On November 19, 2025, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) held a third working group session to present its implementing regulation proposals for SB 261 and SB 253. Shortly after the session started, the Ninth Circuit published an order that granted an injunction against the enforcement of SB 261, pending the ongoing appeal.
Continue Reading California Climate Rules: What To Do Pending the Ninth Circuit’s InjunctionCorporate Governance
SEC Announces Changes to Rule 14a-8 No-Action Letter Process
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance just announced that it will largely step back from the shareholder proposal no-action letter process for the current proxy season (October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026). The Division cited three reasons: resource constraints following the recent government shutdown, a high volume of registration statements competing for staff attention, and the extensive existing body of guidance already available to companies and proponents. The announcement aligns with the deregulatory approach we flagged in September when discussing potential reforms to the shareholder proposal process under the current SEC.
Continue Reading SEC Announces Changes to Rule 14a-8 No-Action Letter ProcessApplying A Retail Voting Program in Practice
By J.T. Ho, Helena K. Grannis & Kyle Pinder on
This article was authored by J.T. Ho and Helena K. Grannis from Cleary Gottlieb & Kyle Pinder from Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP.
On September 15, 2025, the Office of Mergers and Acquisitions of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance permitted a novel approach to increase retail shareholder voting when it granted a no action letter request from Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Continue Reading Applying A Retail Voting Program in PracticeHouse Financial Services Committee Previews Possible 14a-8 Reform
On September 10, 2025, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hosted a hearing titled “Proxy Power and Proposal Abuse: Reforming Rule 14a-8 to Protect Shareholder Value” to assess the shareholder proposal process, evaluate the influence of proxy advisory firms and highlight legislative solutions to limit shareholder proposals to material issues. The hearing comes at a time of enhanced regulatory scrutiny of the shareholder proposal process and could be indicative of future 14a-8 reform approaches under the SEC’s recently issued Spring 2025 Reg-Flex Agenda.
Continue Reading House Financial Services Committee Previews Possible 14a-8 ReformShareholder Engagement Considerations in light of Texas v. Blackrock
By Helena K. Grannis, Joseph M. Kay & Shuangjun Wang on
Posted in Blog Post, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Disclosure and Reporting, Enforcement, ESG
On Friday, the Court in Texas v. Blackrock issued an opinion largely denying defendants’ motion to dismiss, which allows a coalition of States to proceed with claims that BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard conspired to violate the antitrust laws by pressuring publicly traded coal companies to reduce output in connection with the investment firms’ ESG commitments. The Court found that the States plausibly alleged that defendants coordinated with one another, relying on allegations that they joined climate initiatives, made parallel public commitments, engaged with management of the public coal companies, and aligned proxy voting on disclosure issues. It is worth noting that, while the court viewed BlackRock’s, State Street’s, and Vanguard’s participation in Climate Action 100+ and NZAM as increasing the plausibility of the claim in favor of denying the motion to dismiss, the Court clarified that it was not opining that the parties conspired at Climate Action 100+ or NZAM.
Continue Reading Shareholder Engagement Considerations in light of Texas v. BlackrockSelected Issues for Boards of Directors in 2025
By Cleary Gottlieb on
Posted in AI, Antitrust, Boards of Directors, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Cybersecurity, Delaware Law, Disclosure and Reporting, Economic Sanctions and Foreign Investments, Enforcement, ERISA, ESG, Executive Compensation, Private Equity, SEC and Securities Laws, SEC Guidance, Shareholder Activism, Tax
2025 promises to be another turbulent year for boards of directors. On the heels of a historically unprecedented election, companies are still ramping up compliance with the ambitious agenda of the outgoing administration while simultaneously bracing for the changes promised by the next one. Against that backdrop, colleagues from across Cleary’s offices have zeroed-in on the impact of the issues that boards of directors and senior management of public companies have faced in the past year, as well as on what can be anticipated in the year to come.
Continue Reading Selected Issues for Boards of Directors in 2025Delaware Court of Chancery Finds Buyer Failed to Use Commercially Reasonable Efforts in Pharma Milestone Payment Case
Earnout provisions in acquisition agreements can be a useful tool in bridging the valuation gap by deferring portions of the purchase price until certain post-closing milestones are achieved, and they are particularly common in developmental-stage pharmaceutical transactions. Practitioners should take note of the September 5, 2024 opinion in Shareholder Representative Services LLC v. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in which the Delaware Court of Chancery held a buyer, Alexion, liable for breach of contract both for its failure to use commercially reasonable efforts to achieve milestones for which future earnout payments may have become due and for its failure to pay an earned milestone payment to selling securityholders of Syntimmune, Inc.[1]
Continue Reading Delaware Court of Chancery Finds Buyer Failed to Use Commercially Reasonable Efforts in Pharma Milestone Payment CaseSEC’s Final Climate-Related Disclosure Rules: A Closer Look at the Climate Note to Audited Financial Statements
On March 6, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved in a 3-2 vote final rules that require most reporting companies to provide certain climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports filed with the SEC. This memorandum summarizes a portion of the final rules, the amendments to Regulation S-X, as amended (Regulation S-X), under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), that require a new footnote in audited financial statements, analyzes some of the key challenges these requirements may impose and concludes with some general takeaways. This memorandum does not address the GHG emissions and attestation report disclosure requirements or the governance, business, risk and targets disclosure requirements set forth in the final rules’ amendments to Regulation S-K, as amended (Regulation S-K), under the Securities Act and Exchange Act.
Continue Reading SEC’s Final Climate-Related Disclosure Rules: A Closer Look at the Climate Note to Audited Financial StatementsUpdate on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
On Friday, March 15, 2024, the Council of the European Union reached an agreement on a final version of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CS3D”). The vote on an earlier version of the CS3D had been postponed several times after some Member States announced that they were going to abstain from voting. After further changes and compromises, the now agreed version obtain the required majority amongst Member States. The last step for the directive to enter into force now is for it to be approved by the European Parliament. The CS3D seeks to integrate human rights and environmental concerns into business operations and to promote sustainable and responsible business behavior along the supply chain and require the remaining Member States to implement the due diligence requirements it sets out into law.
Continue Reading Update on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence DirectiveFRC publishes updated UK Corporate Governance Code and Guidance
By Dan Tierney, Melissa Reid, Chrishan Raja & Augusta Wills on
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published an updated UK Corporate Governance Code (the Code), most of which will take effect from 1 January 2025. These revisions will replace the current version of the Code published in 2018.
Continue Reading FRC publishes updated UK Corporate Governance Code and Guidance