Our last post was about the on-going messaging from the SEC’s Enforcement Division to all of us to “do the right thing” for investors. Of course, another reason to do the right thing is the risk of litigation. And this risk, according to a report from the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research, shows that securities class action litigation is up substantially. According to the report filings are “up 36.7% from the first half of last year and up 16.6% from the second half of last year.”

In a startling statistic the report shows that on an annualized basis 6.4% of the S and P 500 were subject to class action filings.

Interestingly, the report indicates a substantial part of the increase relates to filings concerning merger and acquisition activity.

You can find a press release and the report here.

The Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearing house is a pretty scary website. If you would like to review it you can find it here.

Lastly, a great way to supplement what you read here on our blog and keep up with developments like this is to subscribe to the PLI Smart Brief, a periodic e-newsletter with lots of great information.

You can sign-up to receive the Smart Brief here.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome!