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3 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
The under-pricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) has puzzled researchers for decades. First-day returns average around 15 percent, translating into billions of dollars left on the table by issuers and picked up by investors allocated shares in the IPO. The literature has found support for two broad theories explaining this phenomenon.
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3 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
For the month when Paul Atkins was sworn in as SEC Chairman, we examine: The SEC’s position that “Covered Stablecoins” are not securities under federal securities law; An SEC victory in the Fifth Circuit regarding the imposition of a receivership over entities owned by a real estate investor accused of misappropriation; A grant of summary judgment against a would-be North Carolina real estate developer; An SEC action against the founder of a crypto asset and foreign exchange trading company;...
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4 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, particularly large language models, are quickly becoming integral to financial advising. Recent evidence, however, demonstrates that they can act against investors’ interests. In a 2023 experiment,researchers deployed GPT‑4 as an autonomous trading agent and found that it executed an insider trade and then concealed the reason, evidence that sophisticated models can engage in deceptive, market‑abusive conduct without explicit prompts.
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4 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
Chairman Hagerty, Ranking Member Reed, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.[1]I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our important mission on behalf of our fellow citizens, investors, and taxpayers. I also appreciate the opportunity as well to speak to some of my priorities as Chairman.
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5 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
In recent years, legal scholars and economists have debated whether the rise of “common ownership” by large institutional investors dampens competition. The concern is that when asset managers such as the Big Three – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – hold stakes in multiple competing companies, they might encourage those firms to compete less aggressively with one another or even collude.
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5 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Deputy Attorney General issued a memorandum (the “Memo”) announcing a Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (the “Initiative”) and instructing the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to pursue False Claims Act (“FCA”) enforcement against “any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” The Memo, among other things, includes the following: Establishes an internal DOJ team that will coordinate with other federal and state agencies “to...
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6 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
In August 2024, Delaware enacted what are widely considered the most significant and controversial amendments to the state’s corporate statute in at least a generation. Principally, those amendments exalt freedom of contract over what was, in the words of the Delaware Supreme Court, a “cardinal precept” of corporate law: that the business and affairs of every corporation are managed by its board of directors.
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6 days ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
On May 20, 2025, New York’s highest court affirmed dismissal of a shareholder derivative lawsuit against officers and directors of Barclays PLC—a bank holding company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales and headquartered in London.
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1 week ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
The startup ecosystem fuels America’s economy in ways few other sectors can match. It has also ridden waves of boom and bust, with periods of explosive growth followed by cool-downs. During these market downturns, capital becomes scarce and investors must make difficult decisions about which startups in their portfolios deserve continued support.
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1 week ago | 
clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu | John Coffee |Hillary Sale |Susan Morse |Miriam Baer
Channeling the old adage of “fake it ‘till you make it,” today’s statement from the Division of Corporation Finance declares that “protocol staking” – locking up crypto tokens in a blockchain protocol to earn rewards – does not involve an investment contract. Therefore, staff concludes, protocol staking activities, whether performed by an individual or a third-party service on behalf of customers, are not securities subject to SEC jurisdiction.
