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

CalPERS And Pay For Performance

A few weeks ago, CalPERS' Director of Corporate Governance, Anne Simpson, sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission in support of the SEC's proposed pay for performance disclosure rule. Her letter notes CalPERS' belief that...

CalPERS And Pay Equity

The Securities and Exchange Commission has given notice of its intent to adopt final pay ratio disclosure rules at its meeting next week.  In applauding the SEC's proposed rules, the California Public Employees' Retirement System observed:

Senate Appropriations Committee Is Next Stop For California Finders Bill

AB 667 (Wagner) continues to wend its way through the California legislature. The bill, which was sponsored by the Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar, defines a finder as a natural person who, for direct...

California Crowdfunding Bill In Suspense

Yesterday, Broc Romanek published several posts regarding crowdfunding.  Meanwhile here in California, crowd funding has stalled in the legislature.  AB 722 (Perea) passed unanimously out the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and on a 9-2 vote out of...

CalPERS Claims Success; Proxy Monitor Says CalPERS Success Leads To Lower Stock Prices

"Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair"

Court Declines To Declare "S" Corporation Shareholders' Agreement Unenforceable

In general, shareholders of a corporation that has elected to be taxed under Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code are taxed on corporate profits regardless of whether the corporation makes any distribution of those profits to its shareholders....

When It Comes To Director Compensation, California Is Not Delaware

Yesterday, I wrote about my disagreements with the approach to director compensation adopted by the Delaware Court of Chancery in Calma v. Templeton, 114 A.3d 563 (Del. Ch. 2015) and Seinfeld v. Slager, 2012 Del. Ch. LEXIS 139 (June 29, 2012). In...

No Calm In Delaware After Calma v. Templeton

In derivative suits, cases are essentially lost and won at the motion to dismiss stage. Unless the defendants succeed in winning dismissal, they must confront an unhappy choice between continued litigation with all of its costs and risks or a...

Out-of-State M&A Lawyer Can Be Sued In California

Many M&A transactions are negotiated across state lines. When an out-of-state lawyer misrepresents facts in a phone call and email to a lawyer in California, do those communications render the foreign lawyer amenable to suit in California? In...