C&DIs And The APA

On Monday, Broc Romanek wrote that the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance has issued a new Compliance & Disclosure Interpretation clarifying how say-on-pay proposals should appear on the proxy card. Many may welcome additional guidance from the...

Is A Director An "Official At The Highest Level Of Corporate Management"?

Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Superior Court, 10 Cal. App. 4th 1282 (1992) involved an attempt by a plaintiff to depose the president of an insurance company. In response, the First District Court of Appeal adopted what is known as the "apex doctrine"...

Forming A Benefit Or Flexible Purpose Corporation? Some Pitfalls To Avoid

In previous blogs, I've noted the appearance of two new types of California corporations - the flexible purpose corporation and the benefit corporation. Because the laws creating both of these forms took effect on January 1, organizers have been...

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Choice Of State Of Incorporation Law

No one puts a choice of law provision at the beginning of a contract. They are nearly always relegated to the boilerplate provision at the end. This placement often belies their critical importance. Cases are lost or won on the basis of the choice...

Is California's Economic Impact Analysis Requirement "Illusory And Ineffective"?

Recent court decisions have faulted the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to assess adequately the economic impact of proposed regulations. Last year, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals spared no words in its assessment of the SEC's...

APA Amendments Cause Extension Of Rule 260.204.9 Comment Period

Last December, I wrote this post concerning the Commissioner's proposed amendments to Rule 260.204.9.   This rule provides an exemption from registration for investment advisers to certain private funds. The rule as currently in effect was adopted as...

Initiative Seeks To Dehumanize Corporations In California

Are corporations "persons"? The California Corporations Code answers this question quite directly in Section 18 which defines "person" as including corporations and natural persons. The Corporate Securities Law of 1968 goes even further - defining...

Louis D. Brandeis Takes On Section 310

Before being named to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote an influential series of articles for Harpers Weekly magazine. Eventually, these articles were collected and published under the title "Other People's Money--and How the...

11/11/11 Was A Record Day For Section 25102(f) Filings!

I've previously written about California's on-line database for securities filings which is known as Cal-EASI (See "California's Big EASI").  Recently, I noticed what is very likely to be a record busting day for Section 25102(f) filings.