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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
This successful track record stems from our experienced attorneys, including many who left partnerships at other firms or came to the Firm from federal, state and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies, including dozens of former prosecutors and SEC attorneys. The Firm also includes more than 25 former federal and state judicial clerks. The Firm currently represents more institutional investors, including public and multi-employer pension funds – domestic and international financial institutions – in securities and corporate litigation than any other firm in the United States. The Firm is committed to practicing law with the highest level of integrity and in an ethical and professional manner. We are a diverse firm with lawyers and staff from all walks of life. Our lawyers and other employees are hired and promoted based on the quality of their work and their ability to enhance our team and treat others with respect and dignity. Evaluations are never influenced by one’s background, gender, race, religion or ethnicity. We also strive to be good corporate citizens and to work with a sense of global responsibility. Contributing to our communities and our environment is important to us. We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and we often take cases on a pro bono basis. We are committed to the rights of workers and to the extent possible, we contract with union vendors. We care about civil rights, workers’ rights and treatment, workplace safety, and environmental protection. Indeed, while we have built a reputation as the finest securities and consumer class action law firm in the nation, our lawyers have also worked tirelessly in less high-profile, but no less important, cases involving human rights.
Securities FraudAs recent corporate scandals demonstrate clearly, it has become all too common for companies and their executives – and often with the help of their advisors, such as bankers, lawyers and accountants – to manipulate the market price of their securities by misleading the public about the company’s financial condition or prospects for the future. This misleading information has the effect of artificially inflating the price of the company’s securities above their true value. When the underlying truth is eventually revealed, the prices of these securities plummet, harming those innocent investors who relied upon the company’s misrepresentations. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is the leader in the fight to provide investors with relief from corporate securities fraud. We utilize a wide range of federal and state laws to provide investors with remedies, either by bringing a class action on behalf of all affected investors or, where appropriate, by bringing individual cases. The Firm’s reputation for excellence has been repeatedly noted by courts and has resulted in the appointment of Firm attorneys to lead roles in hundreds of complex class-action securities and other cases. In the securities area alone, the Firm’s attorneys have been responsible for a number of outstanding recoveries on behalf of investors. Currently, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are lead or named counsel in approximately 500 securities class action or large institutional-investor cases. Some current and past cases include:
Corporate Governance
While obtaining monetary recoveries for our clients is our primary focus, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have also been at the forefront of securities fraud prevention. The Firm’s prevention efforts are focused on creating important changes in corporate governance, either as part of the global settlements of derivative and class cases or through court orders. Recent cases in which such changes were made include:
Shareholder Derivative Litigation
The Firm’s shareholder derivative practice is focused on preserving corporate assets, restoring accountability, improving transparency, strengthening the shareholder franchise and protecting long-term investor value. Often brought by large institutional investors, these actions typically address executive malfeasance that resulted in violations of the nation’s securities, environmental, labor, health & safety and wage & hour laws, coupled with self-dealing. Corporate governance therapeutics recently obtained in the following actions was valued by the market in the billions of dollars:
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP lawyers are also currently prosecuting shareholder derivative actions against executives at several companies charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and have obtained an injunction preventing the recipient of the illegally-paid bribe payments at one prominent international arms manufacturer from removing those funds from the U.S. while the action is pending. In another ongoing action, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP lawyers are prosecuting Audit Committee members who knowingly authorized the payment of illegal “security payments” to a terrorist group though expressly prohibited by U.S. law. As artificial beings, corporations only behave – or misbehave – as their directors and senior executives let them. So they are only as valuable as their corporate governance. Shareholder derivative litigation enhances value by allowing shareholder-owners to replace chaos and self-dealing with accountability.
Options Backdating Litigation
As has been widely reported in the media, the stock options backdating scandal suddenly engulfed hundreds of publicly traded companies throughout the country. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is at the forefront of investigating and prosecuting options backdating derivative and securities cases. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s lawyers have recovered over $1 billion in damages on behalf of injured companies and shareholders. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP have served as lead counsel in several large stock option backdating actions, including actions involving Affiliated Computer Services, Extreme Networks, Inc., KLA-Tencor Corp., KB Home, Inc., Marvell Technology Group, Inc., McAfee, Inc. and UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
Corporate Takeover LitigationRobbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP has earned a reputation as the leading law firm in representing shareholders in corporate takeover litigation. Through its aggressive efforts in prosecuting corporate takeovers, the Firm has secured for shareholders billions of dollars of additional consideration as well as beneficial changes for shareholders in the context of mergers and acquisitions.
The Firm regularly prosecutes merger and acquisition cases post-merger, often through trial, to maximize the benefit for its shareholder class. Some of these cases include:
The Firm has also obtained significant benefits for shareholders, including increases in consideration and significant improvements to merger terms. Some of these cases include:
Insurance CasesFraud and collusion in the insurance industry by executives, agents, brokers, lenders and others is one of the most costly crimes in the United States. Some experts have estimated the annual cost of white collar crime in the insurance industry to be over $120 billion nationally. Recent legislative proposals seek to curtail anti-competitive behavior within the industry. However, in the absence of comprehensive regulation, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP has played a critical role as private attorney general in protecting the rights of consumers against insurance fraud and other unfair business practices within the insurance industry. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys were among the first to expose illegal and improper bid-rigging and kickbacks between insurance companies and brokers. The Firm is a leader in representing businesses, individuals, school districts, counties and the State of California in numerous actions in state and federal courts nationwide to stop these practices. To date, the Firm has helped recover over $200 million on behalf of insureds. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have long been at the forefront of litigating race discrimination issues within the life insurance industry. For example, the Firm has fought the practice by certain insurers of charging African-Americans and other people of color more for life insurance than similarly situated Caucasians. The Firm recovered over $400 million for African-Americans and other minorities as redress for civil rights abuses, including landmark recoveries in McNeil v. American General Life & Accident Insurance Company; Thompson v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; and Williams v. United Insurance Company of America. The Firm’s attorneys fight on behalf of elderly victims targeted for the sale of deferred annuity products with hidden sales loads and illusory bonus features. Sales agents for life insurance companies such as Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Midland National Life Insurance Company, and National Western Life Insurance Company have targeted senior citizens for these annuities with lengthy investment horizons and high sales commissions. The Firm has recovered millions of dollars for elderly victims and seeks to ensure that senior citizens are afforded full and accurate information regarding deferred annuities. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys also stopped the fraudulent sale of life insurance policies based on misrepresentations about how the life insurance policy would perform, the costs of the policy, and whether premiums would “vanish.” Purchasers were also misled about the financing of a new life insurance policy, falling victim to a “replacement” or “churning” sales scheme where they were convinced to use loans, partial surrenders or withdrawals of cash values from an existing permanent life insurance policy to purchase a new policy.
Antitrust
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s antitrust practice focuses on representing businesses and individuals who have been the victims of price-fixing, unlawful monopolization, market allocation, tying and other anti-competitive conduct. The Firm has taken a leading role in many of the largest federal and state price-fixing, monopolization, market allocation and tying cases throughout the United States.
Consumer FraudIn our consumer-based economy, working families who purchase products and services must receive truthful information so they can make meaningful choices about how to spend their hard-earned money. When financial institutions and other corporations deceive consumers or take advantage of unequal bargaining power, class action suits provide, in many instances, the only realistic means for an individual to right a corporate wrong.
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s attorneys represent consumers around the country in a variety of important, complex class actions. Our attorneys have taken a leading role in many of the largest federal and state consumer fraud, environmental, human rights and public health cases throughout the U.S. The Firm is also actively involved in many cases relating to banks and the financial services industry, pursuing claims on behalf of individuals victimized by abusive telemarketing practices, abusive mortgage lending practices, market timing violations in the sale of variable annuities, and deceptive consumer credit lending practices in violation of the Truth-In-Lending Act. Below are a few representative samples of our robust, nationwide consumer practice.
Settlements:
Human Rights, Labor Practices and Public Policy
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have a long tradition of representing the victims of unfair labor practices and violations of human rights. These include:
Environment and Public HealthRobbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have also represented plaintiffs in class actions related to environmental law. The Firm’s attorneys represented, on a pro bono basis, the Sierra Club and the National Economic Development and Law Center as amici curiae in a federal suit designed to uphold the federal and state use of project labor agreements (“PLAs”). The suit represented a legal challenge to President Bush’s Executive Order 13202, which prohibits the use of project labor agreements on construction projects receiving federal funds. Our amici brief in the matter outlined and stressed the significant environmental and socio-economic benefits associated with the use of PLAs on large-scale construction projects.
Attorneys with Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP have been involved in several other significant environmental cases, including:
Federal laws such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and state laws such as California Proposition 65 exist to protect the environment and the public from abuses by corporate and government organizations. Companies can be found liable for negligence, trespass or intentional environmental damage, be forced to pay for reparations and to come into compliance with existing laws. Prominent cases litigated by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys include representing more than 4,000 individuals suing for personal injury and property damage related to the Stringfellow Dump Site in Southern California, participation in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation and the toxic spill arising from a Southern Pacific train derailment near Dunsmuir, California. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have led the fight against Big Tobacco since 1991. As an example, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys filed the case that helped get rid of Joe Camel representing various public and private plaintiffs, including the State of Arkansas, the general public in California, the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Birmingham, 14 counties in California and the working men and women of this country in the Union Pension and Welfare Fund cases that have been filed in 40 states. In 1992, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys filed the first case in the country that alleged a conspiracy by the Big Tobacco companies.
Intellectual PropertyIndividual inventors, universities and research organizations provide the fundamental research behind many existing and emerging technologies. Every year, the majority of U.S. patents are issued to this group of inventors. Through this fundamental research, these inventors provide a significant competitive advantage to this country. Unfortunately, while responsible for most of the inventions that issue into U.S. patents every year, individual inventors, universities and research organizations receive very little of the licensing revenues for U.S. patents. Large companies reap 99% of all patent licensing revenues. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP enforces the rights of these inventors by filing and litigating patent infringement cases against infringing entities. Our attorneys have decades of patent litigation experience in a variety of technical applications. This experience, combined with the Firm's extensive resources, gives individual inventors the ability to enforce their patent rights against even the largest infringing companies. Our attorneys have experience handling cases involving a broad range of technologies, including:
Current intellectual property cases include:
If you have any questions regarding Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP's Intellectual Property pratice, please contact John Herman (jherman@rgrdlaw.com) or Ryan Walsh (rwalsh@rgrdlaw.com). Pro BonoRobbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have a distinguished record of pro bono work. In 1999, the Firm’s lawyers were finalists for the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program’s 1999 Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year Award, for their work on a disability-rights case. In 2003, when the Firm’s lawyers were nominated for the California State Bar President’s Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year award, the State Bar President praised them for “dedication to the provision of pro bono legal services to the poor” and “extending legal services to underserved communities.” More recently, one of the Firm’s lawyers obtained political asylum, after an initial application for political asylum had been denied, for an impoverished Somali family whose ethnic minority faced systematic persecution and genocidal violence in Somalia. The family’s female children also faced forced genital mutilation if returned to Somalia. The Firm’s lawyers worked as cooperating attorneys with the ACLU in a class action filed on behalf of welfare applicants subject to San Diego County’s “Project 100%” program, which sent investigators from the D.A.’s office (Public Assistance Fraud Division) to enter and search the home of every person applying for welfare benefits, and to interrogate neighbors and employers – never explaining they had no reason to suspect wrongdoing. Real relief was had when the County admitted that food-stamp eligibility could not hinge upon the Project 100% “home visits,” and again when the district court ruled that unconsented “collateral contacts” violated state regulations. The district court’s ruling that CalWORKs aid to needy families could be made contingent upon consent to the D.A.’s “home visits” and “walk throughs,” was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit with eight judges vigorously dissenting from denial of en banc rehearing. Sanchez v. County of San Diego, 464 F.3d 916, (9th Cir. 2006), reh’g denied 483 F.3d 965, 966 (9th Cir. 2007). The decision was noted by the Harvard Law Review, The New York Times, and even The Colbert Report. The Firm’s lawyers also have represented groups such as the Sierra Club and the National Economic Development and Law Center as amici curiae before the United States Supreme Court. Senior appellate partner Eric Alan Isaacson has in a variety of cases filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of religious organizations and clergy supporting civil rights, opposing government-backed religious-viewpoint discrimination, and generally upholding the American traditions of religious freedom and church-state separation. Organizations represented as amici curiae in such matters have included the California Council of Churches, Union for Reform Judaism, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry – California, and California Faith for Equality.
JUDICIAL COMMENDATIONSRobbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys have been commended by countless judges all over the country for the quality of their representation in class-action lawsuits.
NOTABLE CLIENTSPublic Fund Clients
Multi-Employer Clients
Additional Institutional Investors
PROMINENT CASES AND PRECEDENT-SETTING DECISIONS
Prominent Cases
Precedent-Setting DecisionsInvestor and Shareholder Rights
Insurance
Consumer Protection
X. JAY ALVAREZ graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1984. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall, in 1987 and entered private practice in San Diego, California that same year. Mr. Alvarez served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California from 1991-2003. As an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Alvarez obtained extensive trial experience, including the prosecution of bank fraud, money laundering and complex narcotics conspiracy cases. During his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Alvarez also briefed and argued numerous appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. At Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Mr. Alvarez's practice areas include securities fraud litigation and other complex litigation.
