Just Released: Text of Dodd-Frank Act; Also Released: Video of My Singing Act!

In this post, I report on the final financial reform bill from the Conference Committee in Washington. And then I start to sing (see video link below)!

After an all-night session last week, the Conference Committee passed the final version of what is now called the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act”. Title IX of the Act includes the corporate governance and executive compensation provisions (contained in Subtitle E, starting on page 207). The Act still needs to be passed by both houses and signed into law. In the coming days, I'll be blogging about specific provisions, including mandatory Say-on-Pay and granting authority to the SEC to adopt proxy access rules. The final version of the Act gives the SEC the authority to exempt certain companies (possibly including smaller companies) from these requirements, and the SEC will be “filling in the blanks” in these and other provisions. It promises to be an interesting year of rulemaking.

I Sing “My Attorney Bernie”

Last week, I performed as part of the “Lawyers With (More Than Legal) Talent” competition, which capped off the Minnesota State Bar Association Convention. I didn’t win (the winners were two Minnesota District Court judges). But I had a great time, and so did everyone else. My song was the hilarious “My Attorney Bernie”, written by Dave Frishberg. In my introduction, I said that this song is about the greatest “client testimonial” ever received by an attorney.