Our Public Companies & Corporate Governance practice brings together experienced lawyers from the firm’s Corporate & Securities, Emerging Companies & Venture Capital, Regulatory & Investigations, White Collar Defense & Compliance, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practices. We help both private and public companies achieve their financing goals while establishing and maintaining a comprehensive governance framework that allows directors and senior managers to guide their organizations in an increasingly complex and interconnected global environment. We count among our Mayer Brown colleagues partners who have held senior positions at key regulatory bodies and have worked on major rule-making initiatives in areas directly impacting public companies and their reporting and governance obligations.
Mayer Brown lawyers are experienced in all aspects of governance counseling throughout a company’s life cycle. We partner with boards of directors and management to determine the appropriate organizational structure for their companies. We offer both bespoke and pre-packaged training for prospective and current directors, officers, and management teams; sessions for private companies; and sessions for companies preparing for life as a public company through Mayer Brown’s Director College. Learn more.
As part of our Public Companies & Corporate Governance practice, we provide guidance on the allocation of responsibilities among directors, board committees and senior management and develop appropriate governance documents, policies and procedures reflecting stock exchange requirements and evolving investor concerns. We advise on voting and other governance rights of shareholders, as well as best practices relating to other matters, including, but not limited to, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion, human capital management and other ESG matters; required disclosures; stock repurchases; trading plans; recapitalization and restructuring transactions; dividend policies; liability management activities; executive compensation and stock-based compensation plans; financing activities; and stock ownership reporting requirements.
For decades, our market-leading Capital Markets and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital lawyers have advised on securities offerings, including IPOs, follow-on offerings of equity and debt, and private placement and exempt offerings. Our securities lawyers advise on capital raising activities and listing requirements, as well as on liquidity opportunities, such as IPOs, initial business combinations with SPACs and M&A transactions. We also assist with the development of investor relations strategies and support shareholder communications and outreach activities, counseling on earnings calls, investor outreach and shareholder engagement efforts, including with respect to shareholder proposals. Mayer Brown is included in Chambers Global’s Finance & Capital Markets (International & Cross-Border) table and ranked by The Legal 500 US as a leading law firm for Capital Markets: Equity, Global, Debt and High Yield offerings.