On the Front Lines of Corporate
Governance Reform

In our practice and in the larger arena of public policy, Labaton Sucharow has been leading corporate governance reform efforts for more than a decade. We are deeply committed to securing, through litigation and scholarship, innovations and improvements in corporate structures that bring about transparency in business operations and better accountability and responsibility on the part of officers and directors.


Compelling Reform from Corporate Defendants

For many of our clients, improving flawed corporate governance structures is as important as securing monetary recoveries for past harms. To that end, when our team considers bringing a case involving allegations of corporate wrongdoing, we do more than weigh the economic harm committed—we also focus on those areas in which we can have the greatest impact on changing the corporate behavior that resulted in shareholder harm.

On behalf of the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, we obtained innovative corporate governance improvements in the settlement of the In re Waste Management, Inc. Securities Litigation case, which included measures to strengthen the role and independence of the audit committee, improve accountability through a change in the board structure, and protect whistleblowers.

We also obtained key corporate governance concessions in a major securities litigation against Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., including the mandate that the company disclose crucial information regarding the results of clinical studies on all of its drugs marketed in any country throughout the world.

Our corporate governance experience encompasses matters involving compensation, director independence, disclosure, and voting of shares. With each case, we consider the concerns of shareholders, and try to compel the adoption of the recommendations of corporate governance experts.


Leading the Charge

Urgency drives our sense of purpose. In recent years, the public has witnessed unfettered corporate greed and misconduct that has eroded the integrity of the marketplace and the public’s trust in it. As a matter of policy, we seek to restore that trust. Indeed, in addition to our work on behalf of individual clients, Labaton Sucharow has been at the forefront of a movement toward greater shareholder activism and rigorous governance reform, using scholarship and education, as well as our experience in the trenches of litigation, to enhance corporate responsibility.

The Firm is a founding member of the Institute for Law and Economic Policy (ILEP), one of the most influential organizations in the area of corporate governance. ILEP brings together the SEC and other leading government and self-regulatory officials, judges, scholars and policymakers to review and recommend change in the governance of public companies. ILEP’s symposium law review articles have been cited by a number of renowned judges in the United States, including a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. A Labaton Sucharow senior partner, Edward Labaton, has served as President of ILEP since its founding more than 10 years ago.

The Firm is also a Patron of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance of the University of Delaware, and is active in the task force of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, which is drafting recommendations on lawyers’ roles in corporate governance.

Chairman Lawrence A. Sucharow was selected by his peers to serve as President of the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys (NASCAT), a membership organization of approximately 100 law firms that practice class action and complex civil litigation. Through the aegis of NASCAT, the Firm continues to advocate against those who would legislatively seek to weaken shareholders’ rights, including their right to obtain compensation through the legal system.

Labaton Sucharow will continue to be on the front line to reform and restructure the corporate environment in order to bring about improved accountability and responsibility—for the benefit of our clients, the financial markets, and the greater public.