Highlights of the Securities Regulation Institute

At the 31st Annual Securities Regulation Institute sponsored by Northwestern University School of Law on January 21-24 in Coronado, CA, Martin Dunn, Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, spoke about the new disclosure requirements for proxy statements, including companies' obligation to disclose whether they have a nominating committee, and, if not, how the board of directors accomplished the functions generally performed by a nominating committee. Shelley E. Parratt, Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, addressed the recent development of LIVEDGAR providing its subscribers with online access to SEC staff comment letters and the companies' response letters. On the rulemaking front, panelists such as John Huber with Eatham & Watkins, Stanley Keller with Palmer & Dodge, and John Olson with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher spent a great deal of time analyzing how practitioners should handle many of the new rules and interpretive releases issued by the SEC.