Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Viewpoints

Proponents of environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) investing may have good news on the horizon—in particular, good news that could resuscitate ESG investing in retirement accounts following the Department of Labor’s recent blow to the practice.

California has enacted the nation’s first diversity mandate for public company boards. As we previously reported, the new law (AB 979) builds upon California’s first- in-the nation statutory gender mandate for public company boards.

Regardless of size or industry, thoughtful director appointment is critical to the success of any public company.  Yet following the departure of a director, many boards are left scrambling to locate and onboard a suitable replacement.  Even boards that purposely undertake to increase the number of directors may struggle to balance numerous (and sometimes competing) concerns.  Below are a few pointers for promoting good corporate governance practices when appointing a new director.

This advisory discusses the SEC’s recent guidance on operations, liquidity, and capital resources disclosure that companies should consider in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This advisory summarizes recent proxy advisor guidance on and strategies for adjusting annual performance goals in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employers reacted in a variety of ways to cope with the unprecedented financial impact of COVID-19.  Employers must begin to shift their focus to whether their current executive compensation practices are designed with sufficient incentives to retain key employees and to spur recovery and sustained growth.  This post reviews the range of cost-cutting measures companies have enacted over the past few months, and provides guidance on executive compensation issues employers should consider as they move forward in a COVID-19 world.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee’s Investor-as-Owner Subcommittee recently voted 14-4 to approve a recommendation that urges the Commission (SEC) to begin an effort to update the reporting requirements of public companies to include material, decision-useful environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

This advisory discusses regulatory and investment community developments related to human capital management and provides suggestions for companies newly focused on HCM.

Megan Gates identifies cybersecurity and ESG (environment, social, and governance) as two key areas of particular interest to both the SEC and institutional investors in 2019 and the need for companies to address these areas as they update risk factor disclosures in their annual reports.