The objective of the Committee on Middle Market and Small Business is to guide US and international corporate and transactional lawyers who counsel clients ranging from private family and middle market enterprises to smaller public companies on the myriad of business "life cycle" issues they confront in their practices. These life cycle issues include (i) entity organization and owner agreements; (ii) capital formation, financing and strategic partnering; (iii) employment and compensation matters; (iv) intellectual property protection; (v) corporate governance; (vi) securities law compliance; (vii) international expansion and cross-border transactions; and (viii) business combinations, restructurings, and breakups. The Committee maintains four substantive subcommittees focusing on Closely Held Business Entities, Emerging Companies, International Transactions and Securities Regulation. The Committee has long been an advocate before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory agencies of reforms to address the special problems in capital formation confronted by small businesses, including smaller public companies. The annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, sponsored by the SEC, is one result of past Committee initiatives and was a leading force in the SEC's adoption of Regulation D. A present Committee initiative, through the Private Placement Broker Dealer Task Force, advocates a simplified registration system for finders of financing for early stage companies.
