Illinois

Firm overview

Firm overview

History: Pomerantz is the oldest law firm in the world dedicated to championing investor rights. Founded in 1936 by Abraham Pomerantz, the Firm’s work during the Great Depression to hold corporations accountable helped secure the rights of investors to bring class actions and derivative suits. Today the Firm’s global clients include more than 100 of the most influential public pension funds, asset managers, and private institutions. Honoring its founder’s legacy, the Firm continues to fight for defrauded shareholders while expanding the rights of global investors and championing transparent markets and good corporate governance.

Securities Litigation: Over the past eight decades the Firm has recovered billions of dollars for defrauded investors, with many settlements achieving new records. Notable matters include:

• A $3 billion settlement in litigation against Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, involving an alleged decades-long corruption scheme that ensnared multiple former Brazilian presidents, among many others. The recovery stands as the fifth-largest securities class action settlement ever achieved in the United States (In re Petrobras Securities Litigation).
• A $225 million recovery for the Class in a suit against Comverse Technology, Inc., the second-largest recovery involving the backdating of stock options (In re Comverse Technology, Inc. Securities Litigation).
• A $110 million settlement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that opened new avenues for discovery in securities litigation (Pirnik v. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., et al.).
• A $74 million settlement for investors in Arconic, whose insulation panels were implicated in the June 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London (Howard v. Arconic et al.).

A Tradition of Innovation: Pomerantz is a recognized leader in developing novel legal theories to address the evolving juridical, social, and corporate landscape. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, Ltd (2010) barred investors in foreign securities from using U.S. courts to seek recovery. In the years since, Pomerantz has worked to win back these rights on behalf of investors. In a series of individual cases arising out of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Pomerantz convinced the court to allow, for the very first time post-Morrison, both U.S. and foreign investors seeking recovery for losses in a foreign company’s foreign-traded securities to do so in a U.S. court. In a securities class action against the global pharmaceutical company Perrigo Co., the Firm’s ground-breaking legal arguments led the U.S. court, for the first time since the Morrison decision, to certify a foreign purchaser class. Both decisions have significant precedential value, expanding the options available for domestic and foreign investors seeking recovery in cases of securities fraud.

Portfolio Monitoring: PomTrack®, the Firm’s proprietary portfolio monitoring system, tracks and evaluates suspicious market activity, as well as securities and antitrust class actions and settlements, covering both domestic and international events. This system empowers investment plan fiduciaries to fulfill their duty to preserve investments by quickly identifying fund losses that may have been caused by financial misconduct. Comprising attorneys, forensic economists, damages analysts, paralegals, and support staff, the PomTrack® team monitors assets valued at over $9 trillion, making it one of the largest systems of its kind in the U.S. 

ESG: Pomerantz partners are pioneering securities litigation as a means to address 21st century ESG concerns. The Firm achieved a settlement with Deutsche Bank AG that recoups nearly 50% of estimated damages for investors in a case alleging that the bank failed to adhere to its own due diligence policies for certain high-worth clients, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Pomerantz also recently won class certification in its case against Wynn Resorts Ltd., which alleges that former CEO Steve Wynn engaged in egregious sexual misconduct against the company’s female employees, while the company and its directors simultaneously covered up his behavior, assuring investors of the company’s commitment to high ethical standards. 

Corporate Governance: In addition to addressing corporate governance via securities litigation, the Firm’s Corporate Governance Practice Group has achieved significant corporate governance reform at numerous major corporations through shareholder derivative lawsuits. Areas of interest include workers’ health and safety, environmental compliance, pay and gender equity, excess executive compensation, and addressing corporate transactions that result in an unfair price for shareholders. 

Education: Pomerantz partners frequently speak on corporate governance at conferences around the world, and the Firm regularly hosts Corporate Governance Roundtables for institutional investors. The Firm also publishes The Pomerantz Monitor, a bi-monthly journal of attorney-authored articles on securities litigation, corporate governance, and related regulatory and government policies. 

