<p><img class="FloatRight" src="{staticroot}site/files/oldnewsfiles/LarryHamermesh2013.jpg" alt="LarryHamermesh2013" width="179" height="240" />An important Securities and Exchange Commission round table discussion on ways to improve the proxy voting process will include a voice from Widener University School of Law.<br /><br /><a href="ipl://20//WyIxMTIiXQ==">Lawrence A. Hamermesh</a>, the Ruby R. Vale Professor of Corporate and Business Law, will take part in the Feb. 19 Washington, D.C. event, which will also be broadcast live online. The program begins at 9:30 a.m. with his panel starting at 11:30 a.m.<br /><br />Hamermesh will take part in a discussion focused on strategies for increasing retail shareholder participation in the proxy process. Participants will be considering how technology &ndash; by providing better access to information or easier means of voting &ndash; might affect retail participation. The group is also expected to examine whether the format of disclosure could be improved to increase the engagement of shareholders, and how the mechanics of voting could be improved to affect retail shareholder participation.<br /><br />Hamermesh, who directs Widener Law Delaware&rsquo;s <a href="ipl://103//W10=">Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law</a>, joined the faculty in 1994. He took a leave from teaching in 2010 and 2011 to serve as senior special counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC. He teaches and writes in the areas of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities regulation, business organizations, corporate takeovers and professional responsibility. <br /><br />More information and a full list of participants is available <a href="http://1.usa.gov/17o1Tij">here</a>. Watch the round table live at <a href="http://www.sec.gov">www.sec.gov</a>.</p>