Client Alert
Shareholder Bill of Rights Legislation Proposed
June 5, 2009
Last month, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and co-sponsor Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced in the Senate a new bill that would require public companies to meet certain corporate governance standards for board composition and election and would also give shareholders greater input on executive compensation.
The "Shareholder Bill of Rights Act" is the latest -- but most certainly not the last -- of recent efforts to give shareholders greater say over corporate governance and executive compensation matters, particularly in response to the recent economic crisis. In fact, this week, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro announced that as early as next month the SEC is expected to consider a number of corporate disclosure improvements addressing, among other things, director nominee qualifications, board leadership structure, risk management (and its impact on executive compensation), compensation policies beyond the executive tier and compensation consultant conflicts of interest.
Click here to read our client alert about the new Schumer bill.
If you have any questions regarding the new bill, contact either the Womble Carlyle attorney with whom you usually work or one of our Corporate and Securities attorneys.
Womble Carlyle client alerts are intended to provide general information about significant legal developments and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts and circumstances, nor should they be construed as advertisements for legal services.
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