Our Hall Of Shame For VSM “Bounders”

Topping our 2020 Hall of Shame list is the Transfer Agent that advised all its clients to postpone their Annual Meetings until July at the earliest…simply because they were not able to handle the work involved…and shamelessly implying that this advice was pursuant to SEC guidance. No need to name them, even though they are also the winner of our 2020 “Ficklefinger Award” - since we are sure that every client with an ounce of common sense will turn that ficklefinger they got completely around on the flicker and realize that they need to have a better-prepared and more trustworthy transfer agent.

Number-two in our Hall of Shame is a prominent west-coast law firm that was advising clients that if they could not hold their in-person meeting as planned, they HAD TO HAVE a Virtual-Only meeting. No need to name them either, since if we add that if one says “generally considered to be the least knowledgeable big law firm on the west coast” 99% of west-coasters will immediately come up with their name.

The third winner is another big bi-coastal law firm that was advising clients in NY and CA that the online votes at VSMs needed to be recorded as “Votes in Person” rather than as “Votes by Proxy.” (To be fair, we thought so too, at first…but then took the trouble to review the actual process. The control number that ‘beneficial owners’ must enter authorizes their bank or broker to cast the votes, since they can not legally do so themselves… unless they get a Legal Proxy and vote by ballot.)