By Steve Quinlivan, David Jenson, Bryan Pitko and Diana Rosia ( September 1, 2017, 2:22 PM EDT) -- We encourage public companies to begin planning for the upcoming proxy season early in the fall of 2017. With the change in administrations, several recent regulatory initiatives appear to have been abandoned and the near-term applicability of others is uncertain. Beyond changes to the existing regulatory landscape, public companies will need to address several new developments as well. Regulatory requirements have been further complicated as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to partition public companies into various categories, such as large accelerated filers, accelerated filers, smaller reporting companies and emerging growth companies, or EGCs, with the application or scope of the rules varying depending on the category. We have set forth below significant considerations for the upcoming proxy season and other near-term compliance matters so public companies can develop a plan in a timely manner to successfully complete the next proxy season....