Bill Lerach gave the best motion to dismiss oral argument I’ve ever seen. Using a stock-price chart with key events and allegations plotted along the alleged class period, he told the complaint’s story with a wooden pointer and his superb
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D&O Discourse is 11 Years Old
I started the D&O Discourse blog in October 2012 to generate discussion among the repeat players in securities and corporate governance litigation: insurers, brokers, mediators, economists, plaintiffs’ counsel, and defense counsel. While I share opinions from a defense-counsel perspective, I…
Putting All Our Eggs in One Basket: Effective Securities Class Action Defense Must Look Beyond the Motion to Dismiss
The Reform Act was passed by the Contract-with-America Congress to address its perception that securities class actions were reflexive, lawyer-driven litigation that often asserted weak claims based on little more than a stock drop, and relied on post-litigation discovery, rather…
The State of Securities Litigation: Why Don’t We Litigate “Derivative Litigation” Anymore?
Over the years, I’ve bemoaned the lack of “litigation” in “securities litigation.” In this post, I discuss the same problem in “derivative litigation:” why don’t we litigate derivative cases anymore?
Derivative litigation – in which a stockholder asserts claims…
Analysis of Biotech Securities Class Action Motion to Dismiss Decisions, 2005-2022
Five years ago, we surveyed a decade’s worth of federal district court decisions on motions to dismiss securities claims brought against development-stage biotech companies to answer an important question: are these cases more likely to survive a motion to dismiss—and…
The State of Securities Litigation: Good Communication is Key to Improving Securities Litigation Outcomes
I am evangelical about the importance of defense counsel working collegially with D&O insurers and brokers – the repeat players in securities and governance litigation – in the defense of litigation against our common clients. In the big picture, this…
Is the Reform Act’s Safe Harbor Truly Safe?
The most frequent question I’ve been asked about the SEC’s proposed SPAC rules concerns the provision that would make unavailable the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s safe harbor for forward-looking statements with respect to de-SPAC transactions: would this change increase…
Three Key Takeaways from Second Circuit’s Latest Section 10(b) Securities Class-Action Decision
This week, my team and I again had the honor of writing for Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Backgrounders series.
In this article, Zach Taylor, Gen York-Erwin, and I discussed the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Arkansas Pub. Emps.…
The State of Securities Litigation
In 2012, I started the D&O Discourse blog to have a discussion among the repeat players in securities and corporate governance litigation: insurers, brokers, mediators, economists, plaintiffs’ counsel, and defense counsel. I share opinions from the defense-counsel perspective, but I…
Ninth Circuit Cuts Securities Plaintiffs Slack on Standing
Since 2014, I have had the privilege of working with D.C. public-interest law firm and policy center Washington Legal Foundation on several securities litigation amicus briefs, including in Omnicare, and numerous articles on key securities litigation issues.
In our latest…