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

This California Rule May Prevent Some In-House Counsel Moves

Rule 9.46 of the California Rules of Court allows an attorney who is licensed to practice law in one or more jurisdictions of the United States other than California to register to provide legal services in California as in-house counsel exclusively...

New Law Seeks To Curtail Coerced Debts

A new California law governing "coerced debt" will soon be taking effect.  This legislation, 2022 Cal. Stats. ch.  989, defines a "coerced debt" as a:

Who Qualifies As An Expert Witness?

Not just anyone is qualified to testify as an expert witness.  Edward Teller quoted Niels Bohr as describing an expert as "a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field". * The...

James Joyce Ineluctably Meets Cryptoassets

In a recent post on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Jai Massari discusses a new paper that argues fungible cryptoassets are not securities under existing U.S. federal securities laws while initial coin offerings (ICOs) and...

If A Lease Is Not "Valid", Is It Void or Voidable?

Justice Ignazio ("Nace") John Ruvolo once observed that the "Illegality of contracts constitutes a vast, confusing and rather mysterious area of the law."  McIntosh v. Mills, 121 Cal. App. 4th 333, 344 (2004). One confusing or mysterious question is...

Don't Even Think About Trying To Enforce These Voting Agreements

The California Nonprofit Corporation Law is actually three different laws - the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law (Part 2), the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law (Part 3), and the Nonprofit Religious Corporation Law (Part 4). Part 1 of...

When Non-Voting Shares Must Approve A Reorganization

The California General Corporation Law permits a corporation to issue shares with no voting rights, provided that at the time one or more classes or series of outstanding shares or debt securities, singly or in the aggregate, are entitled to full...

NASAA Urges Congress To Codify M&A Broker Relief

Last week, the North American Securities Administrators Association sent a letter to U.S. Senate and House committee leaders expressing concern that the appropriations process will "may be used to advance provisions in the draft JOBS Act 4.0 that...

Court Of Appeal Declines To "Sit On" Board Diversity Judgment

In July, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber filed a petition for a writ of supersedeas in the California Court of Appeal with respect to the trial court's judgment in Crest v. Padilla. In that case, the trial court permanently enjoined and...