News & Events

Corporate Partner A.J. Kess was quoted in Law360 in connection with the SEC’s formal adoption of a rule that will compel public companies to disclose the ratio between their chief executives’ annual total compensation and median employee pay. A.J. discussed a new front that may emerge in federal appeals court regarding the rule and noted the different approaches used by Republican and Democratic SEC members who voted to adopt the new pay ratio rule. "You could literally see Gallagher and Piwowar setting up the litigation strategy," said A.J., commenting on the SEC’s two Republican dissenters, Daniel Gallagher and Michael Piwowar. With regard to majority of the Commissioners who approved the rule, A.J. said, "You could see them really focusing on their efforts to minimize the costs. They were going out of their way to show they were being thoughtful and deliberate." 

Corporate Associate Yafit Cohn was quoted in MarketWatch and Press Examiner.  Yafit, discussing the SEC’s anticipated adoption of the rule, remarked, “Compliance with the pay ratio rule has been estimated to cost the private sector hundreds of millions of dollars a year, with no discernible benefit to investors.” She added that “the SEC itself acknowledged in its proposing release that ‘the lack of a specific market failure identified as motivating the enactment of this provision poses significant challenges in quantifying potential economic benefits, if any, from the pay ratio disclosure.’”