Robert B. Lamm

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Each January, I depart from my admittedly nerdy focus on SEC and governance matters to communicate with you on one of my other admittedly nerdy pursuits – reading – by providing a list of my 10 favorite books of the prior year, five works of fiction and five of non-fiction.  As always, the list is comprised of books I read during the year gone by, rather than books published during the year.

By way of an overview, much of the fiction I read last year was just so-so, and while I really liked the works of fiction listed below, it was an easier choice than has been the case for the last couple of years (e.g., The Underground Railroad or A Gentleman in Moscow).  In the non-fiction category, I seem to have focused on biographies and memoirs even more than last year, as four of my five non-fiction works were in this category.

Here goes:
Continue Reading My 10 Best Books of 2018

This posting is a reprint of an article, co-authored by Bob Lamm and David Scileppi, that appeared in the Daily Business Review on July 15, 2016.    

Recent months have been difficult for the initial public offering market. In fact, year-to-date, IPOs are down nearly 60 percent compared to last year. One of the bright spots in this IPO down market has been Sensus Healthcare Inc., a Boca Raton-based medical device company.

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We are proud to have worked with Sensus Healthcare on its IPO, which priced on June 2; Sensus is now listed on NASDAQ under the SRTSU symbol.

Though we’ve worked on numerous offerings over the course of our careers, the Sensus transaction reminded us of some key things that companies should consider as they proceed toward an IPO.
Continue Reading Top Five Considerations in a Challenging IPO Market

This time I’m not writing about disclosure or governance. Rather, I’m posting my annual list of my 10 favorite books. For those of you who haven’t seen these lists before, (1) I apologize if this seems hubristic (or “braggadocious”, if you will) – I do it because some folks have told me they like it; and (2) the list involves books that I happened to read (or re-read) in 2015, not necessarily books that were published in 2015.

I didn’t encounter lots of great fiction last year; for me, the great books were non-fiction. Let’s see if the trend continues in the New Year.

So here goes (in order of preference):Continue Reading My top 10 for 2015

I have read several reports quoting Mary Jo White, Chair of the SEC, as saying that the remaining Dodd-Frank corporate governance rulemakings will be out by year-end.  Admittedly, the reports aren’t clear as to what Chair White means.   Does she mean that the so-called pay ratio rule will be adopted in final form by year-end (in which case the disclosures wouldn’t be required until 2016)?  Or that by year-end the Commission will have proposed rules on hedging, clawbacks and pay-for-performance?  All of the above?  It’s anyone’s guess.

I have also read the daily emails I receive from the SEC entitled “Upcoming Events Update.”  (I get several of these “Updates” every day, even though they are identical and don’t seem to have been updated at all.  For those of you who don’t get these emails, they purport to announce things like every meeting of the SEC and every speech to be given by Commissioners and Staff members.)  For the last month or two, no open meetings of the SEC have been scheduled (and it’s virtually impossible for these rules to be proposed or adopted otherwise than at an open meeting).  So when I saw today that
Continue Reading My inaugural Uptick: How about never? Does never work for you?

Bob Lamm's Golden Nugget's of Corporate Governance
Photo by Eric Roy/ Golden Nugget Casino, Las Vegas, late 80’s.

On September 30, Bob Lamm moderated a panel at a “Say-on-Pay Workshop” held during the 11th Annual Executive Compensation Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Conference is an annual event sponsored by TheCorporateCounsel.net and CompensationStandards.com – and emceed by our good friend, Broc Romanek – and features many of the pre-eminent practitioners in corporate governance and securities law. 

The panel, entitled “50 Nuggets in 75 Minutes,” may just be the CLE equivalent of speed dating – each of five panelists covers 10 “nuggets” – practical and other takeaways to help them do their jobs better – in a 75-minute panel.

Here are Bob’s 10 “nuggets,” reprinted courtesy of the Conference sponsors and Broc. 

1.    Engagement is a Two-Way Street – At this stage of the game, shareholder engagement is – or should be – a given, and one of a company’s normal responsibilities.  Along with that is the mantra “engage early and often”; in other words, don’t wait until you are faced with a negative vote recommendation to start reaching out to your major holders. 

What may not be part of the mantra is that engagement is a two-way street.  Your job (and that of your colleagues and even some directors) is to
Continue Reading 10 nuggets on corporate governance hot topics

Waiting for the results of the JOBS Act?
Photo by Gueorgui Tcherednitchenko

President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law on April 5, 2012 amid much fanfare and optimism. Small and medium sized fast-growing technology companies and their executives were especially sanguine about this new act as it appeared that it would provide access to much-needed additional expansion capital. These companies were still reeling from the recession and the substantial reduction in available venture capital financing, and they saw the JOBS Act as a potentially positive event. A little more than two years later, has this initial optimism proved to be warranted? Let’s take a look at some of the provisions of the Act.

A new regulatory structure for crowdfunding was initially the most anticipated provision of the JOBS Act. I never believed that crowdfunding would be as beneficial as some people did, but I hoped that it could provide some additional access to capital for smaller companies which were starved for funds. Unfortunately we are still waiting for the SEC’s final crowdfunding regulations. The SEC appears to be caught between two complaining factions here – one which thinks the proposed rules are too restrictive and won’t work, and one which thinks
Continue Reading The JOBS Act – Any results yet?

Looking into the future of changes to corporate governanceInterest in corporate governance has increased exponentially over the last several years, as has shareholder and governmental pressure – often successful – for companies to change how they are governed.  Since 2002, we’ve seen Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, higher and sometimes passing votes on a wide variety of shareholder proposals, and rapid growth in corporate efforts to speak with investors.  And that’s just for starters.   

These developments represent the latest iteration of what has become part of our normal business cycle – scandals (e.g., Enron, WorldCom, Madoff, derivatives), followed by significant declines in stock prices, resulting in public outrage, reform, litigation, and shareholder activism.   Now that the economy is rebounding, should we anticipate a return to “normalcy” (whatever that may be)?  Are we back to “business as usual”? 

Gazing into a crystal ball can be risky, but I’m going to take a chance and say “no.”  While our economic problems have abated, I believe that the past is prologue – in other words, we’re going to continue to see more of the same: investor pressure on companies, legislation and regulation seeking a wide variety of corporate reforms, and the like.  Some more specific predictions follow: 

  • Increased Focus on Small- and Mid-Cap Companies:  Investors have picked most if not all of the low-hanging governance fruit from large-cap companies.  Sure, there are some issues that may generate heat and some corporate “outliers” that investors will continue to attack.  However, most big companies have long since adopted such reforms as majority voting in uncontested director elections, elimination of supermajority votes and other anti-takeover provisions, and shareholder ability to call special meetings, to name just a few.  If investors (and their partners, the proxy advisory firms) are to continue to grow,
    Continue Reading The shape of things to come in corporate governance