Prior to joining Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Mr. Astley was a senior associate with the Miami office of Hunton & Williams, where he concentrated his practice on class action defense, including securities class actions, and white collar criminal defense. Mr. Astley also represented numerous corporate clients accused of engaging in unfair and deceptive practices. Prior to joining Hunton & Williams, Mr. Astley was an active duty member of the United States Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In that capacity, Mr. Astley was the Senior Defense Counsel for the Naval Legal Service Office Pearl Harbor Detachment where he was the lead trial defense counsel in numerous court-martials and oversaw the operations of a large Navy legal department, including its attorneys and support staff. Mr. Astley currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. A substantial portion of Mr. Astley’s current practice is devoted to representing shareholders in actions brought under the federal securities laws. Mr. Astley is admitted to practice law in Florida, California, and Washington, D.C.. He has been admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the First and Eleventh Circuits, the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the United States Tax Court. Mr. Astley is a licensed CPA in Florida.
Significant reported opinions include: Crandon Capital Partners v. Shelk, 342 Ore. 555 (2007) (reversing dismissal of action); Ind. State Dist. Council of Laborers and HOD Carriers Pension Fund v. Renal Care Group, Inc., No. 3:05-0451, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24210 (M.D. Tenn. Aug. 18, 2005) (successfully obtaining remand of case improperly removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act); Pipefitters Locals 522 & 633 Pension Trust Fund v. Salem Commc'ns Corp., No. CV 05-2730-RGK (MCx), 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14202 (C.D. Cal. June 28, 2005) (successfully obtaining remand of case improperly removed to federal court under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998); In re Prime Hospitality, Inc. S'holders Litig., No. 652-N, 2005 Del. Ch. LEXIS 61 (Del. Ch. May 4, 2005) (successfully objecting to unfair settlement and thereafter obtaining $25 million recovery for shareholders); Ind. State Dist. Council of Laborers v. Brukardt, No. M2007-02271-COA-R3-CV, 2009 Tenn. App. LEXIS 269 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 19, 2009) (reversing dismissal of action); Pate v. Elloway, No. 01-03-00187-CV, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 9681 (Tex. App. Houston 1st Dist. Nov. 13, 2003) (upholding grant of class certification and denial of motion to dismiss). Mr. Atwood was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1965. In 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. In 1988, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with great distinction, in Philosophy from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium. Mr. Atwood earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1991 from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served as Authorities Editor on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Mr. Atwood was admitted to the California Bar in 1991, and is licensed to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern, Central, and Northern Districts of California.
Using her extensive experience, Ms. Bandman lectures and advises public and multi-employer pension funds, fund managers, banks, hedge funds and insurance companies, both domestically and internationally, on their options for seeking redress for losses due to fraud sustained in their portfolios. These clients include various States and Municipalities, as well as trades such as Teamsters, the Entertainment Industry, Sheet Metal, Construction, Air Conditioning, Food and Hospitality, Nursing and Plumbers. Ms. Bandman has represented hundreds of institutional investors, including domestic and non-U.S. investors in some of the largest and most successful shareholder actions ever prosecuted, resulting in billions of dollars of recoveries, both as private opt-out and class actions, and involving such companies as Enron, WorldCom, AOL Time Warner, Unocal and Boeing. Ms. Bandman initiated the class action against Vivendi, which resulted in one of the first and most successful decisions recognizing a worldwide class of investors. Ms. Bandman was also instrumental in the landmark 1998 state settlement with the tobacco companies for $12.5 billion.
A few recent notable achievements include: In re Chapparal Res., Inc. S’holder Litig., (Del. Ch.), where Mr. Baron was one of the lead trial counsel, resulted in a common fund settlement of $41 million (or 45% increase above merger price) after a full trial and a subsequent mediation before the Delaware Chancellor. The Delaware Vice Chancellor who presided over the trial noted that “the performance [of the attorneys on the case] was outstanding, and frankly, without the efforts of counsel, nothing would have been achieved.” In re Prime Hospitality, Inc. S’holder Litig., (Del. Ch.), where Mr. Baron led a team of lawyers who objected to a settlement that was unfair to the class and proceeded to litigate breach of fiduciary duty issues involving a sale of hotels to a private equity firm. The litigation resulted in a common fund settlement of $25 million for shareholders. As the Delaware Chancellor presiding over the case noted: “[H]ad it not been for the intervention of [Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP] . . . there would not have been a settlement that would have generated actual cash for the shareholders.” Dollar Gen. S’holder Litig. (Cir. Ct., Davidson County, Tenn.), where Mr. Baron was lead trial counsel and helped to secure a settlement of up to a $57 million in a common fund shortly before trial. ACS S’holder Litig. (Dallas County Ct, Dallas, Tex), where Mr. Baron led the negotiations and obtained significant concessions from ACS’s acquirer, Xerox, by which shareholders would not be locked out of receiving more money from another buyer. The New York Times Deal Professor deemed this result both “far reaching” and “unprecedented.” WorldCom Sec. Litig. (S.D.N.Y.), where Mr. Baron was one of the lead attorneys representing over 60 public and private institutional investors that filed and settled individual actions. Formerly, Mr. Baron served as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County. From 1990-1994, he was a trial deputy in numerous offices throughout Los Angeles County, where he tried over 70 felony cases. From 1990-1994, Mr. Baron was part of the Special Investigation Division of the Los Angeles District Attorneys office, where he investigated and prosecuted public corruption cases. Mr. Baron received his Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Colorado at Boulder in 1987 and his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1990.
Mr. Britton was admitted to the Nevada Bar in 1996 and to the California Bar in 1997. He is admitted to practice in all of the state courts in California, as well as the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Districts of California. Mr. Britton has been litigating securities class action lawsuits since his admission to the Bar in 1996. Mr. Britton has been involved in settlements exceeding $1 billion and has secured significant corporate governance enhancements to improve corporate functioning.
LUKE O. BROOKS is a partner in the Firm's securities litigation practice group. Mr. Brooks earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1997 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco in 2000, where he was a member of the University of San Francisco Law Review. In 1999, Mr. Brooks externed for the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker, United States District Court, Northern District of California. Mr. Brooks focuses primarily on securities fraud litigation on behalf of individual and institutional investors, including state and municipal pension funds, Taft-Hartley funds, and private retirement and investment funds. Mr. Brooks was on the trial team that won a jury verdict in Jaffe v. Household Int’l, No. 02-C-5893 (N.D. Ill.), a securities fraud class action against one of the world's largest subprime lenders. Although the litigation is ongoing, the Household verdict is expected to yield in excess of $1 billion for the plaintiff class. Mr. Brooks is admitted to all California courts, the United States District Court for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California and the Northern District of Illinois.
As a partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Mr. Brown prosecutes complex securities fraud and shareholder derivative actions against executives and corporations. His efforts have resulted in numerous multi-million dollar recoveries to shareholders and precedent-setting changes in corporate practices. Recent examples include: Batwin v. Occam Networks, Inc., No. CV 07-2750, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52365 (C.D. Cal. July 1, 2008); In re Constar Int’l, Inc. Sec. Litig., 585 F. 3d 774 (3rd Cir. 2009); In re Unumprovident Corp. Sec. Litig., 396 F. Supp. 2d 858 (E.D. Tenn. 2005); and In re UnitedHealth Group Inc. PSLRA Litig., No. 06-CV-1691, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94616 (D. Minn. Dec. 26, 2007). Mr. Brown has been responsible for recovering more than a billion dollars for defrauded investors. Mr. Brown is admitted to the Bars of California and the United States District Courts for all Districts in California.
For nine years, Ms. Bull has been focused in negotiating and documenting complex settlement agreements and obtaining the required court approval of the settlements and payment of attorneys’ fees. These settlements include: In re Dole S'holders Litig., No. BC281949 (Cal. Super Ct., Los Angeles County) ($172 million recovery plus injunctive relief); Lindmark v. Am. Express, No. 00-8658-JFW(CWx) (C.D. Cal.) ($38 million cash payment plus injunctive relief); In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust Litig., MDL 1030 (M.D. Fla.) ($89 million); In re LifeScan, Inc. Consumer Litig., No. C-98-20321-JF(EAI) (N.D. Cal.) ($45 million cash recovery); In re Bergen Brunswig Corp. Sec. Litig., No. SACV-99-1305-AHS(ANx) (C.D. Cal.) ($27.9 million cash recovery); Hall v. NCAA, No. 94-2392-KHV (D. Kan.) ($54.4 million cash recovery); In re Glen Ivy Resorts, Inc., No. SD92-16083MG (Bk. Ct. C.D. Cal.) ($31 million cash recovery); and In re Advanced Micro Devices Sec. Litig., No. C-93-20662-RPA(PVT) (N.D. Cal.) ($34 million cash recovery).
Mr. Burkholz was one of the lead trial attorneys in the Household securities class action case that resulted in a jury verdict on liability and per share damages in favor of investors in May 2009. Jaffe et al. v. HSBC. Mr. Burkholz was also one of the lead attorneys that represented The Regents of the University of California on behalf of all investors in the Enron securities class action where investors recovered over $7 billion. Mr. Burkholz also represented public and private institutional investors in the WorldCom, Qwest, and Cisco securities class actions. Mr. Burkholz is a member of the California Bar and has been admitted to practice in numerous federal courts throughout the country.
CHRISTOPHER COLLINS earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Sonoma State University in 1988 and his Juris Doctor degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. His practice areas include antitrust and consumer protection. Mr. Collins first joined the firm in 1994 and was a part of the trial teams that successfully prosecuted the tobacco industry. Mr. Collins left the firm and served as a Deputy District Attorney for the Imperial County where he was in charge of the Domestic Violence Unit. Mr. Collins is currently counsel on the California Energy Manipulation antitrust litigation, the Memberworks upsell litigation, as well as a number of consumer actions alleging false and misleading advertising and unfair business practices against major corporations. Mr. Collins is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the California Bar Association and the Consumer Attorneys of California and San Diego.
Mr. Daley is a past editor of the award-winning Federal Bar Association Newsletter (San Diego chapter) and has served as the Chair of San Diego's Co-operative Federal Appellate Committees ("COFACS"). Mr. Daley co-authored What's Brewing in Dura v. Broudo? The Plaintiffs' Attorneys Review the Supreme Court's Opinion and Its Import for Securities-Fraud Litigation, 37 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 1 (2005), and The Nonretroactivity of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 25 Sec. Regulation L.J. 60 (1997), reprinted in 3 Sec. Reform Act Litig. Rep. 258 (1997) and 25 RICO L. Rep. 819 (1997). While attending law school, Mr. Daley was a member of the USD Appellate Moot Court Board and received several awards for written and oral advocacy, including: Order of the Barristers, Roger J. Traynor Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition (Best Advocate Award); Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (United States National Champions); USD Alumni Torts Moot Court Competition (First Place Overall and Best Brief); the USD Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (First Place Overall and Best Brief); and the American Jurisprudence Award in Professional Responsibility. Mr. Daley was admitted to the California Bar in 1996. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits.
Mr. Daniels is widely recognized as a leading corporate governance and investor advocate. The Editorial Board of the preeminent legal publisher in California named Mr. Daniels one of the 20 most influential lawyers in the state under 40 years of age. And Yale School of Management’s Millstein Center for Corporate Governance & Performance awarded Mr. Daniels its “Rising Star of Corporate Governance” for his outstanding leadership in shareholder advocacy and activism. Mr. Daniels is an advisor to political and financial leaders throughout the world. He counsels state government pension funds, central banks and fund managers in the United States, Australia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other countries within the European Union on issues related to corporate fraud in the United States securities markets and “best practices” in the corporate governance of publicly traded companies. Mr. Daniels has represented dozens of institutional investors in some of the largest and most significant shareholder actions in the United States, including, UBS, Enron, WorldCom, AOL Time Warner and BP, to name just a few. In advancing international standards on human rights, Mr. Daniels was a lead counsel in an international coalition of attorneys and human rights groups that won a historic settlement with major United States clothing retailers and manufacturers, including The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, on behalf of a class of over 50,000 predominantly female Chinese garment workers on the island of Saipan in an action seeking to hold the Saipan garment industry responsible for creating a system of indentured servitude and forced labor in the island’s garment factories. The coalition obtained an unprecedented agreement for supervision of working conditions in the Saipan factories by an independent NGO, as well as a substantial multi-million dollar compensation award for the workers. Mr. Daniels is based at the Firm’s headquarters in San Diego and is also a managing partner of the Firm's Manhattan office.
