Bernstein Litowitz is an undisputed leader in the securities-focused plaintiff arena. Peers on both the same and opposite sides of the “V” offer plaudits and admiration on a near-unanimous basis. “Bernstein is always at the top,” declares a peer, voicing
a general consensus. “They are one of the few firms in this capacity that files the big, meaty securities cases, and they litigate them hard. They’re not just ‘first-to-filers’ trying to get out as quickly as possible with a weak settlement.” Another peer concurs: “We see Bernstein Litowitz a lot
but only in the bigger cases –
they are more selective.”
Historically a New York-based institution positioned as “an attack dog for Wall Street,” the firm has also attended to a Delaware practice, a stance that the firm cemented
when it
recently
opened an office in Wilmington and
installed
Greg Varallo
to run it. Varallo, long known to the Delaware Chancery community as a defense lawyer at Wilmington institution Richards Layton & Finger, raised eyebrows and had the legal market talking when he “flipped sides.” A local peer confirms, “Greg is well known and
well-liked by everyone in the Chancery community.
He’s got a certain charisma and credibility.” A New York partner familiar with Varallo notes: “Greg did really well in a Gilead case – he got sanctions against the company that refused to produce documents!” The firm’s foray into the Delaware market is viewed as “smart and enormously successful,” in the eyes of peers. “There is a lot of action in Delaware nowadays, and plaintiffs know this, so to bring these actions in Delaware without having your own counsel here…
I
can’t imagine what the cut would be to hire Delaware
counsel, but it would be big,”
opines
one Wilmington peer. “With Bernstein coming in here, they have not only won big within their own confines but have also pretty much put a few of the more historic Delaware plaintiff shops out to pasture.”
While based in the firm’s New York flagship office, Mark
Lebovitch is also known for a Delaware element to his practice, which frequently involves derivative actions and often teaming up with Varallo. “If you’re a Delaware company, you are getting hit with a 220 demand,” states a peer, “and
Mark ‘The Maestro’
Lebovitch is all over this.
He is getting really aggressive, pushing for emails and text messages from company directors. Typically, that is not where discovery happens – it usually has to be on company-related documents – but Mark is saying, ‘Nah, listen – cell phones, personal emails, executives now frequently use these channels to communicate, and I want to see what’s happening on those channels.’ He is getting increasingly successful in convincing judges to allow this!”
Lebovitch and Varallo
represented the Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund in
successfully
stopping GCI Liberty’s and Liberty Broadband’s controlling stockholders from using complex financial engineering in a merger of the two companies to
consolidate their voting power at the expense of GCI Liberty’s public Class-A stockholders.
The litigation caused the controllers to unwind all
of
the personal benefits they had sought for themselves while securing a $110 million cash settlement for former GCI Liberty stockholders. “Mark Lebovitch is strategic,” declares a peer, elaborating, “He
doesn’t swing at every ball, he knows when to push. He is in a lot of securities cases right now – he’s in the Peloton securities class action!”
Peers note that the firm’s center of gravity, Max Berger, is “still the king when it comes to standing up and getting the settlements, but others are doing the heavy lifting. Hannah Ross, for one.”
Berger and Ross initiated a comprehensive, proprietary investigation in the wake of the
collapse of the Allianz Structured Alpha funds
during
the beginning of the pandemic. The investigation focused on alleged misconduct and breaches of fiduciary and contractual duties in the management of those funds, which had deviated from their stated market-neutral strategy. As a result of this, the Bernstein Litowitz team managed to secure settlements between February and April 2022 totaling nearly $2 billion
to the firm’s clients.
Sal Graziano, one of the firm’s most active litigators, scored a $175 million settlement in September 2021 on behalf of investors in
Luckin Coffee, a Chinese coffee chain that received well-publicized infamy for being fraudulent.
Beyond the senior level, more junior partners are making their mark. Newly listed future star
Edward Timlin is tipped by peers as one to watch. “Ed trained under [universally revered securities litigator] Adam Hakki and got defense
expertise from this development at Shearman [& Sterling]. [He is] definitely worth keeping your eye on.”
