New Compensation and Other Disclosure Requirements Expected

On Tuesday, January 17, 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission will hold an open meeting to consider proposing major changes to public company disclosures of compensation and governance information. We expect that the proposals submitted by the staff will be issued for public comment and eventually adopted, but not in time to apply to the current proxy season. However, the final rules will apply to future periods and issuers will be encouraged to comply voluntarily. We also expect institutional investors and the press to pressure companies to conform to new standards early as a matter of best practice. While it is too early to have any specifics about the new requirements, we encourage all our clients and friends to recognize that change is ahead, and begin to plan for it.