Mr. Davidson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the State University of New York at Geneseo. He then earned his Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude, from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, where he graduated in the top 3% of his class. At Nova Law, he was an Associate Editor of the Nova Law Review, and was the recipient of Book Awards (highest grade) in Trial Advocacy, Criminal Pretrial Practice, and International Law. Before joining the Firm in 2004, Mr. Davidson was an associate with the law firm of Geller Rudman, PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida, where he also concentrated his practice on the prosecution of class actions. At Geller Rudman, Mr. Davidson handled numerous cases on behalf of shareholders of public corporations whose shares were to be acquired through leveraged buyouts, mergers, tender offers, and other “change of control” transactions, as well as derivative lawsuits filed against corporate boards, seeking to impose corporate governance reforms aimed at protecting shareholders and eliminating corporate waste and abuse. Mr. Davidson also represented consumers in numerous cases in which allegations of consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices were alleged. Prior to joining Geller Rudman, Mr. Davidson was an associate at a private law firm in Boca Raton, Florida, where he gained substantial experience in all aspects of securities litigation, including, among other things, SEC and NASD enforcement proceedings, securities regulatory proceedings by state and self-regulatory organizations, federal criminal securities fraud prosecutions, federal securities appellate litigation, and NASD customer arbitration proceedings, as well as acting as counsel for court-appointed receivers in complex federal securities and franchise litigation proceedings. In addition, Mr. Davidson is an experienced trial lawyer, having been a former lead assistant public defender in the Felony Division of the Broward County, Florida Public Defender’s Office. During his tenure at the Public Defender’s Office, Mr. Davidson tried over 30 jury trials, conducted hundreds of depositions, handled numerous evidentiary hearings, engaged in extensive motion practice, and defended individuals charged with major crimes ranging from third-degree felonies to life and capital felonies. A substantial portion of Mr. Davidson’s time is currently devoted to the representation of investors in class actions involving mergers and acquisitions and in prosecuting derivative lawsuits on behalf of public corporations. Mr. Davidson was co-lead counsel in In re UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which settled for $25 million just weeks before trial. Mr. Davidson is also actively involved in prosecuting a number of consumer fraud cases throughout the nation. Mr. Davidson recently served as class counsel in Kehoe v. Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust, a consumer class action alleging privacy violations filed in the Southern District of Florida, which was settled for $50 million. In addition, Mr. Davidson currently serves as court-appointed co-lead counsel in In re Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, a multidistrict consumer class action pending in the District of New Jersey, where Mr. Davidson represents thousands of aggrieved pet owners nationwide against some of the nation's largest pet food manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Mr. Dowd served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California from 1987-1991 and again from 1994-1998. As an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Dowd obtained extensive trial experience, including the prosecution of bank fraud, bribery, money laundering and narcotics cases. He is a recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney. Mr. Dowd has been responsible for prosecuting complex securities cases and obtaining recoveries for investors, including cases involving AOL Time Warner, UnitedHealth Group, WorldCom, Qwest, Vesta, U.S. West and Safeskin. Mr. Dowd was the lead lawyer for the Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP trial team in In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig., which was tried in the District of New Jersey, and settled after two weeks of trial for $100 million. In 2009, Mr. Dowd, with his partners Spencer Burkholz and Daniel Drosman, tried Jaffe v. Household International in the Northern District of Illinois, in which the jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs on liability and an award of per share damages. Although the litigation is ongoing, the Household verdict is expected to yield in excess of $1 billion for the plaintiff class. Mr. Dowd also participated in the prosecution of the Firm’s tobacco cases.
Mr. Downs specializes in shareholder derivative and class action litigation, and has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars for corporations and shareholders injured by faithless corporate fiduciaries. Mr. Downs has extensive experience in federal and state shareholder litigation. Recently, he lead a team of lawyers who successfully prosecuted over sixty-five stock option backdating derivative actions pending in state and federal courts across the country, including: In re Marvell Tech. Group, Inc. Deriv. Litig. ($54 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements); In re McAfee, Inc. Deriv. Litig. ($30 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements); In re Affiliated Computer Servs., Inc. Deriv. Litig. ($30 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements); In re KB Home Deriv. Litig. ($30 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements); In re Juniper Network Deriv. Litig. ($22.7 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements); and In re Nvidia Corp. Deriv. Litig. ($15 million in financial relief and extensive corporate governance enhancements). Mr. Downs was born in Quonset Point, Rhodes Island in 1963. In 1985, he earned a Bachelors of Arts, with honors, in History from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. After college, Mr. Downs worked at Procter & Gamble. In 1990, Mr. Downs earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, Washington. Mr. Downs was admitted to the California Bar in 1990, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California. Mr. Downs is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars and has lectured on a variety of topics related to shareholder derivative and class action litigation.
Mr. Drosman is a native San Diegan who received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Reed College in 1990, with honors, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1993. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Drosman served for three years as an Assistant District Attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney's office. While there, Mr. Drosman served in both the appellate section, where he briefed and argued over 25 cases to the New York appellate courts, and in the trial section, where he prosecuted a wide variety of cases involving street crime. From 1996-1997, Mr. Drosman was an associate in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where he concentrated his practice in civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense. In 1997, Mr. Drosman returned to San Diego and became an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California. In the Southern District, Mr. Drosman tried cases before the United States District Court and briefed and argued numerous appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He was a member of the border crimes unit, where he was assigned to investigate and prosecute violations of the federal narcotics and immigration laws as well as official corruption cases. During his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Drosman received the Department of Justice Special Achievement Award in recognition of sustained superior performance of duty. Mr. Drosman's practice involves representing defrauded investors in securities class actions, an area in which he has co-authored a law journal article.
Mr. Egler was admitted to the California Bar in 1995 and the Pennsylvania Bar in 1996. He is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the Northern, Southern and Central Districts of California and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits.
After spending several years representing blue chip companies in class action lawsuits at one of the largest corporate defense firms in the world, Mr. Geller became a founding partner and head of the Boca Raton office of a national class action boutique firm, Geller Rudman, PLLC. In July 2004, through a merger of the firms, Mr. Geller opened the Boca Raton, Florida office of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. In May 2005, Mr. Geller was selected by The National Law Journal (“NLJ”) as one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” – an honor bestowed upon 40 of the country’s top lawyers under the age of 40. The NLJ previously compiled its “40 Under 40” list in July 2002, and Mr. Geller is the only lawyer in the country selected for inclusion both in 2002 and again in 2005. In July 2006, as well as July 2003, Mr. Geller was featured in Florida Trend magazine as one of Florida’s “Legal Elite.” Mr. Geller was featured in the South Florida Business Journal as one of Florida's top lawyers, and named one of the nation’s top 500 lawyers by Lawdragon in August 2006 and again in May 2010. In June 2007, Mr. Geller was selected by Law & Politics as one of Florida’s top lawyers. Mr. Geller is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell (the highest rating available) and has served as lead or co-lead counsel in a majority of the securities class actions that have been filed in the southeastern United States in the past several years, including cases against Hamilton Bancorp ($8.5 million settlement); Prison Realty Trust (co-lead derivative counsel, total combined settlement of over $120 million); and Intermedia Corp. ($38 million settlement). Mr. Geller recently served as one of the court-appointed lead counsel in cases involving the alleged manipulation of the asset value of some of the nation's largest mutual funds, including Hicks v. Morgan Stanley & Co.; Abrams v. Van Kampen Funds, Inc.; and In Re Eaton Vance Sec. Litig. ($51.5 million aggregate settlements). Mr. Geller is also heavily involved in corporate governance litigation. For example, Mr. Geller recently represented a shareholder of Applica, Inc. who was concerned with allegedly reckless acquisitions made by the company. Mr. Geller and his partners secured a settlement that required Applica, Inc. to establish a new independent Acquisitions Committee charged with conducting due diligence and approving future acquisitions, even though such a committee is not required by SEC regulations. In another corporate governance lawsuit, Mr. Geller and his co-counsel challenged the independence of certain members of a Special Committee empaneled by Oracle Corp. to look into certain stock sales made by its Chairman and CEO, Larry Ellison. After Delaware Chancery Court Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine issued an Order agreeing that the Special Committee was “fraught with conflicts,” The Wall Street Journal called the decision “one of the most far-reaching ever on corporate governance.” Mr. Geller has also successfully represented consumers in class action litigation. He recently settled Kehoe v. Fidelity Fed., a consumer class action alleging privacy violations filed in the Southern District of Florida, for $50 million. He was personal counsel to the lead plaintiff in Stoddard v. Advanta, a case that challenged the adequacies of interest rate disclosures by one of the nation's largest credit card companies ($11 million settlement), and was personal counsel to one of the lead plaintiffs in the American Family Publishers sweepstakes litigation, which alleged that the defendant misled consumers into thinking they would win a lottery if they purchased magazine subscriptions ($38 million settlement). Mr. Geller is currently representing Emergency Room physicians in Florida who are suing four of the nation’s largest HMOs for improper payment calculations. The four related cases have been through numerous appeals. After Mr. Geller’s most recent appellate victory in the case, he was presented an award by the America Law Media’s Daily Business Review and named one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” in 2006. During the past few years, several of Mr. Geller's cases have received regional and national press coverage. Mr. Geller has appeared on CNN Headline News, CNN Moneyline with Lou Dobbs, ABC, NBC and FOX network news programs. Mr. Geller is regularly quoted in the financial press, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and BusinessWeek. Mr. Geller has been or is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Practicing Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the Palm Beach County Bar Association (former Member of Bar Grievance Committee) and the South Palm Beach County Bar Association (former Co-Chair of Pro Bono Committee).
Before joining the Firm, Mr. George, who is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell (the highest rating available), was a partner in the Boca Raton office of Geller Rudman, PLLC. Mr. George, a zealous advocate of shareholder rights, has been lead and/or co-lead counsel with respect to various securities class action matters, including: In Re Cryo Cell Int’l, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($7 million settlement); In Re TECO Energy, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($17.35 million settlement); In Re Newpark Res., Inc. Sec. Litig. ($9.24 million settlement); In Re Mannatech, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($11.5 million settlement); Reese v. The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.); and Kuriakose v. Fed. Home Loan Mtg. Co. (S.D.N.Y.). Mr. George has also acted as lead counsel in numerous consumer class actions, including: Lewis v. Labor Ready, Inc. ($11 million settlement); In Re Webloyalty, Inc. Mktg. and Sales Practices Litig. ($10 million settlement); In Re Navisite Migration Litigation ($1.7 million settlement); and various cases regarding the Pinecastle Bombing Range (Mo. and Fla. District Courts, and Fla. State Court). Mr. George was also a member of the litigation team in In Re UnitedHealth Group, Inc. ($925.5 million settlement). Before joining Geller Rudman, Mr. George spent more than a decade as a commercial litigator with two of the largest corporate law firms in the United States. During that time, Mr. George aggressively prosecuted and defended a wide array of complex commercial litigation matters, including securities class action matters, non-compete litigation, fraud claims, and real estate-based litigation matters. In 2007, Mr. George was named one of Florida's Most Effective Corporate/Securities Lawyers, and was the only plaintiffs' securities class action counsel recognized. Mr. George is licensed to practice law in the state courts of Florida, as well as the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida, and the First and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Mr. George is currently, or has been, a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, the Palm Beach County Bar Association, and the Southern Palm Beach County Bar Association.
Mr. Goldstein graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1991. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver College of Law in 1995, where he was the Notes & Comments Editor of the University of Denver Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Goldstein served as a law clerk for the Honorable William H. Erickson on the Colorado Supreme Court. Mr. Goldstein is admitted to practice in Colorado (1995) and California (1997).
Most recently, Mr. Goodman achieved groundbreaking settlements as lead counsel in a number of shareholder derivative actions related to stock option backdating by corporate insiders. Notable among Mr. Goodman’s recent backdating settlements are: In re KB Home S’holder Deriv. Litig., No. CV-06-05148-FMC (C.D. Cal.) (extensive corporate governance changes, over $80 million cash back to the company); In re Affiliated Computer Servs. Deriv. Litig., No. 06-CV-1110-M (N.D. Tex.) ($30 million); Gunther v. Tomasetta, et al., No. 06-CV-02529-R (C.D. Cal.) (corporate governance overhaul, including shareholder nominated directors, and cash payment to Vitesse from corporate insiders). Mr. Goodman also recently earned a landmark ruling from the Washington State Supreme Court. In In re F5 Networks, Inc. Deriv. Litig., 166 Wn.2d 229 (Wash. 2009), the Washington Supreme Court held that Washington applies Delaware’s demand futility standard rather than requiring universal demand as advocated by defendants. Additionally, the Court held that the reasoning found in Ryan v. Gifford, 918 A.2d 341 (Del. Ch. 2007) regarding demand futility in a stock option backdating case “follows naturally from Delaware's demand futility standard” and should be applied in Washington courts. Mr. Goodman also represented over 60 public and private institutional investors that filed and settled individual actions in the WorldCom securities litigation. Additionally, Mr. Goodman successfully litigated several other notable securities class actions against companies such as Infonet Services Corporation, Global Crossing, and Fleming Companies, Inc., each of which resulted in significant recoveries for shareholders. On the human rights front, Mr. Goodman was counsel for a class of over 50,000 Chinese garment workers on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who were being forced to work as indentured servants. The lawsuit resulted in a historic settlement with major United States clothing retailers and manufacturers, including The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein that included an agreement providing independent supervision of working conditions in Saipan garment factories and multi-million dollar compensation for unpaid overtime work performed by class members. Mr. Goodman earned his Bachelor of Science in Management Systems from Arizona State University in 1994, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego in 2000. Mr. Goodman is admitted to practice in the all California and the District of Columbia courts as well as the United States Courts of Appeal for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits.
Elise J. Grace is a partner in the San Diego office and responsible for advising the Firm's state and government pension fund clients on issues related to securities fraud and corporate governance. Ms. Grace serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Firm's Corporate Governance Bulletin and is a frequent lecturer on securities fraud, shareholder litigation and options for institutional investors seeking to recover losses caused by securities and accounting fraud. Ms. Grace has prosecuted various significant securities fraud class actions, including the AOL Time Warner state and federal securities opt-out litigations, which resulted in a combined settlement of $629 million for defrauded shareholders. Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Grace was an associate at Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP and Clifford Chance LLP, where she defended various Fortune 500 companies in securities class actions and complex business litigation. Ms. Grace is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine School of Law. Ms. Grace earned her Bachelor of Arts at the University of California Los Angeles where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Grace earned her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine School of Law, where she received a Dean’s academic scholarship and graduated magna cum laude.
