The Most Influential People in Corporate Governance

by Scott Hirst, for The Harvard Law School Forum at Harvard Law School, March 25, 2010.

A review of the most recent Directorship 100 list – a list of the most influential people in corporate governance put together each year by Directorship magazine – indicates that individuals affiliated with Harvard Law School and its Program on Corporate Governance play a central role in the corporate governance landscape.

The Directorship 100 list includes such well-known figures as President Barack Obama, Chairman Barney Frank, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, activist investor Carl Ichan and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. The Forum was pleased to learn that the list includes thirty-four individuals who are (i) HLS faculty and fellows, (ii) Members of the Advisory Board of the Program on Corporate Governance, (iii) Guest Contributors to the HLS Forum, and/or (iv) Harvard Law School grads.  The “Harvard Thirty-Four” are as follows (for HLS alums, the year in parenthesis refers to graduation year):

• Harvard faculty and fellows: Professors Lucian Bebchuk (‘80) and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Vice-Chancellor Leo Strine, Jr., a Senior Fellow of the Program on Corporate Governance…(continue reading)

The Harvard Law School Proxy Access Roundtable: The Transcript

by Scott Hirst, for The Harvard Law School Forum at Harvard Law School, January 25, 2010.

The Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance recently released as a working paper the transcript of the Program’s Proxy Access Roundtable, which was held late last year.  The working paper containing the transcript is available here. The editors, Lucian Bebchuk and Scott Hirst, have also submitted the transcript to the Securities and Exchange Commission as a comment on the Commission’s proposed rule on proxy access, Facilitating Shareholder Director Nominations, and hope that it will be a useful contribution as the Commission considers rulemaking on the subject.

The Roundtable brought together prominent participants in the debate – representing a range of perspectives and experiences – for a day of discussion on the subject.  The day’s first two sessions focused on the question of whether the Securities and Exchange Commission should provide an access regime, or whether it should leave the adoption of access arrangements, if any, to private ordering on a company-by-company basis. The third session focused on how a proxy access regime should be designed, assuming the Securities and Exchange Commission were to adopt such an access regime. The final session went beyond proxy access and focused on whether there are any further changes to the arrangements governing corporate elections that should be considered. Further information about the Roundtable is available here.  The transcript was edited by the participants and the editors, with the aim of retaining the spirit of the Roundtable while ensuring that the message of each participant is clearly and accurately conveyed to readers…(continue reading)