Updated Sep 2023

Firm overview

King & Spalding helps leading companies advance complex business interests in more than 160 countries. Working across a highly integrated platform of more than 1,300 lawyers in 24 offices globally, we deliver tailored commercial solutions through world-class offerings and an uncompromising approach to quality and service.

Trial and Global Disputes: Our experienced disputes lawyers try and arbitrate high-stakes cases every year across the globe in the most challenging jurisdictions for corporate clients.  Recognized for creativity, meticulous preparation, and top-rate advocacy, our lawyers help clients navigate the litigation lifecycle, working together from day one to identify business objectives, develop a strategy to meet those objectives, and then execute that strategy.  With more than 450 lawyers in 17 offices worldwide, we are uniquely able to staff and manage large and cross-border disputes from filing, to trial, and through appeal.  Our lawyers have a variety of expertise across substantive areas, including Appellate Law, Class Action Defense, Commercial Litigation, Construction & Engineering Disputes, Corporate & Securities Litigation, E-Discovery, Insolvency Litigation, Insurance Coverage & Recovery, Intellectual Property, International Arbitration, Labor & Employment, Product Liability, Professional Liability, and Toxic & Environmental Torts.  Working together—one area of expertise informing another—our disputes lawyers provide clients with seamless and efficient representation in the most complex and sensitive matters.

Capabilities:

• Appellate, Constitutional and Administrative Law 
• Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation
• Class Action Defense
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction and Engineering Disputes
• Corporate and Securities Litigation
• E-Discovery
• Insurance Coverage and Recovery
• Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Litigation
• International Arbitration and Litigation
• Labor and Employment
• Product Liability
• Professional Liability
• Toxic & Environmental Torts

Government Matters: Clients ranging from Fortune Global 50 corporations to high-profile individuals in every region of the world entrust King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice to guide them through rapidly changing regulatory landscapes, complex investigations by U.S. and foreign enforcement authorities, highly sensitive internal investigations and related, often parallel civil proceedings. 

Hundreds of lawyers across the United States, Europe and Asia bring decades of prior government service and industry experience to our regulatory and investigative practices, which serve the financial services, pharmaceutical and medical device, healthcare, energy, automotive and technology sectors in particular. The team includes six U.S. Attorneys, 24 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and former senior officials from the highest ranks in regulatory and enforcement organizations that are most significant to our clients.

Our experienced team includes former leaders at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England, the U.K’s Financial Reporting Council and the World Trade Organization.

Capabilities:

• Antitrust
• Data, Privacy and Security
• Environmental, Health and Safety
• FDA and Life Sciences
• Government Advocacy and Public Policy
• Government Contracts
• Healthcare
• International Trade
• National Security and Corporate Espionage
• Securities Enforcement and Regulation
• Special Matters and Government Investigations

Corporate, Finance and Investments: Our Corporate, Finance and Investments team brings a collaborative approach to help clients execute complex, high-value transactions. We have a fully integrated platform with more than 330 lawyers in 17 offices, offering clients the benefit of global specialists with local knowledge and industry expertise. We work side by side with our clients to execute transactions efficiently and effectively—we understand what matters to both our clients and opposite parties and we explain the actual, practical risks to our clients.

Capabilities:

• Activist Defense
• Alternative Capital and Credit Funds
• Capital Markets
• Construction and Procurement
• Corporate Governance
• Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
• Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
• Energy and Infrastructure Projects
• Financial Restructuring
• Investment Funds and Asset Management
• Leveraged Finance
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Middle East and Islamic Finance and Investment
• Private Equity
• Real Estate
• Securitization
• Tax

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

With over 3,600 lawyers in 14 countries and fluency in 60+ languages, Latham & Watkins offers an unmatched global platform to quickly mobilize the best-suited teams. Our lawyers collaborate across practices and offices to provide proactive, efficient, and commercially savvy counsel, helping clients avoid costly regulatory issues and effectively resolve the most complex disputes.

