Securities Litigation

Challenging market conditions throughout the economy and well-publicized corporate and financial scandals are spurring regulators and private plaintiffs to intensify their enforcement efforts. Traditional explanations for business downturns, undetected financial and reporting errors, and mistaken business judgments meet with increasing skepticism and scrutiny.

In this environment of greater securities litigation risk, clients need innovative solutions and trusted counsel. As a result, they are increasingly turning to O’Melveny to handle their most important matters. We have the resources to defend corporations and their directors and officers. O’Melveny is a securities and regulatory defense bar leader, providing our clients with experienced, creative representation in all aspects of securities litigation. We regularly defend securities class actions, derivative lawsuits, regulatory and other enforcement actions by the SEC, FINRA, NYSE, and state attorneys’ general, and criminal securities proceedings brought by the Department of Justice.

Our lawyers are among a select few who have successfully tried securities-related cases to jury verdict. More often, we obtain early dismissal or disposition of securities actions before trial. For example, we persuaded a court to dismiss from the bench a Harvard Law Professor’s action concerning shareholder access to our client’s proxy materials. We obtained dismissal of a derivative lawsuit against directors and officers of a national home mortgage company because the plaintiff failed without justification to make a pre-suit demand on the company’s board. And in a unique victory, a plaintiff who recently fomented litigation against one of our financial institutions clients not only voluntarily released our client from all liability for the claims, but also agreed to pay our client’s attorneys’ fees and expenses, all before a motion to dismiss was filed. O’Melveny then won dismissal of similar claims pressed by another litigant as a sanction for his (and his counsel’s) Rule 11 violations.

Our civil securities litigation team regularly represents all defendant constituencies: issuers, officers, directors, and underwriters. We defend class and individual actions under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as related derivative and ERISA litigation. Our securities litigators also regularly appear in high-stakes merger-and-acquisition-related litigation in Delaware Chancery Court and state and federal courts nationally, defending acquirers, targets and their officers and directors in actions challenging our clients’ most important transactions.

Our experience extends beyond the courtroom. We represent companies and audit and special committees in internal investigations involving allegations of complex accounting fraud and potential financial restatements. We negotiate precedent-setting settlements with regulators that manage and mitigate litigation risks before they proliferate. On the legislative front, O’Melveny played a crucial role in the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

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Practice Strengths