trust Company provides depository and book-entry services and operates a securities settlement system. The DTC's nominee is CeDe & Co. which is generally pronounced as the letters "C" and "D". The name is an abbreviation of...

Voting Rights Versus Voting Power - A Distinction With A Difference?

Yesterday's post raised the question whether California Corporations Code Section 400(a) precludes tenured voting. That statute requires that all shares of any one class have the "same voting, conversion and redemption rights . . . unless the class...