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

When Someone Is Missing, Is Consent Unanimous?

The word "unanimous" is derived from two Latin words, unus (meaning one) and animus (mind).  Thus in Plautus' play, the servant, Stichus, tells his friend, Sagarinus: "ego tu sum, tu es ego, unianimi sumus (I am you and you are I, we are of one...

Will The Rise Of Tweener Corporations Increase Focus On California's Annual Report Statute?

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal published two articles by Rolfe Winkler concerning shareholder access to financial information in companies not subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  In one of these ...

Do State Courts Lack Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over Covered Class Actions That Allege Only '33 Act Claims?

In Luther v. Countrywide Financial Corp., 195 Cal. App. 4th 789 (2011), the trial court ruled that state courts do not enjoy concurrent jurisdiction when a class action meeting the definition of a "covered class action" under the Securities...

Ninth Circuit Finds That Purpose Of Stock Rights Plan Matters

Most equity award plans that I come across include a statement of the plan's purposes. I haven't tended to give these provisions a whole lot of thought, but an opinion issued yesterday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal makes it clear that a...

Who Decides Whether A Shareholder Has Complied With An Advance Notice Bylaw?

UCLA Professor Stephen Bainbridge asked the following question concerning advance notice bylaw provisions in "The Professor is Stumped: Today's Corporate Law Question":

How The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2016 Opens The Door To Disclosure Of Trade Secrets

François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, once famously wrote "Ce corps qui s'appelait et qui s'appelle encore le saint empire romain n'était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire (This body, which was, and is, titled the Holy...

Did The SEC Staff Bypass The APA In Issuing New And Revised Non-GAAP Financial Measure C&DIs?

Earlier this week, the staff of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued several new, and rewrote several existing, Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations ("C&DIs") relating to Non-GAAP Financial Measures. Recently, the SEC has been...

Synecdoche And The California Corporations Code

Synecdoche is a literary trope by which one refers the whole by a component, or vice versa. The word is derived from an ancient Greek word, σuνεκδοχή, which means understanding one thing with another. Although I was first introduced to the term in...

Does A Dissolved Corporation Have Officers And Directors?

It might be reasonable to assume that a dissolved corporation no longer has any officer and directors. However, the California General Corporation Law seems to assume that dissolved corporations continue to have directors and officers. California...