2018 was a transformative year for corporate governance. Record whistleblower awards, an increasing number internal investigations partly arising out of the #MeToo movement, an expansion of the role of companies’ boards, and corporate social responsibility all shaped 2018. This is our retrospective review of these trends.

 Record Whistleblower Tips and Awards and Possible Changes

Companies

On March 19, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its highest ever Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) bounty awards to three whistleblowers. These SEC awards represent a new milestone in the SEC’s ongoing efforts to incentivize would-be whistleblowers to report unlawful conduct directly to the Commission. Two whistleblowers will divide a nearly $50 million award

The Trump Administration believes that Obama-era guidance regarding sexual assault on college campuses created a “failed system” that was a “disservice to everyone involved,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said on September 7, 2017. According to DeVos, “There must be a better way forward.”

Enacted in 1972, Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently released its enforcement results for fiscal year 2016.  In FY 2016, the CFTC filed 68 enforcement actions and obtained restitution, disgorgement and penalty orders totaling approximately $1.29 billion.  The CFTC collected and deposited at the U.S. Treasury over $484 million in civil monetary penalties, nearly double the

Senator Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General would be tough on urban crime, corporate wrongdoers, and immigration violations. An analysis of his recent Senate confirmation testimony, record as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, and public comments as a U.S. Senator, provides a picture of some of the prosecution priorities that Sessions is