As we head into the 2016 proxy season, we thought it was appropriate to share this client alert, written by Dean Hanley, Paul Bork, and Jennifer Audeh, originally published late last year by the firm’s Corporate Finance & Securities practice.
In October 2015, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued Staff Legal Bulletin No.… More
Attorneys in Foley Hoag’s Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) practice and the U.N. Environment Programme Finance Initiative (“UNEP FI”) recently collaborated on a report analyzing the implications of the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for the banking sector. A copy of the report is available here.
In addition to assessing the implications of the U.N. Guiding Principles, the report evaluates existing national and international human rights laws and the extent to which these existing laws may create potential liabilities for banks and/or their officers.… More
On December 11, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a new proposed rule to implement a key provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that targets corruption and increases transparency requirements for payments made to foreign governments by the oil, gas, and mining industries.
The SEC voted to re-propose rule 13q-1 and proposed an amended form SD to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.… More
This post, written by Teresa Martland, Mark Barnett, and Jeff Collins, was originally published as a client alert.
New guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) clarifies the role of environmental, social and governance issues (referred to as “ESG factors”) in investment decisions by ERISA fiduciaries. ERISA Interpretive Bulletin 2015-01 recognizes that ESG factors,… More
A District Court judge in California has dismissed a complaint against Nestlé USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina Petcare Co. (together “Nestlé”) which argued that the company was obligated to inform consumers that seafood in its catfood products may have been sourced from forced labor. Plaintiffs alleged violations of the California Unfair Competition Law, the Legal Remedies Act, and the California False Advertising Law.
Specifically, plaintiffs stated that they would not have purchased the company’s products if they had been informed that the seafood in those products was linked to forced labor,… More