Among the challenges companies face as they incorporate AI into their business strategies is accurately projecting the impact the AI-based approach will have on their business and financial results. Business outcomes may fall short of expectations to the disappointment of investors, which in turn can lead to securities litigation. In the latest example of this phenomenon, investors sued the Israeli-based software company Monday.com after it adjusted its earnings guidance as its AI-based strategy unfolded differently than the company had projected. A copy of the March 10, 2026, complaint against the company can be found here.

Continue Reading AI-Related Securities Suit Filed Against Israeli Software Company

There was a time, not that long ago, when ESG was the dominant topic in the corporate governance world. Every company was expected to have a sustainability plan and to maintain a respectable ESG profile. However, as a result of now years-long ESG backlash, the predominance of ESG as a governance topic has diminished. Indeed, with the Trump administration’s active anti-ESG policies and actions, including among other things several anti-ESG executive orders, as well as the actions of several red state governors and legislatures, it now sometimes feels that ESG as a governance topic is in full retreat. However, two recent developments – including a court decision striking down a Texas state anti-ESG law and the filing of ESG-supportive ERISA liability lawsuit – suggest that, at a minimum, there may be more of the ESG story yet to be told.

Continue Reading Countering Anti-ESG Backlash
Lucas Roberts

In the following guest post, Lucas Roberts, a Management Liability Broker for Burns & Wilcox, examines a recent coverage dispute in which a nonprofit organization unsuccessfully sought to have its insurer defend the organization in a civil rights lawsuit. My thanks to Lucas for allowing me to publish his article on this site. Here is Lucas’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Nonprofit with Zero Employees Handles Discrimination Claim Alone

During my panel, “Shifting Ground: D&O in a Changing World,” at the Professional Underwriting Liability Society (PLUS)’s annual D&O Symposium, I noted the potential for emerging risks stemming from the U.S. government’s recent role as a shareholder in publicly traded companies, including Intel Corp. (Intel).

On March 5, 2026, an Intel investor filed his Verified Stockholder Derivative Complaint in Delaware Court of Chancery against, among others, Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (Intel Derivative). Certain exhibits to the Intel Derivative were initially made public, with the lawsuit unsealed days later. The following discusses the Intel Derivative and potential corporate governance challenges that increased government equity ownership may raise for U.S. companies.

Continue Reading Intel Derivative Suit Tests Governance Implications of Government Equity Stakes

In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that President Trump lacked authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), the President defiantly issued an Executive Order imposing new global 10% tariffs (later raised to 15%) in reliance on the Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. No President previously has used Section 122 to impose tariffs. Now a coalition of 24 states’ Attorneys General and Governors has filed a lawsuit in the United States Court of International Trade against the President and certain of administration officials challenging the President’s Section 122 tariffs. The plaintiffs argue that the circumstances under which the President has authority under Section 122 to impose tariffs not only does not exist now, but has not existed for over 50 years following changes in the global monetary exchange system in the 1970s. The likelihood is that the President will have to find yet another basis on which he can impose tariffs – which he seems likely to continue to try to do.

Continue Reading State AGs Challenge President’s Trump’s Section 122 Tariffs

Global events have continued to encroach into the domestic world of corporate governance and D&O insurance. Historically, “geopolitical risk” was often considered a niche concern confined to specialized sectors like oil and gas, aerospace, or companies operating in high-risk, volatile regions. However, as the first quarter of 2026 comes to a close, two military conflicts, the war in Ukraine and the expanding military conflict in the Middle East, may have a direct impact on D&O liability and exposure. 

Continue Reading Geopolitical Whiplash and the Shifting Ground of D&O Liability
Times Square

The D&O Diary was on assignment this past week in New York City for the Professional Underwriting Liability Society (PLUS)’s annual D&O Symposium, held at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. It was great to once again see and meet with so many of our industry friends, who conveniently for us were all gathered together briefly in one place.

Continue Reading PLUS D&O Symposium in NYC

When I was in London last week, one of my friends there expressed concern that the various Epstein-related revelations involving company executives might lead to D&O claims. I confess that at the time I didn’t really see her point. However, as it has turned out, just days after that conversation, investors filed a new securities suit against Apollo Global Management and its founder and former CEO Leon Black based on Epstein-related allegations. The March 2, 2026, complaint (here) alleges that the defendants misled the company’s investors about the firm’s business dealing with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Continue Reading Epstein Disclosures-Related Securities Suit Filed Against Apollo, Leon Black

The SpaceX acquisition of xAI closed in early February 2026, creating a combined entity valued around $1.25 trillion and formalizing Elon Musk’s consolidation of rockets, satellites, AI infrastructure, and data platforms under one roof. From a governance and D&O perspective, the deal functions as a fiduciary stress test on the eve of a potential mega‑IPO later this year, with reporting indicating an IPO valuation target as high as $1.5 trillion. The transaction consolidates founder‑controlled entities and imports AI‑related litigation and regulatory risk into SpaceX’s operations, alongside a bold plan to build solar‑powered orbital data centers that would shift AI compute off‑planet. The discussion below highlights governance expectations, litigation exposure, and disclosure considerations D&O underwriters may weigh as the combined company approaches the public markets.

Continue Reading The SpaceX–xAI Merger
Salvatore Graziano

As readers may recall, in September, the SEC announced that it had revised its policy on whether prospective IPO companies may have their registration statement declared effective if the companies have mandatory arbitration bylaws, as discussed in detail here. In the following guest post, Salvatore Graziano, a partner in the Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLC law firm and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, provides his views on the SEC’s changed policy and suggests the implications the changed policy may have for D&O insurers. My thanks to Sal for allowing me to publish his article on this site. Here is Sal’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Will Allowing Companies to Block Shareholder Suits Create a D&O Mess?