Mr. Green received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors and distinction, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. He took his Juris Doctor degree from Notre Dame Law School, and was admitted to the California Bar, in 1995. Before entering practice, Mr. Green served as law clerk to the Honorable Theodore R. Boehm (Supreme Court of Indiana) and the Honorable Barry T. Moskowitz (United States District Court, Southern District of California). After briefing and arguing appeals and writs in jurisdictions across the country, Mr. Green was named a San Diego Super Lawyer (2008-present). Published decisions in which he played a substantial role include: Fox v. JAMDAT Mobile, Inc., 185 Cal. App. 4th 1068 (2010); In re F5 Networks, Inc., 207 P.3d 433 (Wash. 2009); Safeco Ins. Co. of Am. v. Super. Ct., 173 Cal. App. 4th 814 (2009); Smith v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 289 S.W.3d 675 (W.D. Mo. 2009); Troyk v. Farmers Group, Inc., 171 Cal. App. 4th 1305 (2009); Alaska Elec. Pension Fund v. Brown, 941 A.2d 1011 (Del. 2007); Ritt v. Billy Blanks Enter., 870 N.E.2d 212 (Ohio Ct. App. 2007); McKell v. Wash. Mut., Inc., 142 Cal. App. 4th 1457 (2006); In re Guidant S’holders Deriv. Litig., 841 N.E.2d 571 (Ind. 2006); Denver Area Meat Cutters & Employers Pension Plan v. Clayton, 209 S.W.3d 584 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006); Lebrilla v. Farmers Group, Inc., 119 Cal. App. 4th 1070 (2004); West Corp. v. Super. Ct., 116 Cal. App. 4th 1167 (2004); and Lavie v. Procter & Gamble Co., 105 Cal. App. 4th 496 (2003). Beyond his appellate practice, Mr. Green is active in professional activities. Mr. Green has served in the leadership of the Appellate Court Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association (Chair, 2010; Vice Chair, 2009; and Chair, Civil Rules Subcommittee, 2007-2008). Mr. Green also sat on the State Bar of California Committee on Appellate Courts (2006-2009). In addition, Mr. Green is a member of Consumer Attorneys of California (Amicus Curiae Committee), State Bar of California Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section, California Supreme Court Historical Society, American Constitution Society, Federal Bar Association and Bench-Bar Coalition. Past speaking engagements include: State Bar of California 82nd Annual Meeting (September 2009, Moderator for “Preparing an Appellate Record: As Important as the Brief?”); and Consumer Attorneys of California 47th Annual Convention (November 2008, Employment Litigation Panel). In the publication area, Mr. Green has authored three articles: A Tool for Mischief: Preemptive Defense Motions Under BCBG Overtime Cases to Reject Class Certification, Forum (Vol. 38, No. 7, Jan./Feb. 2009) (with Kimberly A. Kralowec); The Unfair Competition Law After Proposition 64: The California Supreme Court Speaks, Journal of Competition (Vol. 15, No. 2, Fall/Winter 2006); and A Vote Properly Cast? The Constitutionality of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, 22 Journal of Legislation 45 (1996).
ELI GREENSTEIN is a partner in the Firm's securities litigation practice group. Mr. Greenstein received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration in 1997 from the University of San Diego, where he was a Presidential Scholar. In 2001, Mr. Greenstein received his Juris Doctor degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. He also received a Master of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business in 2002. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Greenstein was a judicial extern for the Honorable James Ware, United States District Court, Northern District of California. He also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in its International Tax and Legal Services division, and clerked on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the S&P 500 index futures and options division. Mr. Greenstein co-authored Post-Enron: Auditor Independence, Regulation and Disclosure, published in the Practising Law Institute's Hot Securities Litigation Issues in a Down Economy (2002). Mr. Greenstein's primary practice area is securities fraud litigation on behalf of individual and institutional investors. His clients include state, county and municipal pension funds, Taft-Hartley funds, and private retirement and investment funds. He has been a member of the California Bar since 2001 and is admitted to practice in all California state courts, as well as federal courts in the Northern, Central and Eastern Districts of California and the Northern District of Illinois.
Since 1997, Mr. Gronborg has worked on securities fraud actions and has been lead or co-lead litigation counsel in cases that have recovered more than $1 billion, including: In re Cardinal Health, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($600 million); In re Prison Realty Sec. Litig. ($104 million); In re Accredo Health, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($33 million); and Roth v. Aon Corp. ($30 million). On three separate occasions, Mr. Gronborg’s pleadings have been upheld by the federal Courts of Appeals (Broudo v. Dura Pharms., Inc., 339 F.3d 933 (9th Cir. 2003); In re Daou Sys., Inc. Sec. Litig., 411 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2005); Staehr v. The Hartford Financial Services Group, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 23551 (2d Cir. 2008)), and he has been responsible for a number of significant rulings, including: Roth v. Aon Corp., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18471 (N.D. Ill. 2008); In re Cardinal Health Inc., Sec. Litig., 426 F. Supp. 2d 688 (S.D. Ohio 2006); In re Direct Gen. Corp. Sec. Litig., Case No. 3:05-0077, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56128 (M.D. Tenn. 2006); and In re Dura Pharms., Inc. Sec. Litig., 452 F.Supp. 2d 1005 (S.D. Cal. 2006). In addition to his securities litigation practice, Mr. Gronborg has lectured on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and electronic discovery.
Ms. Stewart currently practices in the Firm's settlement department, negotiating and documenting the Firm's complex securities, merger, ERISA and stock options backdating derivative actions. Notably, recent settlements include: In re Forest Labs., Inc. Sec. Litig. (S.D.N.Y. 2009) ($65 million); In re Activision, Inc. S’holder Deriv. Litig. (C.D. Cal. 2008) ($24.3 million in financial benefits to Activision in options backdating litigation); In re Affiliated Computer Servs. Deriv. Litig. (N.D. Tex. 2009) ($30 million cash benefit to ACS in options backdating litigation); and In re TD Banknorth S’holders Litig. (Del. Ct. of Chancery 2009) ($50 million).
Mr. Herman has lead or been significantly involved in the prosecution of numerous securities fraud claims that have resulted in substantial recoveries for investors, including settled actions against the Coca-Cola Company ($137 million), VeriSign Corp. ($78 million), NorthWestern Corp. ($40 million), Specialty Laboratories, Inc. ($12 million), Stellent, Inc. ($12 million) and Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ($10 million) (approval pending). Mr. Herman led the prosecution of the securities action against Lattice Semiconductor, Inc., which resulted in a significant, precedent-setting decision regarding the liability of officers who falsely certify the adequacy of internal accounting controls under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Mr. Herman has also successfully represented the estate of a bankrupt company in lawsuits against its former officers and outside auditor seeking recovery for actions that deepened the company’s insolvency before it went bankrupt. Previously, Mr. Herman practiced for 10 years in Denver, Colorado, where he had a general commercial litigation practice and litigated many fraud and other tort claims cases, as well as a wide variety of cases involving contract claims, land use disputes, environmental issues, inter-governmental disputes, voting rights, and intellectual property disputes. Mr. Herman is admitted to practice in both California and Colorado (inactive), and is a member of the bar of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, as well as the bars of the United States District Courts for Colorado, and the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Herman was an award-winning investigative newspaper reporter and editor in California and Connecticut.
Mr. Herman is recognized by his peers as being among the leading intellectual property litigators in the Southeast. He is regularly named as a Georgia Super Lawyer by Atlanta Magazine, and in 2007 he was named to the “Top 100” Georgia Super Lawyers list. Mr. Herman also has been named one of "Georgia's Most Effective Lawyers" by Legal Trend. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School (where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Journal and a John Wade Scholar), and of Marquette University (B.S., Biochemistry, summa cum laude).
In 1986, Mr. Isaacson joined the litigation department of O’Melveny & Myers, where his practice included cases involving allegations of trademark infringement, unfair business practices and securities fraud. He served as a member of the trial team that successfully prosecuted a major trademark infringement action. Mr. Isaacson joined the plaintiffs' bar in 1989, and has taken part in prosecuting many securities fraud class actions. He was a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in In re Apple Computer Sec. Litig., No. C 84-20148(A)-JW (N.D. Cal.). Since the early 1990s, his practice has focused primarily on appellate matters in cases that have produced dozens of published precedents. See, e.g., In re Constar Int’l, Inc. Sec. Litig., 585 F.3d 774 (3d Cir. 2009); Hatfield v. Halifax PLC, 564 F.3d 1177 (9th Cir. 2009); Alaska Elec. Pension Fund v. Pharmacia Corp., 554 F.3d 342 (3d Cir. 2009); In re NYSE Specialists Sec. Litig. (Cal. Pub. Employees’ Ret. Sys. v. N.Y. Stock Exch., Inc.), 503 F.3d 89 (2d Cir. 2007); In re WorldCom Sec. Litig. (Cal. Pub. Employees' Ret. Sys. v. Caboto-Gruppo Intesa, BCI), 496 F. 3d 245 (2d Cir. 2007); Sanford v. MemberWorks, Inc., 483 F.3d 956 (9th Cir. 2007); Sanchez v. County of San Diego, 464 F.3d 916 (9th Cir. 2006), rehearing denied, 483 F.3d 965 (2007); In re Daou Sys., Inc., Sec. Litig. (Sparling v. Daou), 411 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2005); Ill. Mun. Ret. Fund v. CitiGroup, Inc., 391 F.3d 844 (7th Cir. 2004); Deutsch v. Turner Corp., 324 F.3d 692 (9th Cir. 2003); Lone Star Ladies Inv. Club v. Schlotzsky’s, Inc., 238 F.3d 363 (5th Cir. 2001); Hertzberg v. Dignity Partners, Inc., 191 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 1999); Warshaw v. Xoma Corp., 74 F.3d 955 (9th Cir. 1996); Fecht v. Price Co., 70 F.3d 1078 (9th Cir. 1995); and Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 7 Cal. 4th 1057 (1994). Mr. Isaacson’s publications include: Assaulting America’s Mainstream Values: Hans Zeiger’s Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America, 5 Pierce Law Review 433 (2007); Traditional Values, or a New Tradition of Prejudice? The Boy Scouts of America vs. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 17 George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal 1 (2006); What's Brewing in Dura v. Broudo? A Review of the Supreme Court's Opinion and Its Import for Securities-Fraud Litigation (co-authored with Patrick J. Coughlin and Joseph D. Daley), 37 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 1 (2005); Pleading Scienter Under Section 21D(b)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: Motive, Opportunity, Recklessness and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (co-authored with William S. Lerach), 33 San Diego Law Review 893 (1996); Securities Class Actions in the United States (co-authored with Patrick J. Coughlin), Litigation Issues in the Distribution of Securities: An International Perspective 399 (Kluwer International/International Bar Association, 1997); Pleading Standards Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The Central District of California’s Chantal Decision (co-authored with Alan Schulman & Jennifer Wells), Class Action & Derivative Suits, Summer 1996, at 14; Commencing Litigation Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (co-authored with Patrick J. Coughlin), Securities Litigation 1996 9-22 (Practising Law Institute 1996); The Flag Burning Issue: A Legal Analysis and Comment, 23 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 535 (1990). Mr. Isaacson has done extensive pro bono work. He has served as a cooperating attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties representing indigent San Diegans. He also has filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of a variety of organizations, including the Social Justice Ministry and Board of Trustees of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego where he teaches Sunday school. In California’s Marriage Cases, Mr. Isaacson was on the team of attorneys representing the California Council of Churches, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and the hundreds of other religious organizations and faith leaders, as amici curiae, insisting civil marriage is a civil right that California cannot withhold from same-sex couples. See In re Marriage Cases, 43 Cal. 4th 757, 773 (2008). Mr. Isaacson then represented the California Council of Churches, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Bishops of California and Los Angeles, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California, and the Progressive Jewish Alliance as petitioners and amici in related proceedings challenging Proposition 8’s withdrawal of that fundamental right. See Strauss v. Horton, 46 Cal. 4th 364, 377-78 (2009); Cal. Council of Churches v. Horton, No. S168332 (Cal. July 8, 2009) (order denying writ of mandate or prohibition). Mr. Isaacson has received awards for his pro bono work from the California State Bar and the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, and in 2009 he received the Unitarian Universalist Association President’s Annual Award for Volunteer Service, which was awarded by the Rev. William G. Sinkford at the Association’s 48th General Assembly in Salt Lake City. Since January 2004, Mr. Isaacson has served as a member of the Board of Directors – and from March 2005 through June 2008 was Board President – of San Diego's Foundation for Change, an organization dedicated to funding and supporting community-led efforts to promote social equality, economic justice and environmental sustainability. Its grantees have included groups as diverse as Activist San Diego, the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, the Employee Rights Center, and the San Diego Audubon Society. Mr. Isaacson has been a member of the California Bar since 1985. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits, and before all federal district courts in the State of California.
