MICHAEL HYATTE joined the firm after nearly 20 years with the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, including more than ten years in its Office of Chief Counsel and five years in its Office of International Corporate Finance. At the SEC, his duties included interpreting regulatory and disclosure rules in advice to the Commission, the Division staff and the public. The written record of his work for the SEC includes more than 500 no-action letters, the Trust Indenture Reform Act of 1990, Exchange Act rule 12h-5 and provisions of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.
Reflecting his wide range of experience, Michael regularly counsels on the Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Trust Indenture Act of 1939 and Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Among the areas he counsels on are regulations governing:
- Rule 144 resales of restricted and control securities;
- Institutional private placements under rule 144A;
- International financing transactions under regulation S;
- Other unregistered private offerings under regulation D;
- Registered securities offerings, including IPOs and offerings by well-known seasoned issuers;
- Disclosure issues under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act;
- Qualification of indentures representing publicly-offered debt securities under the Trust Indenture Act; and
- Certification and internal control issues under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Michael is frequently recognized for his work. In 2014, Michael and the Sidley team took first prize for The American Lawyer’s 2014 Global Legal Award in the Global M&A Deal of the Year, Japan (Outbound). Michael has been recognized every year since 2008 by The Best Lawyers in America in the Corporate Compliance Law, Corporate Governance Law and Securities/Capital Markets Law categories.