Bio

Leland Benton leverages his five years working at the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance to counsel companies on the federal securities laws and corporate governance. He aids foreign and domestic clients in a wide range of industries with public and private capital markets transactions, periodic reporting, annual and special meetings, securities regulatory matters, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures, as well as compliance with Nasdaq and NYSE rules. At the SEC, Leland reviewed transactions including securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and divestments, as well as periodic reports and proxy statements, and served as a member of the Rule 14a-8 Shareholder Proposal Taskforce, where he advised on the disposition of requests by public companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy materials. He also served in a specialized office which critically evaluated the Division of Corporation Finance’s filing review program and internal controls for quality and consistency. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Leland taught at the Georgetown University Law Center as an adjunct professor of law, and as a C.V. Starr Lecturer of Law at the Peking University School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China. He instructed foreign-trained attorneys on American common law jurisprudence, efficient research methods and legal analysis, as well as deal documentation, contract drafting, and legal research and writing. Leland regularly writes LawFlashes for the firm to keep clients up to date on current developments relevant to public companies, including the impact of COVID-19 on the regulatory framework in which public companies operate.