Catherine is a partner in PwC’s Governance Insights Center. She helps boards and audit committees apply leading practices and understand the impact of emerging regulations on their activities. She has worked extensively with boards and directors from a number of countries, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, the United States, and Venezuela.
Catherine developed many of the governance publications that PwC has issued: Audit Committee Effectiveness — What Works Best; Board Effectiveness — What Works Best; Governance for Companies Going Public — What Works Best; Going Public? Five Governance Factors to Focus On; Director Dialogue with Shareholders — What You Need to Consider; and PwC’s Family Business Corporate Governance Series. She also contributed to PwC’s Audit Committee Excellence Series, which focuses on leading practices on specific topics. NACD Directorship magazine in 2015 named her for the ninth consecutive year as one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance in the United States. She also speaks frequently at director conferences.
Catherine is a Certified Public Accountant (licensed in New Jersey) and a Chartered Professional Accountant, CPA, CA (from Canada). She holds a Master of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Linda L. Griggs's practice focuses on securities regulation and corporate law matters. She draws on her experience as a former chief counsel to the chief accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to advise clients on issues related to financial reporting, accounting, and other disclosure requirements under securities laws and public and private securities offerings. Linda also advises clients on the fiduciary duties of directors and officers, as well as corporate governance matters.
Linda’s three-year term on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC) ends on December 31, 2016. FASAC advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board on strategic issues, project priorities, and other matters that affect accounting standards. Previously, she served on the SEC's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting and as a chair of the American Bar Association's Law and Accounting Committee.
In addition to her role as chief counsel to the chief accountant of the SEC, Linda worked as special counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC. Prior to that, she served as an attorney in the division's rule-writing office, and as a reviewer of registration statements, proxy statements, and reports filed by companies covered by federal securities laws.
Linda retired from Morgan Lewis as of September 30, 2016 after more than 30 years with the firm.
AWARDS AND AFFILIATIONS
Recognized in Who's Who Lega/(2016)
Listed, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2013-2015)
Noted in The Legal 500 for Capital Markets: Debt Offerings, Equity Offerings (2014-2016)
Listed, "Women Lawyers of the Year" by The Best Lawyers in America (2016)
Listed, The Best Lawyers in America (2016-2017)
Member, Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council
Member, SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (8/2007-8/2008)
Member, American Bar Association, Federal Regulation of Securities Committee and Law and Accounting Committee
ADMISSIONS
EDUCATION
- Smith College, 1971, B.A.
- University of Cincinnati College of Law, 1974, J.D.
SECTORS
- Life Sciences
- Financial Services
SERVICES
- Securities & Corporate Governance > Life Sciences Transactions
REGIONS
John F. Olson is a founding partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Olson represents business organizations in corporate governance, corporate securities, corporate finance and merger and acquisition matters. He has frequently led legal teams conducting internal investigations for boards of directors and board committees.
Mr. Olson is recognized as one of the nation's foremost authorities on securities, corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions law. He led the Federal Regulation of Securities and Corporate Governance Committees of the ABA Business Law Section and is a longtime member of and advisor to the Section’s Corporate Laws Committee. He has been ranked annually as one of the top securities regulation attorneys in the country by Chambers USA, as one of the top lawyers in corporate governance by Who’s Who Legal, and has been named by the International Financial Law Review as a Leading Lawyer in U.S. Mergers & Acquisitions. In 2013 he was elected to the NACD Directorship Corporate Governance Hall of Fame. He was the founding Chair of the American College of Governance Counsel.
The author and editor of many books and articles on legal issues, Mr. Olson is a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches organizational governance and securities law courses.
