Last week, a California Superior Court in Los Angeles County delivered this Crest v. Padilla decision that found that the California law requiring that California-headquartered companies have a minimum number of women directors – known as “SB 826” – violates the California Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. This decision comes on the heels of a lengthy non-jury trial.

This decision – combined with last month’s decision by another judge in the same court that struck down California’s other board diversity law (“AB 979”) – means that California no longer has any currently effective board diversity laws. It’s unknown whether either of these court decisions will be appealed by the State of California.

Of course, investors – and proxy advisors – are still keen that boards be diversified on gender and racial grounds, so this pair of court decisions may not really impact much in terms of current board diversification trends.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Allison Handy Allison Handy

Allison Handy is the firmwide co-chair of the Corporate & Securities practice. Her extensive experience includes advising public and private companies in connection with corporate governance practices, disclosure issues, and capital markets transactions, such as equity offerings, debt offerings and tender offers. She…

Allison Handy is the firmwide co-chair of the Corporate & Securities practice. Her extensive experience includes advising public and private companies in connection with corporate governance practices, disclosure issues, and capital markets transactions, such as equity offerings, debt offerings and tender offers. She is also a leader of the firm’s Environmental, Social, and Governance advisory team.

Allison provides counsel to companies on a broad range of issues faced by management and directors in connection with the many compliance aspects of securities laws, including governance rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and stock exchanges. She advises boards and committees in matters related to internal investigations and the efforts of shareholder activists, and works closely with in-house counsel, financial personnel, and outside auditors and advisors to help her clients prepare proxy statements and other reports to investors that meet complex disclosure obligations.

Read more about Allison Handy
Show more Show less