Discussion of Key Issues in Securities & Governance Litigation
Shareholder litigation comes in waves. There is a widespread belief that the next big wave will be shareholder derivative litigation – a shareholder’s assertion of a claim belonging to the corporation, typically brought against directors and officers, alleging corporate harm for a board’s failure to prevent corporate problems.
Derivative cases filed as tag-alongs to…
In my last post of 2013, I thought I’d share some thoughts about how public companies can better protect themselves against securities claims – practical steps companies can take to help them avoid suits, mitigate the risk if they are sued, and to defend themselves more effectively and efficiently. I’ll share a few thoughts…
It is time to re-think the one-size-fits-all model of securities litigation defense. Currently, securities cases against all companies – gigantic, tiny, and everything in between – are primarily defended by law firms with marquee names featuring sky-high billing rates and big budgets. That model is ill-fitting for many companies.
There are many reasons why companies…
Last Tuesday, new SEC Chairman Mary Jo White said at The Wall Street Journal’s annual CFO Network Event that the SEC “in certain cases” will seek admissions of liability as part of settlements. The statement made headlines, and for good reason: for decades, the SEC has allowed settling defendants to neither admit nor deny…
When selecting counsel to defend them against a securities class action, companies usually face the question of whether they want to hire attorneys from their regular outside corporate firm. Sometimes, companies will retain their regular outside firm as a matter of course, without even going through an audition process to interview other potential defense firms.…
I recently had occasion to review a number of motion-to-dismiss rulings, including some in which denial of the motion seemed to be an easy call. I’ve since been mulling over whether there are circumstances in which it would be strategically advantageous not to make a motion to dismiss in a Reform Act case, or a…
On April 16, 2013, Law360 featured me in its Q&A series.
In the article, I address two critical economic issues in securities litigation defense: containing escalating defense costs, and managing electronic document review. I also discuss the Supreme Court’s Amgen decision, a securities litigation defense lawyer who impressed me, a case that helped launch…