Just a quick update that on April 8, 2020, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS“) published policy guidance reflecting certain adjustments due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance addresses how ISS’s benchmark and voting policies may be applied in this new area of uncertainty. In many cases, the guidance merely reiterates that ISS will respond to corporate actions on a case-by-case basis. To address the topic, we published a client alert entitled “ISS Issues COVID-19 Guidance on Benchmark and Voting Policies.”
On a separate note, two of my partners (Steven Haas and Allen Goolsby) authored a client alert entitled “Should the Board Create a Special Committee to Oversee the Response to the Pandemic.” I found it interesting from a compensation perspective, and I am sharing for that reason.