Hey, everyone.  Two very quick hits today.  First, as any follower of this blog knows, I have been avidly following the Salzberg v. Sciabacucchi litigation (see prior posts here and here and here, etc), not because I care very much about whether corporations can select a federal forum for Section 11 claims, but because I think if corporations can use their charters and bylaws to select a federal forum for Section 11 claims, the next step is using charters and bylaws to adopt provisions requiring individualized arbitration of federal securities claims, and that opens up a whole new can of worms.  (For newcomers, my article on the subject of arbitration clauses in corporate charters and bylaws is here).

In any event, on Wednesday, the Delaware Supreme Court heard oral argument on federal forum provision issue. I don’t really have any insights about it – although the justices asked several questions at the beginning of each advocate’s presentation, they were, for the most part, quiet – but if you want to see for yourself, the video is here.

Additionally, last week I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with Sean Griffith and Adriana Robertson, moderated by Jeremy Kidd, about the role of mutual funds in corporate governance.  I’ll straight up admit that I don’t think I personally said anything you haven’t already heard from me in this space – either in a post or a plugged article (like, ahem, my Family Loyalty essay on conflicts among mutual funds within a single complex) – but the video is worth watching if only to hear the views of my co-panelists.  Sean describes his theory of when mutual funds should vote, and when they should abstain, or pass through their votes to retail shareholders (articulated in more detail in his paper, here), while Adriana discusses her research about how indexes don’t really differ all that much from active management.  It’s definitely a treat to hear them describe their work (and to hear Adriana talk about her upcoming project at the very end.)