A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

Plus, your weekly Career Tracker.

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

The U.S. securities regulator said it would allow companies seeking to go public to require that investors resolve claims of fraud or other false statements through arbitration rather than court litigation, handing a victory to companies and weakening investor rights.

The SEC voted 3-1 along party lines to reverse a long-standing but unwritten SEC policy in which the agency blocked the Wall Street debuts of companies that want to ban shareholder class action lawsuits in their charters and bylaws.

"The commission is not a merit regulator that decides whether a company's particular method of resolving disputes with its shareholders is good or bad," SEC Chair Paul Atkins said at a public meeting. The SEC issued a policy statement, rather than a formal rule, meaning it is not subject to public notice and comment.

Caroline Crenshaw, the commission's lone remaining Democrat, lambasted the new policy, saying it would "open the floodgates" to mandatory arbitration, denying many shareholders their rights while allowing companies to keep their alleged misconduct in the shadows. If harmed investors cannot band together in a class action, thereby sharing their legal costs, many simply won't sue at all, she added.

Read more from Douglas Gillison.

In New York: Clifford Chance hired private equity partner Andrea Gede-Lange from Fried Frank … Davis Polk brought on Oran Ebel from Blackstone Credit & Insurance … Cahill added former ING deputy general counsel Gary Kalbaugh to launch a commodities, futures and derivatives practice … Clifford Chance hired former Pillsbury partner Shellka Arora-Cox to its energy and infrastructure finance team … Tarter Krinsky & Drogin picked up litigation partner David Lackowitz and Zaid Shukri from Moses & Singer … Akerman tapped corporate partner Matt Hendy from Davies … Bracewell expanded its energy and infrastructure practices with partners Jeeseon Ahn from McDermott, Jared Joyce-Schleimer from Orrick and Jason Lewis from Winston & Strawn … Mayer Brown added energy project finance partner Elina Coss in New York and London from Wilson Sonsini. 

In D.C.: Jenner & Block tapped former U.S. Department of the Treasury official Rachel Alpert as co-chair of its national security and crisis practice and the human rights and global strategy practice … Paul Weiss added partners David Higbee, Ben Gris and Djordje Petkoski from A&O Shearman, where Higbee was global head of antitrust … Baker McKenzie hired former King & Spalding partner Sumon Dantiki as co-chair of its national security practice … The firm also brought on former IRS official Jennifer Best … Former U.S. Department of Commerce official Blake Roberts joined Eversheds Sutherland to co-lead its congressional investigations practice … Former Sequoia Capital chief legal and policy officer Don Vieira moved to Skadden … Hooper, Lundy & Bookman hired Eric Fish, who was chief legal officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards …Brooke Poole Clark, former general counsel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, joined Morgan Lewis … Womble Bond Dickinson added white collar and investigations partner David DiBari from Clifford Chance.

In Los Angeles: Weil picked up litigation partners Adam Fee and Bo Pearl from Paul Hastings … Morrison Foerster tapped litigation partner Edward Chang from Jones Day … Mayer Brown hired energy project finance partner Trevor Shelton from Vinson & Elkins.

In London: K&L Gates picked up asset management partner Marianna Tothova from Dechert … Reed Smith hired international arbitration partner Michael Darowski from McDermott … Orrick added partners Anna Howell, who will lead its oil and gas practice, and Mitasha Chandok from Gibson Dunn … Cadwalader brought on private wealth partner Matthew Sperry in London and New York.

In Boston: Paul Hastings hired private equity partner James Curley from Goodwin and added corporate partner Benjamin Stein from Morgan