Mr. Jaconette is currently serving as lead counsel in securities class actions and shareholder derivative cases, including numerous derivative actions arising out of alleged stock option backdating. He also advises institutional investors, including pension funds, hedge funds, and financial institutions on portfolio monitoring and case evaluation. Favorable reported decisions include: In re Informix Corp. Secs. Litig., No. C-97-1289-SBA, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23687 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 1997); Schlagal v. Learning Tree Int’l, No. CV 98-6384 ABC, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20306 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 23, 1998); In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig., 235 F. Supp. 2d 549 (S.D. Tex. 2002); In re Dynegy, Inc. Sec. Litig., 339 F. Supp. 2d 804 (S.D. Tex. 2004); Belova v. Sharp, No. CV 07-299-MO, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19880 (D. Or. Mar. 13, 2008); Bacas v. Way, No. 07-cv-456, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23025 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 20, 2008); In re Cirrus Logic, Inc., No. A-07-CA-212-SS, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71195 (W.D. Tex. Aug. 28, 2008); and Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Olofson, No. 08-2344-CM, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46564 (D. Kan. June 3, 2009). Mr. Jaconette attended San Diego State University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and distinction in 1989 and his M.B.A. in 1992. In 1995, Mr. Jaconette received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco. Mr. Jaconette was the Mortar Board Vice President from 1988-1989, a member of the Hastings Law Journal from 1993-1994, and Associate Articles Editor from 1994-1995. Mr. Jaconette authored The Fraud-on-the-Market Theory in State Law Securities Fraud Suits, Hastings Law Journal, Volume 46, August 1995. In 1993, Mr. Jaconette served as law clerk to the Honorable Barbara J. Gamer, and in 1994, as extern to the Honorable William H. Orrick, Jr., District Judge. Mr. Jaconette has been licensed to practice in the California Bar since 1995 and has been admitted to practice in California state courts, the United States District Courts in all districts in California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Janecek was co-lead counsel, as well as the Court-appointed Liaison Counsel, in Wholesale Elec. Antitrust Cases I & II, Judicial Counsel Coordination Proceedings 4204 & 4205, charging an antitrust conspiracy by wholesale electricity suppliers and traders of electricity in California’s newly deregulated wholesale electricity market. In conjunction with the Governor of the State of California, the California State Attorney General, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Electricity Oversight Board, a number of other state and local governmental entities and agencies, and California’s large, investor-owned electric utilities, plaintiffs secured a global settlement for California consumers, businesses and local governments valued at more than $1.1 Billion. Mr. Janecek has also litigated several Proposition 65 actions, including People ex rel. Lungren v. Super. Ct., 14 Cal. 4th 294 (1996), which was jointly prosecuted with the Attorney General’s office. These actions resulted in the recovery of more than $10 million in disgorgement and/or civil penalties and warnings to consumers of their exposure to cancer causing agents and reproductive toxins. Mr. Janecek chaired several of the litigation committees in California’s tobacco litigation, which resulted in the $25.5 billion recovery for California and its local entities. Mr. Janecek also handled a constitutional challenge to the State of California’s Smog Impact Fee, in the case Ramos v. Dep’t of Motor Vehicles, No. 95AS00532 (Cal. Super. Ct., Sacramento County). As a result of the Ramos litigation, more than a million California residents received full refunds, plus interest, totaling $665 million. Mr. Janecek and Patrick J. Coughlin co-authored of A Review of R.J. Reynolds’ Internal Documents Produced in Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 939359 – The Case that Rid California and the American Landscape of ‘Joe Camel’ (January 1998), which, along with more than 60,000 internal industry documents, was released to the public through Congressman Henry Waxman. Mr. Janecek is also the author of California’s Unfair Competition Act and Its Role in the Tobacco Wars (Fall 1997). Mr. Janecek is a member of the American Bar Association, the California Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association, the Consumer Attorneys of California and San Diego and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
Upon graduation, Ms. Jensen joined the law firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco for one year before clerking for the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Thereafter, she worked abroad as a law clerk in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), respectively. Ms. Jensen's practice focuses on class action securities and consumer fraud. She is licensed to practice law in the State of California and is admitted to practice before all the federal district courts in the state.
Mr. Kaufman has served as lead counsel or played a significant role in numerous actions, including: In re TD Banknorth S’holders Litig. ($50 million recovery); In re Gen. Elec. Co. ERISA Litig. ($40 million cost to GE, including significant improvements to GE’s employee retirement plan, and benefits to GE plan participants valued in excess of $100 million); In re Warner Chilcott Ltd. Sec. Litig. ($16.5 million recovery); In re Royal Group Tech. Sec. Litig. ($9 million recovery); In re Audiovox Deriv. Litig. ($6.75 million recovery and corporate governance reforms); Candela Corp. ($3.85 million); In re Hibernia Foods, PLC Sec. Litig. ($2.8 million recovery from auditor of liquidated company); In re MONY Group, Inc. S'holder Litig. (obtained preliminary injunction requiring disclosures in proxy statement); N.J. v. Gemstar TV-Guide (recovered approximately 50% of New Jersey’s losses); Hudson Soft & Autobacs, Seven Co. v. CSFB (resolved for an undisclosed sum); and In re Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., Internet Strategies Sec. Litig. (resolved as part of a $39 million global settlement). In the TD Banknorth litigation, the court appointed Mr. Kaufman and the Firm to be lead counsel for plaintiffs after rejecting as “wholly inadequate” a $3 million settlement objected to by Mr. Kaufman and the Firm on behalf of their clients and the class. When the Firm later achieved a $50 million recovery for the class, the court stated: “This is one of the cases – there’s probably been a half a dozen since I’ve been a judge that I handled which have – really through the sheer diligence and effort of plaintiffs’ counsel – resulted in substantial awards for plaintiffs, after overcoming serious procedural and other barriers. . . . it appears plainly from the papers that you and your co-counsel have diligently, and at great personal expense and through the devotion of many thousands of hours of your time, prosecuted this case to a successful conclusion.” Mr. Kaufman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1992. Mr. Kaufman earned his Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1995, where he was a member of the Fordham International Law Journal. Prior to joining the Firm, between 2001 and early 2005, Mr. Kaufman was associated with a prominent Manhattan plaintiffs' class action firm, where his practice focused on securities and consumer fraud class actions. Mr. Kaufman is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Kaufman is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association.
Ms. Kowalewski’s practice focuses on class actions on behalf of defrauded investors, primarily in the area of accounting fraud. She has investigated and participated in the investigation and litigation of many large accounting scandals, including Cardinal Health and Krispy Kreme, and numerous companies implicated in stock option backdating. Ms. Kowalewski is admitted to the California Bar (2001) and is licensed to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California. Ms. Kowalewski is a member of the San Diego County Bar, the State Bar of California, American Association for Justice, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego and Consumer Attorneys of California. Ms. Kowalewski is the President of Lawyers Club of San Diego (2009-2010). Ms. Kowalewski is also a Certified Public Accountant (Ohio, 1998).
Mr. Leahy works on securities actions in which his clients have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Leahy is a member of the California Bar and has been admitted in numerous federal courts throughout the country.
Mr. Light is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association and is on the Attorney Fee Arbitration Panel. Mr. Light also currently serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Diego County Superior Court. Mr. Light practices in the Firm’s settlement department, negotiating, documenting and obtaining court approval of the Firm’s complex securities, merger, consumer and derivative actions. These settlements include: In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig. (D.N.J. 2005) ($100 million recovery); In re Infonet Corp. Sec. Litig. (C.D. Cal. 2004) ($18 million recovery); and In re Ashworth, Inc. Sec. Litig. (S.D. Cal. 2004) ($15.25 million recovery).
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Mitchell served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California. While at the United States Attorney's Office, he worked on cases involving narcotics trafficking, bank robbery, murder-for-hire, alien smuggling, and terrorism. He tried nearly 20 cases to verdict before federal criminal juries and made numerous appellate arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Mitchell's practice focuses on securities fraud and antitrust litigation. He is a member of the State Bar of California and is admitted to practice before the Southern and Central Districts of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Park has overseen the Court-approval process in more than 1,000 securities class action and shareholder derivative settlements, including actions involving: Enron ($7.3 billion recovery); UnitedHealth ($925.5 million recovery and corporate governance reforms); Dynegy ($474 million recovery and corporate governance reforms); Dollar General ($162 million recovery); Mattel ($122 million recovery); Prison Realty ($105 million recovery); Honeywell (in addition to the $100 million recovery, Honeywell's agreed to adopt significant corporate governance changes relating to compensation of senior executives and directors, stock trading by directors, executive officers and key employees, internal and external audit functions, and financial reporting and board independence); Sprint (in addition to $50 million recovery, obtained important governance enhancements, including creation of Lead Independent Director and expensing of stock options); Hanover Compressor (on top of $85 million recovery, obtained the following governance enhancements, among others: direct shareholder nomination of Board and mandatory rotation of audit firm); 3COM ($259 million recovery); Chiron ($43 million recovery); National Health Labs ($64 million recovery); and NME ($60.75 million recovery). He is admitted to practice in California and New York.
Mr. Pepich’s practice has focused primarily on securities class action litigation, but has also included a wide variety of complex civil cases, including representing plaintiffs in mass tort, royalty, civil rights, human rights, ERISA and employment law actions. Mr. Pepich has participated in the successful prosecution of numerous securities class actions, including: Haw. Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund v. Calpine Corp., No. 1-04-CV-021465 ($43 million recovery); Carpenters Health & Welfare Fund v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 1:00-CV-2838 ($137.5 million recovery); In re Fleming Cos. Inc. Sec. and Deriv. Litig., No. 5-03-MD-1530 ($95 million recovered); In re Advanced Micro Devices Sec. Litig., No. C-93-20662 ($34 million recovery); In re Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C-95-707 ($65 million recovery); Gohler v. Wood, No. 92-C-181 ($17.2 million recovery); and In re Boeing Sec. Litig., No. C-97-1715Z ($92 million recovery). Mr. Pepich was also a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in Mynaf v. Taco Bell Corp., which settled after two months of trial on terms favorable to two plaintiff classes of restaurant workers for recovery of unpaid wages, and a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in Newman v. Stringfellow where, after a nine-month trial in Riverside, California, all claims for exposure to toxic chemicals were ultimately resolved for $109 million.
Mr. Pintar has participated in the successful prosecution of numerous securities fraud class actions and derivative actions. Mr. Pintar was part of the litigation team in the AOL Time Warner state and federal court securities opt-out actions, which arose from the 2001 merger of American Online and Time Warner. These cases resulted in a global settlement of $618 million. Mr. Pintar participated on the trial team in Knapp v. Gomez, No. 87-0067-H(M) (S.D. Cal.), which resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict. Mr. Pintar has also participated in the successful prosecution of numerous insurance and consumer class actions, including: (i) actions against major life insurance companies such as Manufacturer’s Life ($555 million initial estimated settlement value) and Principal Mutual Life Insurance Company ($380+ million settlement value); (ii) actions against major homeowners insurance companies such as Allstate ($50 million settlement) and Prudential Property and Casualty Co. ($7 million settlement); (iii) actions against automobile insurance companies such as the Auto Club and GEICO; and (iv) actions against Columbia House ($55 million settlement value) and BMG Direct, direct marketers of CDs and cassettes. Mr. Pintar has served as a panelist for numerous Continuing Legal Education seminars on federal and state court practice and procedure. Mr. Pintar is a member of the State Bar of California and the San Diego County Bar Association.
WILLOW E. RADCLIFFE earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated cum laude from the Seton Hall University School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Radcliffe interned at the National Labor Relations Board in Newark, New Jersey. Ms. Radcliffe is a member of the State Bar of California, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Eastern Districts of California. Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Radcliffe clerked for the Honorable Maria-Elena James, Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Ms. Radcliffe concentrates her practice in securities class action litigation in federal court. Ms. Radcliffe has been significantly involved in the prosecution of numerous securities fraud claims, including actions filed against Flowserve Corp., NorthWestern Corp. and Ashworth, Inc. Ms. Radcliffe has also represented plaintiffs in other complex actions, including a class action against a major bank regarding the adequacy of disclosures made to consumers in California related to Access Checks.
Mr. Reise is devoted to protecting the rights of those who have been harmed by corporate misconduct. Mr. Reise started his legal career representing individuals suffering the debilitating affects of asbestos exposure back in the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Reise currently concentrates his practice on class action litigation, including: securities fraud, shareholder derivative actions, consumer protection, antitrust, and unfair and deceptive insurance practices. Mr. Reise devotes a substantial portion of his practice to representing shareholders in actions brought under the federal securities laws. Mr. Reise is currently serving as lead counsel in more than a dozen cases nationwide. Some recent notable actions include Abrams v. Van Kampen Funds, No. 01-cv-07538 (N.D. Ill. 2001) (involved a mutual fund charged with improperly valuating its net assets) and In re NewPower Holdings Sec. Litig., No. 02-cv-01550 (CLB) (S.D.N.Y. 2005) (settlement with several of the defendants for $26 million). Mr. Reise was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1995. He is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the First, Fourth and Eleventh Circuits, as well as the Southern and Middle District Courts of Florida.
Mr. Rice brings significant trial experience to Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, where he is a member of the Firm’s litigation team. In his time at the Firm, he has prosecuted complex securities cases and helped obtained recoveries for investors in numerous cases, including AOL Time Warner, HealthSouth, Forest Labs, and Healthways. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Rice prosecuted a wide array of cases, ranging from complex white-collar criminal to murder to Russian organized-crime cases. Most recently, he worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California, specializing in public corruption cases. He has also served stints prosecuting organized crime for the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and was nominated to serve as Branch Chief in the Northern Mariana Islands, prosecuting public corruption and white-collar criminal cases. Mr. Rice has been praised for his diligent efforts to combat graft, corruption and collusion among public and private officials in San Diego and has received numerous awards from law enforcement agencies. Mr. Rice has taught for many years and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.
In January 2007, Mr. Robbins was recognized as one of the American Lawyer's Young Litigators 45 and Under for making significant strides in the securities litigation field. Similarly, Mr. Robbins received the California Lawyers Attorney of the Year Award in 2004 for his role as lead counsel in In re Hanover Compressor Sec. Litig., which resulted in an $85 million recovery for shareholders and landmark corporate governance reforms. Mr. Robbins is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars and has lectured on a wide-range of topics related to securities litigation including: Prosecuting and Defending Shareholder Derivative Suits to Force Corporate Change in the Post-Enron World (2005); Corporate Governance Forum (2005); Securities Litigation & Enforcement Institute, Corporate Governance Litigation (2004); International Foundation of Employees Benefit Plans, How to Deal with Class Action Litigation (2004); Advanced Securities Law Workshop (2004); Practice Before the Federal Magistrates (2004); Business Law Annual Meeting, Third-Party Liability in the Post-Enron Environment (2003); Tillinghast-Towers Perrin Seminar on Directors & Officers Liability, Rapid Growth in Securities Class Action Recoveries Post-PSLRA (2003); Directors Roundtable, Battling Over Corporate Disclosure, The Revolution in Securities Class Actions (2002); Business Ethics and Corporate Governance in the Post-Enron World (2002); CALBIOsummit, Class Action Litigation and Prevention (2002); The Opal Financial Group and COLT, Third Annual Investment Education Symposium (2001); Maximizing Returns from Class Actions (2001); and Directors Roundtable (1997). Mr. Robbins is also the co-author of “The Race to the Bottom: Bidding for Lead Counsel and its Impact on Securities Class Actions” presented by the Practicing Law Institute Securities Workshop (2001). Mr. Robbins received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in Economics from the University of Southern California and his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt School of Law.
