Biography
Rebecca regularly advises on global compliance program design, implementation, review and oversight, including the interplay between corporate compliance and ESG-related risks and opportunities. Her fit-for-purpose and risk-based approach to corporate compliance is informed by her experience developing and implementing a global compliance program during a six-month secondment at a major diversified multinational in the Middle East.
Rebecca has extensive expertise in advising on highly sensitive and unusual matters for public and private companies, and not-for-profit corporations (including universities, sports governing bodies, trade groups and charitable organizations). These include special committee investigations and other matters relating to ESG issues such as bribery, CEO activism, climate transition, conflicts of interest, corporate culture, cybersecurity, product safety and quality control, racial discrimination, sexual assault, and whistleblower protection.
Rebecca counsels U.S. public companies (including U.S. filers incorporated outside the U.S.) and foreign private issuers, private equity firms, portfolio and private companies, state-owned enterprises, professional services firms, institutional investors, financial market utilities and not-for-profit corporations, operating in a wide range of industries, at all stages of their life cycle, with respect to the full range of complex corporate governance, securities regulation and compliance issues and related disclosure, including board and committee fiduciary duties and protections, ESG and risk oversight, board leadership, composition and structure, board effectiveness, corporate culture, director independence, director elections, corporate governance policies and procedures, board evaluations, related party transactions, conflicts of interest and corporate opportunities, crisis preparedness and management, CEO transitions, executive and director compensation, shareholder engagement and activism, proxy advisory firm policies, takeover defenses, and compliance with applicable corporate laws, regulations and listing rules. She has extensive experience in a broad range of cross-border mergers and acquisitions and securities transactions, particularly multi-jurisdictional transactions requiring harmonization of U.S. and non-U.S. regimes, including those requiring innovative SEC relief.
Rebecca is a frequent speaker and writer on ESG topics, including at events in the U.S., Europe and Asia sponsored by the American Bar Association, Society for Corporate Governance, the Practising Law Institute, The Conference Board and the U.S. State Department. She serves as Co-Chair of the International Law Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Corporate Governance Committee, and has lectured at the Yale School of Management and at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.
In 2021, Rebecca was elected as a Fellow to the American College of Governance Counsel. In 2008, Rebecca was named a “Rising Star of Corporate Governance” by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management.
Rebecca is dual-qualified in New York and Australia. She has practiced corporate law since 2001.
Firm News & Announcements, Speaking Engagements, Latest Thinking
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Advises Goldman Sachs in Completion of its $440M Strategic Investment in BrightNight Deal Brief — October 07, 2024
- Weil Advises the Underwriters on Williams’ $1.5B Bond Offering Deal Brief — August 14, 2024
Speaking Engagements
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ABA Business Law Section Fall Meeting 2024
Speaker(s):
Rebecca Grapsas
September 14, 2024 — Public Company Advisory Group partner Rebecca Grapsas spoke on a program titled “Evolving Sustainability Requirements: Soft Law to Hard Law to Harder Law” as part of the American Bar Association Business Law Section Fall Meeting 2024, in San Diego.
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Millstein Center at Columbia Law School Conference on ESG: Comparative Perspectives, New Controversies and New Voices
Speaker(s):
Lyuba Goltser and
Rebecca Grapsas
June 24, 2024 — New York, NY — Weil Public Company Advisory Group Co-Head Lyuba Goltser spoke on a panel titled “ESG Landscape and Recent Developments in the U.S.,” and Weil Public Company Advisory Group Partner Rebecca Grapsas spoke on a panel titled “ESG Legislation and Regulation: E.U. vs. U.S.” at the ESG conference hosted by the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School.
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Managing International ESG Disclosure
Speaker(s):
Rebecca Grapsas
May 29, 2024 — Public Company Advisory Group partner Rebecca Grapsas spoke on a program titled “Managing International ESG Disclosure” as part of The Conference Board’s ESG Center Working Group.
Latest Thinking
- SEC’s Settlement with Keurig Portends Expanded ESG Liability Alert — By Robert Stern, Lyuba Goltser, Rebecca Grapsas and Ben Marcu — PDF — September 13, 2024
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Sustainability & ESG Quarterly Roundup
Blog Post — Weil Governance & Securities Watch
— By
Rebecca Grapsas
— September 04, 2024
We are pleased to share with our clients and friends the latest edition of our newsletter, Sustainability & ESG Quarterly Roundup. In this quarterly newsletter, we highlight key developments relating to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) topics since April 2024, with a focus on developments of interest to U.S. public and private companies, and companies […]
The post Sustainability & ESG Quarterly Roundup appeared first on Governance & Securities Watch.
... - Sustainability & ESG Quarterly Roundup Alert — By Rebecca Grapsas, John P. Barry, Lyuba Goltser, Olivia J. Greer, Rebecca Sivitz, Annemargaret Connolly, Matthew D. Morton, Robert Stern, Drew Tulumello, James Bromley, Hayley Lund, Marc Schubert, Amy Waddington and Romain Ferla — PDF — September 2024
- EU / UK Update: Sustainability & ESG - Comparing CSRD, ISSB, SEC & California Climate-Related Disclosure Rules Alert — Sustainability & ESG — By Rebecca Grapsas, Hannah Laurie, Matthew D. Morton, Marc Schubert and Amy Waddington — PDF — May 2024
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The Big Three & ESG: A Guide to BlackRock, State Street & Vanguard Proxy Voting Policies & Guidance on Key ESG Issues
Blog Post — Weil Governance & Securities Watch
— By
Lyuba Goltser,
Rebecca Grapsas and
Eleni Samara
— May 15, 2024
The “Big Three” institutional investors, BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors and Vanguard, recently released 2024 proxy voting policies and related guidance applicable to US companies. Companies are well-advised to review these policies and guidance in planning for engagement with the Big Three throughout the year and as the proxy season wraps up, and in considering […]
The post The Big Three & ESG: A Guide to BlackRock, State Street & Vanguard Proxy Voting Policies & Guidance on Key ESG Issues appeared first on Governance & Securities Watch.
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