Lipton’s Advice On How To ‘Deal With Activists’

Famed corporate lawyer and inventor of the poison pill (or shareholders rights plan, as he called it) Martin Lipton is, as you would expect, not happy about activists’ rise to prominence in the last few years. So he’s offering some free advice for companies on how to prepare for a potential activist campaign, but it’s striking how much of what he suggests is what companies should really be doing anyways.

“To forestall an attack, a company should continuously review its business portfolio and strategy and its governance and executive compensation issues sensibly and in light of its particular needs and circumstances. Companies must regularly adjust strategies and defenses to meet changing market conditions, business dynamics and...