Companies today face challenging terrain, given increased regulation worldwide, heightened disclosure requirements and more rigorous enforcement practices. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP advises public and private companies, boards of directors, committees and senior management on corporate governance best practices to proactively manage risk and seize upon opportunities. We work seamlessly with our policy and regulation practice to help companies address the full scope of their business and industry considerations. Our team consistently ranks among the top U.S. corporate law firms in an annual survey by Corporate Board Member of senior officers and directors of U.S. publicly traded companies.
Our deep bench of securities and corporate governance practitioners, including lawyers who formerly held positions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global regulatory agencies, routinely partner with clients to develop forward-thinking governance programs. We act as outside general counsel to publicly traded companies and provide ongoing counsel in connection with disclosure requirements and SEC filings, public offerings and capital markets activities, fiduciary duties and the shareholder relations policies. We also help clients comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act.
We have substantial experience advising public companies and their constituents in the transactional context. We provide advice on high-profile public company transactions and have a strong reputation in the representation of companies, boards and special committees as they consider significant transactions.
Akin Gump is often consulted by corporations and individuals in connection with inquiries and investigations by the SEC, NASD, NYSE, Nasdaq and Congress, as well as with discreet internal investigations.
Our corporate governance and public company representation team advises clients in connection with—
- corporate governance, including compliance and ethics programs
- audit, compensation and nominating committee practices
- reporting and disclosure obligations
- board of directors matters
- independent director representations
- special committee representations in connection with interested party, strategic and change of control transactions
- public offerings and corporate finance activities, including IPOs
- mergers, acquisitions and dispositions
- shareholder proposals, demands and other activism
- director fiduciary duties
- executive compensation (including “say-on-pay” and “say-when-on-pay”)
- internal investigations
- governmental inquiries and investigations
- crisis management
- compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank
- compliance with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Anti-Bribery Act
- charter and bylaw amendments
- securities enforcement and litigation.