Major clients include Minebea Co., Ltd., a Japanese manufacturing company represented in a securities fraud arbitration against a United States investment bank. Mr. Rosen has significant experience prosecuting every aspect of securities fraud class actions and has obtained hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors. Prominent cases include: In re Storagetek Sec. Litig., No. 92-B-750 (D. Colo.); In re Access HealthNet Sec. Litig., Nos. SACV-96-1250-GLT(EEx) and No. SACV-97-191-GLT(EEx) (C.D. Cal.); In re Valence Sec. Litig. , No. C-95-20459-JW(EAI) (N.D. Cal.); In re J.D. Edwards Sec. Litig., No. 99-N-1744 (D. Colo.); In re Bergen Brunswig Sec. Litig. and Bergen Brunswig Capital Litig., No. SACV-99-1462-AHS(ANx) (C.D. Cal.); In re Advanced Lighting Sec. Litig., No. 1:99CV8936 (N.D. Ohio); and In re Safeskin Sec. Litig., No. 99cv454-BTM(LSP) (S.D. Cal.). Mr. Rosen is admitted to the California Bar (1991) and the Colorado Bar (1988). He is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association (Litigation Section), the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the California Trial Lawyers of America, California Trial Lawyers Association and the San Diego Trial Lawyers Association.
While in law school, Mr. Rosenfeld interned in the chambers of the Honorable Frederic Block in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Rosenfeld was responsible for initiating some of the largest and most significant securities and shareholder class action lawsuits since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and developed an expertise in the area of lead plaintiff jurisprudence. In 2003, Mr. Rosenfeld joined Samuel Rudman in opening the New York office of Geller Rudman, PLLC and assisted Mr. Rudman in raising the Firm’s profile as one of the nation’s “most active” plaintiffs’ firms. At Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Mr. Rosenfeld continues to concentrate his practice on the investigation and initiation of securities and consumer fraud class actions. Mr. Rosenfeld also advises the Firm’s institutional and individual investor clients on issues related to their involvement in securities class action lawsuits.
Mr. Rothman has served as lead counsel in numerous class actions alleging violations of securities laws, including cases against First Bancorp ($74.25 million recovery), Spiegel ($17.5 million recovery), NBTY ($16 million recovery), and The Children’s Place ($12 million recovery). Mr. Rothman actively represents shareholders in connection with going private transactions and tender offers. For example, in connection with a tender offer made by Citigroup, Mr. Rothman secured an increase of more than $38 million in upfront cash benefits over what was originally offered to shareholders. Mr. Rothman actively litigates consumer fraud cases. In a case alleging false advertising claims where Mr. Rothman was the lead counsel, the defendant agreed to a settlement valued in excess of $67 million. Mr. Rothman also tries, arbitrates and mediates cases. For example, he obtained a multi-million dollar verdict after the trial of a shareholders’ derivative case. In one ongoing securities matter that Mr. Rothman is litigating, the court took the time, in upholding plaintiffs’ complaint, to compliment the quality of the legal representation: “I’ve thought about the arguments and the briefs. Let me commend the lawyers. It was well argued on both sides, and well written briefs, and it’s a pleasure to have lawyering of this caliber in the courthouse.” In re Orion Sec. Litig., No. 08-cv-1328 (RJS), Transcript at 32 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 19, 2009). In another, now settled matter that Mr. Rothman and the Firm litigated as lead counsel, the court stated that the appointment of lead counsel went a “long way” to resolving “a very difficult matter and a very complicated situation.” Phillips v. Reckson Assoc. Realty Corp., No. 12871/2006, Transcript at 3 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Nassau County Jan. 20, 2009). Mr. Rothman is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New York, as well as the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Mr. Rothman is a member of the American Bar Association’s Sections of Litigation and Antitrust Law. Mr. Rothman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He then earned his Juris Doctor degree, with Distinction, from Hofstra University School of Law. During law school, Mr. Rothman was a member of the law review and was awarded the Dean’s Academic Scholarship for completing his first year in the top one percent of his class. Prior to the Firm, Mr. Rothman practiced commercial litigation with an international law firm.
In the TD Banknorth litigation, the court appointed Mr. Rudman and the Firm to be lead counsel for the plaintiff class only after rejecting as “wholly inadequate” the settlement negotiated for the class by another law firm. When the Firm later achieved a $50 million recovery for the class, the court stated: “This is one of the cases – there’s probably been a half a dozen since I’ve been a judge that I handled which have – really through the sheer diligence and effort of plaintiffs’ counsel – resulted in substantial awards for plaintiffs, after overcoming serious procedural and other barriers. . . . [I]t appears plainly from the papers that you and your co-counsel have diligently, and at great personal expense and through the devotion of many thousands of hours of your time, prosecuted this case to a successful conclusion.” The court also credited the Firm with raising the inadequacy of the initial settlement. Mr. Rudman is an active speaker and writer on securities law matters. Mr. Rudman has spoken at programs sponsored by the Practising Law Institute, including: Securities Litigation & Enforcement Institute 2009 and Response to Ponzi and Other Schemes: Alternative Investment Funds under Scrutiny 2009. In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Rudman spoke at the D&O Symposium organized by the Professional Liability Underwriting Society. Mr. Rudman’s recent articles include: Meaning of Second Circuit’s “W.R. Huff” for Investment Advisors, New York Law Journal, Jan. 30, 2009, which was quoted by Judge Juan R. Sánchez in his decision granting class certification in In re Herley Indus., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 06-CV-2596 (E.D. Pa.); Back to “Novak”: Confidential Witnesses in Fraud Actions, New York Law Journal, Oct. 20, 2008; and “Oscar”: Misinterpretation of Fraud-on-the-Market Theory, New York Law Journal, July 17, 2008. Mr. Rudman received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Binghamton University and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School. While attending law school, Mr. Rudman was a Dean’s Merit Scholar and a member of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law and the Moot Court Honor Society. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Rudman joined the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in its New York Regional Office as a staff attorney, where he was responsible for numerous investigations and prosecutions of violations of the federal securities laws. Thereafter, Mr. Rudman joined one of the largest corporate law firms in the country, where he represented public companies in the defense of securities class actions and also handled white-collar criminal defense matters.
Ms. Schroder has significant experience prosecuting every aspect of securities fraud class actions and has obtained millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors. Prominent cases include: In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig. ($100 million recovery at trial); In re FirstEnergy Corp. Sec. Litig. ($89.5 million recovery); Rasner v. Sturm (FirstWorld Commc'ns); and In re Advanced Lighting Sec. Litig. Ms. Schroder also specializes in derivative litigation for breaches of fiduciary duties by corporate officers and directors. Significant litigation includes In re OM Group S'holder Litig. and In re Chiquita S'holder Litig. Currently, Ms. Schroder is representing clients that have suffered losses from the Madoff fraud in the Austin Capital and Meridian Capital litigations. Ms. Schroder’s practice also focuses on advising institutional investors, including public and multi-employer pension funds, on issues related to corporate fraud in the United States securities markets. Ms. Schroder is a frequent lecturer on securities fraud, shareholder litigation, and options for institutional investors seeking to recover losses caused by securities and/or accounting fraud. Ms. Schroder is a member of the California and Kentucky Bars and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and before the United States District Courts for the Southern, Central, and Northern Districts of California, the District of Colorado, and the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Mr. Seefer is a member of the Bar of California. Mr. Seefer is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Seefer is currently on leave from the Firm while serving as an Assistant Director and Deputy General Counsel for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which will report to Congress in December 2010 its conclusions as to the causes of the global financial crisis.
Mr. Smith is licensed to practice in both California and Colorado. Mr. Smith's practice areas include securities and other complex litigation.
Before studying law in England, Mr. Solomon served as a British police officer. After qualifying as a barrister, he first practiced at the international firm Jones Day in Cleveland, Ohio (1987-1990), followed by practice at the Los Angeles office of New York’s Stroock & Stroock & Lavan (1990-1993). At those firms, Mr. Solomon’s representations included the defense of securities fraud and other white-collar crimes, antitrust, copyright, commercial and real estate litigation and reinsurance arbitration. While practicing in Los Angeles, acting for plaintiffs, Mr. Solomon took to trial and won complex commercial contract and real estate actions in the Orange County and Los Angeles Superior Courts, respectively. Since 1993, Mr. Solomon has spearheaded the prosecution of many significant cases. He has obtained substantial recoveries and judgments for plaintiffs through settlement, summary adjudications and trial. He litigated, through trial, In re Helionetics, where he and his trial partner, Paul Howes, won a unanimous $15.4 million jury verdict in November 2000. He has successfully led many other cases, among them: Schwartz v. TXU ($150 million recovery plus significant corporate governance reforms); In re Informix Corp. Sec. Litig. ($142 million recovery); Rosen v. Macromedia, Inc. ($48 million recovery); In re Community Psychiatric Ctrs. Sec. Litig. ($42.5 million recovery); In re Advanced Micro Devices Sec. Litig. ($34 million recovery); In re Tele-Communications, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($33 million recovery); In re Home Theater Sec. Litig. ($22.5 million judgment); In re Diamond Multimedia Sec. Litig. ($18 million recovery); Hayley v. Parker ($16.4 million recovery); In re Gupta Corp. Sec. Litig. ($15 million recovery); In re Radius Sec. Litig.; In re SuperMac Tech., Inc. Sec. Litig. (combined recovery of $14 million); Markus v. The North Face ($12.5 million recovery); In re Brothers Gourmet Coffees, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($9 million recovery); Anderson v. EFTC ($9 million recovery); In re Flir Sys. Inc. Sec. Litig. ($6 million recovery); In re Nike, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($8.9 million recovery); Sharma v. Insignia ($8 million recovery); and In re Medeva Sec. Litig. ($6.75 million recovery). Mr. Solomon chaired the American Bar Association Directors and Officers Liability Sub-Committee and the Accountants Liability Sub-Committee between 1996 and 2001.
Mr. Svetcov was a partner with the firm of Landels Ripley & Diamond, LLP, in San Francisco, from 1989 to 2000. His extensive legal experience includes service as: Chief, Appellate Section, United States Attorney’s Office, San Francisco, 1984-1989; Attorney-in-Charge, Organized Crime Strike Force, San Francisco, 1981-1984; Chief Assistant United States Attorney, San Francisco, 1978-1981; Deputy Attorney General, State of California, 1969-1977; Legal Officer, United Stats Navy, VT-25, Chase Field, Beeville, Texas, 1966-1969; and Deputy Legislative Counsel, Legislature of California, Sacramento, 1965-1966. Mr. Svetcov is certified as a Specialist in Appellate practice by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He was selected by the Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy in 1986 and is a member and past President of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (1998), and a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. In 1999 and 2002, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Mr. Svetcov to three-year terms on the Federal Appellate Rules Advisory Committee. He is also an ex officio member of the Ninth Circuit Rules Advisory Committee on Rules and Internal Operating Procedures. His other memberships and service commitments to the legal profession include: American Academy of Appellate Lawyers; Ninth Circuit Advisory Committee on Rules and Internal Operating Procedures; Federal Appellate Rules Advisory Committee; the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers; the Bar Association of San Francisco (Appellate Courts section); the American Bar Association (Appellate Judges Conference) Committee on Appellate Practice; and the Northern California Federal Bar Association, Board of Directors. Mr. Svetcov earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Brooklyn College in 1961 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. He is a member of the Bars of the State of California, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the First through Eleventh Circuits and the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. For two decades, he as been active as a teacher and lecturer at continuing legal education programs, including those of the ABA Appellate Practice Institutes (1990-2000), Fifth Circuit Bar Association Appellate Practice Seminars (1991-2003), the Ninth Circuit Federal Bar Association Appellate Practice Seminar, and the N.I.T.A. Appellate Advocacy Seminar and Fifth Circuit Bar Association Appellate Practice Seminars (1991-1999). He has served as an adjunct professor at Hastings College of Law and an instructor in Appellate Advocacy at the United States Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute (1980-1989). Mr. Svetcov is also active in community affairs. He has been a member of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council from 1982-2000, its President from 1991-1992, and during the years 1993-1995, he also served on the Northern California Hillel Council.
