United States: Corporate/Commercial Law

In recent remarks on April 28, 2026 at the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, Paul S. Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), discussed the current IPO market and how the SEC’s regulatory posture has shaped decision-making for companies. Chairman Atkins argued that “decades of accretive rulemaking…have made the path to becoming a public company narrower” and have similarly had a detrimental effect on the ability to remain a public company.

Recently, the Delaware Court of Chancery held in Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System v. Glenn Sanford, et al. (“eXp”) that officers’ and directors’ fiduciary oversight obligations may extend to the investigation and remediation of workplace sexual misconduct and that a failure to respond adequately in good faith to such claims may constitute a breach of fiduciary duty under the Caremark doctrine.

On 18 May 2026, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rescinded the rule barring settling defendants from publicly denying the agency’s allegations. The policy, in place since 1972, effectively silenced settling defendants on pain of having their cases reopened. Now, defendants can publicly dispute SEC allegations, including under existing consent judgments.