In September 2025, the SEC issued a policy statement that opens the door to provisions in companies’ governing documents mandating arbitration of securities claims. Last month, Marsh’s Philip Reed and I discussed the challenges, pros and cons, and winners and losers of this development. The two videos of our discussion are in these LinkedIn posts:
D&O Insurance Brokers
The Future of Securities Litigation Defense
I. Introduction
I’ve seen many changes during the more than 30 years I’ve defended securities class actions. The types of claims have evolved. From the indiscriminate claims that led Congress to pass the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“Reform Act”), to the IPO laddering claims of the late 1990s, to the corporate-scandal claims…
Restoring Zeal in Securities Class Action Mediations
In my May post, Making Better Judgments about Summary Judgment in Securities Class Actions, I discussed how we can pick more cases to defend through summary judgment. But, of course, the vast majority of cases will still settle, so we need to discuss how to improve mediation outcomes.
Far too often, defense counsel sets…
Making Better Judgments about Summary Judgment in Securities Class Actions
“Securities litigation” isn’t really “litigation” anymore. For the first 15 years of my career, securities class actions that were not dismissed would head into litigation, where we would test class certification, map out our summary judgment motion, and engage in fact discovery designed to establish the facts we needed to prevail on the merits. A…
D&O Discourse is 11 Years Old
I started the D&O Discourse blog in October 2012 to generate discussion among the repeat players in securities and corporate governance litigation: insurers, brokers, mediators, economists, plaintiffs’ counsel, and defense counsel. While I share opinions from a defense-counsel perspective, I call it like I see it.
Here are five of my favorite posts – well…
The State of Securities Litigation: Good Communication is Key to Improving Securities Litigation Outcomes
I am evangelical about the importance of defense counsel working collegially with D&O insurers and brokers – the repeat players in securities and governance litigation – in the defense of litigation against our common clients. In the big picture, this type of collegiality is the key to putting “litigation” back in “securities litigation” and to…
The State of Securities Litigation
In 2012, I started the D&O Discourse blog to have a discussion among the repeat players in securities and corporate governance litigation: insurers, brokers, mediators, economists, plaintiffs’ counsel, and defense counsel. I share opinions from the defense-counsel perspective, but I call it like I see it. For example, in a post in anticipation of the…
PLUS D&O Symposium: Contingent Liability Insurance for Securities Class Action Trials
It was a great honor to moderate a Professional Liability Underwriting Society D&O Symposium panel on the ability of Contingent Liability (CL) insurance to improve outcomes in securities class actions (SCA).
Randy Hein, President of Berkley Transactional (Berkley Professional Liability), pioneer of CL for SCAs; Kara Altenbaumer-Price, executive risk broker at…
Is Blue Apron a Silver Bullet?
In Salzberg, et al. v. Sciabacucchi, No. 346, 2019 (Del. Mar. 18, 2020) (“Blue Apron”), the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the facial validity of federal-forum provisions (FFPs) in a Delaware corporation’s certificate of incorporation requiring actions arising under the Securities Act of 1933 to be filed exclusively in federal court. Here is Kevin LaCroix’s…
Can We Talk?
Last month, D&O insurance lawyer John McCarrick and D&O insurance executive Paul Schiavone published a guest post on Kevin LaCroix’s blog, The D&O Diary, titled “Is it Time to Revisit the Scope of D&O Coverage?” John and Kevin’s post has triggered response posts from four policyholder advocates: Kevin of RT ProExec (response…