As we write this at the beginning of 2009, two features of the emerging corporate governance landscape are becoming certain. The first is that corporate governance law and practice will be subject to enormous change in the coming years, as governance reforms act as a lightning rod for anger over the fundamentally unsound financial practices that led to the financial crisis of 2008, just as they did with the outrage over Enron and other scandals in 2001 and 2002. The second feature is that, in contrast to many recent reform initiatives, which were driven largely by the private sector, the coming wave will be determined in great part by the public sector. With governments across the developed world now acting as owners of large segments of the financial system or at least providers of emergency care in the form of unprecedentedly relaxed monetary policy, taxpayers and public funds will be urging legislatures and executive branches to 'take action' to prevent a repetition of the financial meltdown. While we know the broad topics that will dominate debate in this call for 'action', the precise measures are very hard to foresee at this time and there is a real risk once again of overreaction that will impede the taking of well-judged risk that lies at the heart of the developed world's economic governance.