Ms. Sweeney is co-lead counsel in several multi-district antitrust class actions pending in federal courts around the country, including In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merch. Disc. Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.), and In re Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litig. (S.D.N.Y.). In Currency Conversion, Ms. Sweeney helped recover $336 million for class members through a proposed settlement that is awaiting approval from the federal court. Ms. Sweeney was one of the trial lawyers in Law v. NCAA/Hall v. NCAA/Schreiber v. NCAA (D. Kan.), in which the jury awarded $67 million to three classes of college coaches. She has participated in the successful prosecution and settlement of numerous other antitrust and unfair competition cases, including In re LifeScan, Inc. Consumer Litig. (N.D. Cal.), which settled for $45 million; the Bank Privacy Cases (S.F. Sup. Ct.), which resulted in better bank privacy policies, funding to non-profit groups advocating for privacy rights, and benefits to credit cardholders; In re Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.), which settled for more than $300 million; In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig. (S.D.N.Y.), which settled for $1.027 billion, and In re Airline Ticket Comm’n Antitrust Litig. (D. Minn.), which settled for more than $85 million. A frequent lecturer on antitrust law, California’s unfair competition law, and complex litigation matters, Ms. Sweeney has published several articles, contributed to books and treatises, and testified before the California Judiciary Committee on these topics. Recent publications include THE NEXT ANTITRUST AGENDA: THE AMERICAN ANTITRUST INSTITUTE’S TRANSITION REPORT ON COMPETITION POLICY TO THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (Albert A. Foer, ed. 2008) (co-author); The ‘Federalization’ of the Cartwright Act, 17 COMPETITION 139 (Fall 2008); State Common Law Torts, Business Torts and Unfair Competition Law, ANTITRUST And UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW TREATISE (4th ed., forthcoming 2008) (co-author); and An Overview of Section 2 Enforcement and Developments, 2008 WIS. L. REV. 231 (2008). In 2003, Ms. Sweeney was honored with the Wiley M. Manuel Pro Bono Services Award and the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program Distinguished Service Award for her work on behalf of welfare applicants in Sanchez v. County of San Diego. Ms. Sweeney graduated summa cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1988, where she served as editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She earned a Master of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1985, a Chinese Language Certificate from the Beijing Language Institute in 1982, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Whittier College in 1981. A litigator since 1988, Ms. Sweeney is admitted to practice before all courts in California and Massachusetts, and before the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association and the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Bar Association.
Ms. Taylor has served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, where she obtained considerable trial experience prosecuting drug smuggling and alien smuggling cases. Ms. Taylor entered private practice in 1999, initially focusing on antitrust and consumer fraud class actions. Ms. Taylor has served as counsel on the Microsoft, DRAM and Private Equity antitrust litigation teams, as well as on a number of consumer actions alleging false and misleading advertising and unfair business practices against major corporations such as General Motors, Saturn, Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, BMG Direct Marketing, Inc., and Ameriquest Mortgage Company. As a partner with Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Ms. Taylor has also been responsible for prosecuting securities fraud class actions and has obtained recoveries for investors in litigation involving WorldCom, Qwest and AOL Time Warner. Ms. Taylor is a member of the California Bar Association, San Diego County Bar Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego, Lawyer’s Club, and is on the Board of Directors for the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program. Ms. Taylor is also an active member of the Junior League of San Diego, and a founding member of the Girls Think Tank, currently serving on its Advisory Board.
Mr. Walsh has been recognized often by his peers in Atlanta Magazine’s “Super Lawyers” survey as a “Rising Star” in the field of Intellectual Property Litigation, and he writes and speaks on topics related to patent litigation. Mr. Walsh is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a Bryant T. Castellow Scholar and a member of the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University. Throughout his career, Mr. Walsh has been active in the Atlanta legal community. He is currently the First Vice President of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, where he sits on the ALAS Board and Executive Committee.
Mr. Walton is a member of the Bar of California, a Certified Public Accountant (California 1992), a Certified Fraud Examiner, and is fluent in Spanish. Mr. Walton focuses on class actions and private actions on behalf of defrauded investors, particularly in the area of accounting fraud. He has investigated and participated in the litigation of many large accounting scandals, including Enron, WorldCom, AOL Time Warner, Krispy Kreme, Informix, HealthSouth, Dynegy, Dollar General and numerous companies implicated in stock option backdating. In 2003-2004, Mr. Walton served as a member of the California Board of Accountancy, which is responsible for regulating the accounting profession in California.
Mr. Wilens earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Florida. He graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Law where he received a “Book Award” for the highest grade in his legal drafting class. Mr. Wilens is licensed to practice law in the state courts of Florida and New York, as well as the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Wilens learned the basics of class action practice at various boutique firms located in Boca Raton, Florida. Prior to that, Mr. Wilens was an associate in the New York office of Proskauer Rose LLP, a nationally recognized firm, where he litigated complex actions on behalf of numerous professional sports leagues, including: the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Mr. Wilens has served as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University, where he taught undergraduate and graduate level business law classes.
Mr. Williams is also among the Firm's lead attorneys prosecuting shareholder derivative actions, in particular, numerous stock option backdating actions, securing tens of millions of dollars in cash recoveries, and negotiating the implementation of comprehensive corporate governance enhancements for companies victimized by fraudulent stock option practices. See, e.g., In re McAfee, Inc. Deriv. Litig., No. 06-3484-JF (N.D. Cal.); In re Marvell Tech. Group Ltd. Deriv. Litig., No. 06-3894-RMW (N.D. Cal.); and The Home Depot, Inc. Deriv. Litig., No. 2006-cv-122302 (Ga. Super. Ct. Fulton County). Prior to joining the Firm in 2000, Mr. Williams served for five years as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office where he tried over 20 cases to New York City juries, and led white collar fraud grand jury investigations. Mr. Williams received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The State University of New York at Albany in 1991. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois in 1995. Mr. Williams is admitted to the New York State Bar and the State Bar of California.
Mr. Wissbroecker has successfully litigated matters resulting in monetary settlements in excess of $150 million dollars over the last two years, including: In re PETCO Animal Supplies; In re Dollar Gen.l Corp. S’holders Litig.; Hattan v. Restoration Hardware Inc.; and In re Elec. Data Sys. Class Action Litig. Most recently, Mr. Wissbroecker was appointed as lead counsel for the Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. shareholder litigation in Texas where he secured substantial modifications to the merger agreement between Affiliated and Xerox, as reported in The New York Times in an article by Steven M. Davidoff entitled “A Look at Xerox’s Big Concessions in Its ACS Deal.” Mr. Wissbroecker graduated, cum laude, from Arizona State University in 1998 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Art History. In 2003, Mr. Wissbroecker earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law, magna cum laude. Following law school, Mr. Wissbroecker served as a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and then as a law clerk for the Honorable John L. Coffey, Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Wissbroecker is the author of Six Klimts, a Picasso and a Schiele: Recent Litigation Attempts to Recover Nazi Stolen Art, 14 DEPAUL-LCA J. ART & ENT. L. 39 (2004).
DEBRA J. WYMAN was born in La Mesa, California in 1967. Ms. Wyman specializes in securities litigation and has litigated numerous cases against public companies in the state and federal courts which resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries to investors. In late 2004, Ms. Wyman was a member of the trial team in In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig., which was tried in the District Court in New Jersey, and which settled after two weeks of trial for $100 million. Currently, Ms. Wyman is litigating the complicated accounting fraud matter against HealthSouth Corporation, one of the largest and long-running corporate frauds in history. Ms. Wyman received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine in 1990 and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1997. Ms. Wyman was admitted to the California Bar in 1997 and is licensed to practice before all the California State Courts, as well as all the United States District Courts in California and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the California Bar Association and the San Diego County Bar Association.
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STEPHEN R. ASTLEY earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Florida State University and his Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He also attended the University of Miami School of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude. From 2002-2003, Mr. Astley clerked for the Honorable Peter T. Fay, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
A. RICK ATWOOD, JR. has successfully represented shareholders in securities class actions, merger-related class actions, and shareholder derivative suits in federal and state courts in numerous jurisdictions, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Through his litigation efforts at both the trial and appellate levels, Mr. Atwood has helped recover billions of dollars for public shareholders.
RANDI D. BANDMAN is a partner in the Firm’s New York office, whose responsibilities include coordination of the Firm’s Institutional Investor Department and implementation of the firm’s Portfolio Monitoring Program
. on behalf of hundreds of clients. Ms. Bandman is also responsible for directing the prosecution of numerous complex securities cases, such as In re Societe Generale. Ms. Bandman received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California and her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles.
RANDALL J. BARON specializes in securities litigation, corporate takeover litigation and breach of fiduciary duty actions. For more than a decade, Mr. Baron has headed up a team of lawyers who have been instrumental in shaping merger and acquisition, and breach of fiduciary duty litigation throughout the country. By focusing on an in depth understanding of merger and acquisition and breach of fiduciary duty law, an ability to work under extreme time pressures and the experience and willingness to take a case through trial, Mr. Baron has been responsible for obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars in additional consideration for shareholders.
DOUGLAS R. BRITTON was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1968. Mr. Britton received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas in 1991 and his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Pepperdine University Law School in 1996.
ANDREW J. BROWN received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1988 and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1992. Upon passing the Bar, Mr. Brown worked as a trial lawyer for the San Diego County Public Defender's Office. In 1997, he opened his own firm in San Diego, representing consumers and insureds in lawsuits against major insurance companies. He joined Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP's predecessor firm in 2000.
JOY ANN BULL received her Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of San Diego in 1988. She was a member of the University of San Diego National Trial Competition Team and the San Diego Law Review. Ms. Bull focuses on the litigation of complex securities and consumer class actions.
SPENCER A. BURKHOLZ received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, cum laude, from Clark University in 1985, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989. Mr. Burkholz specializes in securities class actions and has been involved in some of the most high-profile cases in the nation in the past decade.
JOSEPH D. DALEY received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. Mr. Daley is a member of the Firm's Appellate Practice Group, where his practice concentrates on federal appeals. Precedents include: Siracusano v. Matrixx Initiatives, Inc., 585 F.3d 1167 (9th Cir. 2009); In re HealthSouth Corp. Secs. Litig., 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 13035 (11th Cir. June 17, 2009); Frank v. Dana Corp., 547 F.3d 564, (6th Cir. 2008); Luther v. Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP, 533 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2008); In re Merck & Co., Inc., 493 F.3d 393 (3d Cir. 2007); In re Qwest Commc'ns Int’l, 450 F.3d 1179 (10th Cir. 2006); DeJulius v. New England Health Care Employees Pension Fund, 429 F.3d 935 (10th Cir. 2005); Southland Sec. Corp. v. INSpire Ins. Solutions Inc., 365 F.3d 353 (5th Cir. 2004).
PATRICK W. DANIELS is a founding partner of the Firm and the global director of business development. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, cum laude, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
STUART A. DAVIDSON is admitted to practice law in the state courts of Florida, as well as the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida, the Northern District of Texas, the Northern District of Indiana, the Third, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
MICHAEL J. DOWD graduated from Fordham University, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Latin in 1981. While at Fordham, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1984 and entered private practice in New York that same year. He was admitted to practice in New York in 1985 and in California in 1988.
TRAVIS E. DOWNS III areas of expertise include prosecution of shareholder and securities litigation, including shareholder derivative litigation on behalf of corporations and shareholders injured by wayward corporate fiduciaries. Recently, Mr. Downs lead a team of lawyers who successfully prosecuted over sixty-five stock option backdating derivative actions in federal and state courts across the country, resulting in hundreds of millions in financial givebacks for the plaintiffs and extensive corporate governance enhancements, including annual directors elections, majority voting for directors and shareholder nomination of directors.
DANIEL DROSMAN is a former federal prosecutor with extensive litigation experience before trial and appellate courts. His practice focuses on securities fraud litigation and other complex civil litigation. Mr. Drosman is admitted to practice in New York and California and before federal courts throughout those states.
THOMAS E. EGLER was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1967. Mr. Egler received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1989. Mr. Egler received his Juris Doctor degree in 1995 from Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he served as Associate Editor for Catholic University Law Review from 1994-1995. From 1995-1997, Mr. Egler was a law clerk to the Honorable Donald E. Ziegler, Chief Judge, United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania.
PAUL J. GELLER received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Florida, where he was a member of the University Honors Program. Mr. Geller earned his Juris Doctor degree, with Highest Honors, from Emory University School of Law. At Emory, Mr. Geller was an Editor of the Law Review, was inducted into the Order of the Coif legal honor society, and was awarded multiple American Jurisprudence Book Awards for earning the highest grade in the school in a dozen courses.
DAVID J. GEORGE earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island, summa cum laude. Mr. George then graduated at the top of his class at the University of Richmond School of Law. At the University of Richmond, Mr. George was a member of the Law Review, was the President of the McNeill Law Society/Order of the Coif, and earned numerous academic awards, including outstanding academic performance in each of his three years there and outstanding graduate.
JONAH H. GOLDSTEIN is a partner with Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. Formerly, Mr. Goldstein was an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he obtained extensive trial experience (including a seven-defendant 11-week trial), and briefed and argued appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Goldstein has been responsible for prosecuting complex securities cases and obtaining recoveries for investors. Mr. Goldstein was a member of the Firm's trial team in In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 3:00-CV-5364, which was tried in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and settled after two weeks of trial for $100 million.
BENNY C. GOODMAN III concentrates his practice in shareholder derivative actions and securities class actions.
JOHN K. GRANT was born in Provo, Utah in 1961. Mr. Grant received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in 1988 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. Mr. Grant was admitted to the California Bar in 1994.
KEVIN K. GREEN represents defrauded investors and consumers in the appellate courts. Mr. Green is a partner in the Appellate Practice Group and a Certified Appellate Specialist, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Green also assists the Firm’s trial litigators with briefing and strategy.
TOR GRONBORG was born in Portland, Oregon in 1969. Mr. Gronborg received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was a recipient of an AFL-CIO history scholarship. In 1992, Mr. Gronborg did graduate work in international relations and strategic studies at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom on a Rotary International Fellowship. Mr. Gronborg received his Juris Doctor degree in 1995 from Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley where he was a member of the Moot Court Board.
ELLEN A. GUSIKOFF STEWART received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Muhlenberg College in 1986 and her Juris Doctor degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1989. Ms. Stewart was admitted to the California Bar in 1989 and is admitted to practice before all federal courts in California, the Sixth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Western District of Michigan, and the District of Colorado. Ms. Stewart is Peer-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
DENNIS J. HERMAN received his Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University in 1982. He is a 1992 graduate of Stanford Law School, where he received the Order of the Coif and the Urban A. Sontheimer Award for graduating second in his class. Mr. Herman concentrates his practice in securities class action litigation.
