Discussion of Key Issues in Securities & Governance Litigation
I. Introduction
I’ve seen many changes during the more than 30 years I’ve defended securities class actions. The types of claims have evolved. From the indiscriminate claims that led Congress to pass the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“Reform Act”), to the IPO laddering claims of the late 1990s, to the corporate-scandal claims…
The Reform Act was passed by the Contract-with-America Congress to address its perception that securities class actions were reflexive, lawyer-driven litigation that often asserted weak claims based on little more than a stock drop, and relied on post-litigation discovery, rather than pre-litigation investigation, to sort the validity of the claims.
The Reform Act’s centerpiece is…