Recent regulatory responses to the corporate and mutual fund scandals create new issues and challenges for independent directors of mutual funds and public companies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, recent SEC initiatives and the new corporate governance standards at the stock exchanges and NASDAQ have changed the way that independent directors approach their duties.
This timely issue will be the focus this month of a Boston Bar Association (BBA) CLE seminar titled Corporate Governance Update: Governing in the Shadow of Scandal.
The program will take place Tuesday, April 6 from 4 to 7 p.m. at The BBA Conference Center, 16 Beacon Street, Boston.
Two panel discussions will address the consequence of these reforms for mutual fund and public company directors and the attorneys who represent them.
Discussion topics will include:
The evolving role and duties of independent directors and trustees;
The mutual fund market timing scandal;
Current congressional and SEC initiatives for mutual funds;
Understanding the new NYSE and NASDAQ listing standards;
The increasing role of state enforcement agencies on corporate governance.
The co-chairs for the early evening seminar are Daniel P. Barry, Baring Asset Management, and Renee M. Jones, professor, Boston College Law School.
Among the speakers are Madeleine McGrath Blake, SEC; Steven N. Fuller, Nixon Peabody LLP, and Christopher F. Robertson, Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
Consult the Bulletin Board in this issue for details on registration fees.
For reservations, call (617) 742-0615 or access www.bostonbar.org.