JOHN HERMAN has spent his career handling complex litigation, with a particular emphasis on patent litigation. His practice focuses on vindicating the rights of famous innovators. Noteworthy cases of his include representing renowned inventor Ed Phillips in the landmark case of Phillips v. AWH Corp.; representing pioneers of mesh technology – David Petite, Edwin Brownrigg and IPCo – in a series of patent infringement cases on multiple patents; as well as acting as plaintiffs’ counsel in the In Re Home Depot shareholder derivative actions pending in Fulton County Superior Court.
G. PAUL HOWES, turning down a West Point appointment and a Julliard School of Music scholarship, enlisted in the Marine Corps to serve in Vietnam, then received his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from the University of New Mexico, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, and, while in school, worked full-time in radio and was the tympanist for the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He received his Juris Doctorate and Masters of Public Administration from the University of Virginia. He served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the FBI, Judge William H. Webster, and then as a law clerk to Judge Roger Robb, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was an ABC News correspondent for the Washington Bureau and then served for 11 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, primarily prosecuting complex drug-organization homicides. Beginning in October 2001, he led the Firm's investigation of Enron's collapse, established and managed the Houston trial office, and was an integral member of the trial team. Lead Counsel’s efforts produced a record $7.3 billion recovery for shareholders. While spending most of his time in Texas for six years on Enron, he also headed the investigation of the Enron-inspired securities fraud at Dynegy and led the trial team to within a month of trial when the case settled in March 2005 for $474 million. He is a member of the New Mexico, District of Columbia and California Bars.
ERIC ALAN ISAACSON received his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from Ohio University in 1982. He earned his Juris Doctor degree with high honors from Duke University School of Law in 1985 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Mr. Isaacson served as a Note and Comment Editor for the Duke Law Journal and in his third year of law school became a member of the Moot Court Board. After graduation, Mr. Isaacson clerked for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
JAMES I. JACONETTE is one of the founding partners of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and manages cases in the Firm’s securities class action and shareholder derivative litigation practices. Mr. Jaconette has extensive experience in federal and state securities class action litigation. He has served in a primary litigating role as one of lead counsel in a variety of securities cases resulting in recoveries of over $8 billion for individual and institutional investors. For example, Mr. Jaconette was one of three partners responsible for the day-to-day prosecution of In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. (S.D. Tex.) and In re Dynegy Inc. Sec. Litig. (S.D. Tex.), on behalf of lead plaintiff The Regents of the University of California and the large classes of public investors represented in those actions.
FRANK J. JANECEK, JR. received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of California at Davis in 1987 and his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School in 1991. He is admitted to the Bar of the State of California, the district courts for all districts of California and to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits. For 11 years, Mr. Janecek has practiced in the areas of consumer/antitrust, Proposition 65, taxpayer and tobacco litigation. He has participated as a panelist and a speaker in continuing legal education programs relating to California’s Unfair Competition laws, public enforcement, tobacco litigation and challenging unconstitutional taxation schemes.
RACHEL L. JENSEN grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received her
Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs from Florida State
University's honors program in 1997, graduating cum laude. She
received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law School
in 2000. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the
First Annual Review of Gender and Sexuality Law, a publication
of the nascent Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. She
also taught Street Law at a public high school in Washington, D.C.
EVAN J. KAUFMAN focuses his practice in the area of complex litigation in federal and state courts including securities, corporate mergers and acquisitions, derivative, and consumer fraud class actions.
CATHERINE J. KOWALEWSKI was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Ms. Kowalewski earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Ohio University in 1994 and her Masters degree in Business Administration from Limburgs Universitair Centrum (currently known as Hasselt University) in Diepenbeek, Belgium in 1995. Ms. Kowalewski earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego in 2001, where she served as Lead Articles Editor of the San Diego Law Review. While in law school, Ms. Kowalewski served as judicial extern to the Honorable Richard D. Huffman of the California Court of Appeal, 4th District, Division 1.
ARTHUR C. LEAHY graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Point Loma College in 1987. In 1990, Mr. Leahy graduated cum laude and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. While in law school, Mr. Leahy authored an article published in the San Diego Law Review and other articles published in another law journal. In addition, he served as a judicial extern for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. After law school, Mr. Leahy served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Alan C. Kay of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
JEFFREY D. LIGHT was born in Los Angeles, California in 1964. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University in 1987 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego in 1991, cum laude. Mr. Light was the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Louise DeCarl Adler, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the Honorable James Meyers, Chief Judge, Southern District of California, United States Bankruptcy Court. Mr. Light was admitted to the California Bar in 1992 and is admitted to practice before all federal courts in California.
DAVID W. MITCHELL was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1973. He graduated from the University of Richmond in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and History and thereafter received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1998.
KEITH F. PARK graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1968 and from Hastings College of Law of the University of California in 1972.
STEVEN W. PEPICH earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Utah State University in 1980 and his Juris Doctor degree from De Paul University in 1983.
THEODORE J. PINTAR received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984 where he studied Political Economies of Industrial Societies. Mr. Pintar received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1987 where he was Note and Comment Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Law and the Journal of Energy Law and Policy. Formerly, Mr. Pintar was associated with the firm of McKenna Conner & Cuneo in Los Angeles, California, where he focused in commercial and government contracts defense litigation. Mr. Pintar is co-author of Assuring Corporate Compliance with Federal Contract Laws and Regulations, Corporate Criminal Liability Reporter, Vol. 2 (Spring 1988).
JACK REISE earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Binghamton University. He graduated cum laude from University of Miami School of Law where he was an Associate Editor on the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, and was the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Book Award in Contracts.
John J. Rice graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. After law school, he was a judicial law clerk to the late United States District Court Judge Judith N. Keep of the Southern District of California.
DARREN J. ROBBINS is a founding partner of the Firm and oversees the Firm's mergers and acquisition practice. Mr. Robbins has extensive experience in federal and state securities class action litigation, and has recovered more than $600 million for shareholders serving as lead counsel in numerous securities class actions including In re TXU Sec. Litig. ($150 million recovery plus significant corporate governance reforms); In re Prison Realty Sec. Litig. ($120 million recovery); and In re Dollar Gen. Sec. Litig. ($172.5 million recovery).
HENRY ROSEN obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from the University of California, after attending American College in Paris. In 1988, Mr. Rosen received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver, where he was Editor-in-Chief for the University of Denver Law Review. Mr. Rosen served as Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Jim R. Carrigan, United States District Court, District of Colorado, from 1989 to 1990. He is a member of the Firm’s Hiring Committee and is also a member of the Firm’s Technology Committee, which focuses on applications to digitally manage documents produced during litigation and internally generated research files.
DAVID A. ROSENFELD earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business and his Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
ROBERT M. ROTHMAN has extensive experience litigating cases involving investment fraud, consumer fraud and antitrust violations. Mr. Rothman also lectures to institutional investors throughout the world.
SAMUEL H. RUDMAN’s practice focuses on recognizing and investigating securities fraud, and initiating securities and shareholder class actions to vindicate shareholder rights and recover shareholder losses. A former attorney with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Rudman has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders, including: $129 million recovery in In re Doral Fin. Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 05 MD 1706 (S.D.N.Y.); $74 million recovery in In re First BanCorp Sec. Litig., No. 05-CV-2148 (D.P.R.); $65 million recovery in In re Forest Labs., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 05-CV-2827 (S.D.N.Y.); and $50 million recovery in In re TD Banknorth S’holders Litig., No. 2557-VCL (Del. Ch.).
SCOTT SAHAM was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1970. Mr. Saham received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992 from the University of Michigan. Mr. Saham received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1995. Mr. Saham is licensed to practice law in both California and Michigan. Mr. Saham's practice areas include securities and other complex litigation. Mr. Saham recently served as lead counsel prosecuting the In re Coca-Cola Securities Litigation in the Northern District of Georgia, which resulted in a $137.5 million settlement after nearly 8 years of litigation. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Saham served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California, where he tried over 20 felony jury trials.
STEPHANIE M. SCHRODER is a partner in the San Diego office. Ms. Schroder earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in 1997 and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Kentucky, College of Law in 2000. During law school, Ms. Schroder served as an intern for the Honorable Sara Walter Combs, Kentucky Court of Appeals, 7th Appellate District. In 2006, Ms. Schroder helped campaign for her father, Justice Wil Schroder, who was elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
CHRISTOPHER P. SEEFER earned his Bachelor of Arts degree and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Seefer earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Golden Gate University School of Law in 1998. Mr. Seefer concentrates his practice in securities class action litigation, including cases against Verisign, UTStarcom, VeriFone, Nash Finch, NextCard, Terayon and America West. Mr. Seefer was a Fraud Investigator with the Office of Thrift Supervision, Department of the Treasury (1990-1999) and a field examiner with the Office of Thrift Supervision (1986-1990).
TRIG SMITH received his Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Science degree from the University of Colorado, Denver, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Mr. Smith received a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School in 2000. While at Brooklyn Law Mr. Smith was a member of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law, which published his note entitled: The S.E.C. and Foreign Private Issuers, 26 Brook. J. Int'l L. 765 (2000).
MARK SOLOMON earned his law degrees at Trinity College, Cambridge University, England (1985), Harvard Law School (1986), and the Inns of Court School of Law, England (1987). He is admitted to the Bar of England and Wales (Barrister), Ohio and California, as well as to various United States Federal District and Appellate Courts. Mr. Solomon regularly represents both United States - and United Kingdom - based pension funds and asset managers in class and non-class securities litigation. Mr. Solomon is a founding partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.
SANFORD SVETCOV has been a partner in the Appellate Practice Group at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP's San Francisco office since joining the Firm in July 2000. Mr. Svetcov has briefed and argued more than 300 appeals in state and federal court, including Braxton v. Mun. Court, 10 Cal.3d 138 (1973) (First Amendment); Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555 (1977) (Civil Rights); Parker Plaza v. UNUM Ins., 941 F.2d 349 (5th Cir. 1991) (Real Estate); Catellus v. United States, 34 F.3d 748 (9th Cir. 1994) (CERCLA); United States v. Hove, 52 F.3d 233 (9th Cir. 1995) (Criminal Law); Kelly v. City of Oakland, 198 F.3d 779 (9th Cir. 1999) (Employment Law); United States v. Henke, 222 F.3d 633 (9th Cir. 2000) (Securities Fraud); Moore v. Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 267 F.3d 1209 (11th Cir. 2001) (Civil Rights); In re Cavanaugh, 306 F.3d 726 (9th Cir. 2002) (Securities Fraud); Dehoyos v. Allstate Corp., 345 F.3d 290 (5th Cir. 2003) (Civil Rights); In re Monumental Life Ins. Co., 343 F.3d 331 (5th Cir. 2003) (Class Certification); Nursing Home Pension Fund v. Oracle Corp., 380 F.3d 1226 (9th Cir. 2004) (Securities Fraud); Inst. Investors v. Avaya, Inc., 564 F.3d 242 (3d Cir. 2009) (Securities Fraud); Lormand v. United States Unwired, Inc., 565 F.3d 228 (5th Cir. 2009) (Securities Fraud); and Alaska Elec. Pension Fund v. Flowserve Corp., 572 F.3d 221 (5th Cir. 2009) (Securities Fraud).
BONNY E. SWEENEY is a partner in the San Diego office of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, where she specializes in antitrust and unfair competition class action litigation. She is a former Chair of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California and has been an Advisory Board Member of the American Antitrust Institute since 2004. In 2007, Ms. Sweeney was honored by Competition Law 360 in its “Outstanding Women in Antitrust” series.
SUSAN GOSS TAYLOR graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1994 with a double major in International Politics and Russian. Ms. Taylor earned her Juris Doctor degree from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 1997. While in law school, Ms. Taylor was a member of the Moot Court team and was a student attorney in the D.C. Law Students in Court Program, where she was responsible for defending juveniles and indigent adults in criminal proceedings. Ms. Taylor was admitted to the Bar in California in 1997.
RYAN K. WALSH is an experienced intellectual property litigator whose practice is primarily focused in the area of patent litigation. Mr. Walsh’s experience has included disputes involving a variety of technologies, from basic mechanical applications to more sophisticated technologies in the medical device and wireless telecommunications fields. Mr. Walsh has appeared as lead counsel in complex cases before federal appellate and district courts, state trial courts, and in arbitration proceedings. Recent notable cases include multi-defendant patent litigation involving wireless mesh technology and wireless LAN technology.
DAVID C. WALTON earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from the University of Utah and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1993. He was a staff member of the Southern California Law Review and a member of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program.
DOUGLAS WILENS is a partner in the Firm’s Boca Raton, Florida office. Mr. Wilens is involved in all aspects of securities class action litigation, focusing on lead plaintiff issues arising under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Mr. Wilens is also involved in the Firm’s appellate practice, participating in the successful appeal of a motion to dismiss before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Lormand v. US Unwired, Inc., No 07-30106 (5th Cir. 2009) (reversal of order granting motion to dismiss).
SHAWN A. WILLIAMS is a partner in the Firm's San Francisco, California office. Mr. Williams' practice focuses on securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions. Mr. Williams was among the lead class counsel for the Firm in notable cases, including: In re Harmonic Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 00-2287 (N.D. Cal.); In re Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 04-0416 (M.D.N.C.); and In re Veritas Software Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 03-0283-MMC (N.D. Cal.).
DAVID T. WISSBROECKER focuses his practice on securities class action litigation in the context of mergers and acquisitions, representing both individual shareholders and institutional investors. Mr. Wissbroecker combines aggressive advocacy with a detailed knowledge of the law to achieve effective results for his clients in both state and federal courts nationwide.
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