In the following guest post, Darren Boomfield, Account Executive at Cogitate, takes a look that the director and officer liability and insurance considerations that can arise when companies participate in venture capital funding. My thanks to Darren for allowing me to publish his article on this site. Here is Darren’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Venture Capital, Startup Liability, and D&O Insurance
It is no secret that SEC Chair Paul Atkins has ideas about how U.S. securities laws could be reformed to “revitalize” America’s capital markets. Among other things, late last year Atkins proposed a number of revisions to the current U.S. public company disclosure regime. Now, in a speech earlier this week, Atkins floated several additional proposed reforms, among other things referring to the possibility of loser-pays bylaws for shareholder suits and of a “safe harbor” for public company disclosures concerning widely publicized events. As discussed below, Atkins’s recent ideas have a long and relevant history. The text of Atkins’s February 17, 2026, speech can be found here.
Continue Reading SEC Chair Atkins Proposed Further Securities Litigation and Disclosure Reform
In the following guest post, Justin Bove, Chief Revenue Officer and Fiduciary Lead at Encore Fiduciary, reviews and analyses the ERISA fiduciary class action lawsuits filed in 2025. A version of this article previously was published on Encore’s Fid Guru Blog (here). My thanks to Justin for allowing me to publish his article on this site. Here is Justin’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: The State of ERISA Fiduciary Litigation in 2025
Recent shifts in regulatory scrutiny, proxy-advisor guidelines, and institutional-investor practices are reshaping how boards, investors, and insurers navigate the governance risks associated with proxy advisor practices. These developments take on particular significance as companies head into the 2026 proxy season. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams takes a look at these proxy advisory-related practices developments and considers their significance. My thanks to Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Proxy Power in Flux: Governance, Politics, and D&O Risk
In the following guest post, Megan Black, a D&O broker in the Financial Services Group at Aon, reviews and analyzes how private company D&O insurance policies address legal defense costs. This overview highlights the key differences between Duty to Defend and Reimbursement approaches. The original article was previously published on the AON Financial Services Group’s web presence and can be found here. My thanks to Megan for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Megan’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Optimizing D&O Policies for Private and Nonprofit FirmsThere is no doubt that the SEC under current Chair Paul Atkins has taken a different enforcement approach than under the prior administration. The statistics (at least those through the end of the last fiscal year) show a notable decrease in the number of SEC enforcement actions under the Trump administration. As questions arise about the current administration’s enforcement approach, including whether the agency’s approach might embolden would-be wrongdoers, one particular question has been with respect to the Director of the agency’s Enforcement Division. Observers have asked whether the division director, Margaret “Meg” Ryan, who was nominated to her position last August, is deliberately leading the division in a hands-off approach.
Continue Reading SEC Enforcement Division Director Assures of Continued VigilanceSpring may seem like it is a long time away, but it is never too early to think about baseball. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at issues surrounding the potential liability of sports league officials and board members and considers the D&O insurance implications. My thanks to Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Fiduciary Duty, Governance, and Minor League Baseball
It was with a great deal of sadness that I heard the news last week that industry legend Joe Monteleone had passed away. Many of you knew Joe; even if didn’t know him, you should know about Joe. Joe was one of the good ones.
Continue Reading In Memoriam: Joseph P. MonteleoneThose who pay attention to these kinds of things may have noted that in recent weeks there has been a rash of pump-and-dump scheme securities class action lawsuit filings. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at these recent cases and identifies several key features the lawsuits have in common. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Low-Float IPOs and Pump-And-Dump Risk
In recent months, the filing of securities class action lawsuits involving artificial intelligence (AI)-related allegations has become an increasingly important part of overall securities suits filing volume. By and large, the AI-related suits have involved relatively smaller corporate defendants. Late last week, however, a plaintiff shareholder filed an AI-related securities suit against the technology behemoth Oracle, alleging that the company made misrepresentations in its disclosures concerning its AI infrastructure-related capital expenditures. For securities litigation trend watchers, the new lawsuit has a number of interesting features, as discussed below.
Continue Reading Oracle Hit with Massive AI Infrastructure-Related Securities Suit