The Litigation & Trial Department leverages a global platform to provide unmatched legal services. With over 1,100 top-tier litigators, including more than 30 former U.S. federal prosecutors, we bring experience, insight, and determination to every client. Our pragmatic approach ensures favorable results through effective collaboration with local counsel, co-counsel, and government regulators. We develop aggressive and creative litigation strategies, often resolving matters before trial. When necessary, clients can rely on our ability to win at trial, arbitration, regulatory proceedings, and on appeal.

Antitrust & Competition: Our elite team features highly qualified lawyers skilled in local and international antitrust and competition issues. We counsel on merger clearance, cartel investigations, competition-related litigation, IP antitrust, and compliance training. Our team delivers top client service in cases involving monopolization challenges, fast-moving merger litigation, and novel bet-the-company theories.

Complex Commercial Litigation: Our team combines trial-ready capabilities and business fluency to tackle complex challenges. We represent public and private companies, financial institutions, private equity firms, governmental entities, and high net worth individuals in commercial disputes. Over the past decade, we have tried or arbitrated hundreds of cases to verdict with an extraordinary success rate in U.S. federal and state courts and arbitration panels. Our team includes over 350 former federal law clerks and more than 30 former federal prosecutors, providing invaluable institutional knowledge and courtroom experience.

Connectivity, Privacy & Information: Our firm brings together a global team of lawyers addressing the critical legal issues arising from digital technology and services, in disciplines including communications, data privacy and cybersecurity, internet law, and digital copyright. Our team handles high-profile litigation, regulatory investigations and counseling, internal investigations, and technology transactions for clients in multiple industry sectors. We handle matters requiring extensive experience in particular areas of the law governing digital commerce, as well as matters that cut across legal silos to deliver exceptional results for our clients.

Environmental Litigation: We represent clients in administrative and regulatory proceedings, enforcement, litigation, transactions, and legislative matters. We help clients navigate complex agency rulemakings, secure approvals for energy and infrastructure projects, and resolve environmental investigations and compliance issues. Our wide-ranging expertise and unique government experience set us apart, delivering successful outcomes in groundbreaking matters worldwide.

Intellectual Property Litigation: Latham's litigators have unparalleled experience in IP disputes, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade dress, and trade secrets. We engage in multijurisdictional litigation worldwide, including in over 45 U.S. district courts and before the Federal Circuit, ITC, and PTAB. Our team includes 105+ technically trained lawyers, 9 technical analysts, and 17 IP paralegals, handling cases in semiconductors, software, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, electric motors, engines, cloud computing and networking, packaging, building products, and banking technologies, among others.

Securities Litigation & Professional Liability: Our Securities Litigation team has unparalleled experience in complex securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. From 2021 onward, we have defended more federal securities lawsuits than any other U.S. firm (Lex Machina). Named Securities Group of the Year by Law360 in 4 of the past 5 years, and consistently ranked #1 by Chambers and The Legal 500, our team includes top lawyers, former federal prosecutors, and senior SEC staff. We are the go-to firm for Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, and the Big Four accounting firms, achieving high-profile, precedent-setting wins. We excel at resolving matters before trial through dispositive motions or settlements, and have a proven track record in trial success.

Supreme Court & Appellate: Led by a former U.S. Solicitor General, our Supreme Court and Appellate Practice boasts an outstanding record before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts. Over the past two decades, our advocates have argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court, representing Fortune 100 corporations, state governments, leading educational institutions, and individuals. Recently, we secured certiorari in nearly a dozen cases and have prepared briefs for hundreds of cases in both federal and state appellate courts.

White Collar Defense & Investigations: Latham is at the forefront of advising on white collar and enforcement matters, offering unparalleled expertise in high-profile, sensitive cases globally. We leverage deep experience with regulators and prosecutors to guide clients through inquiries and investigations, skillfully defending against enforcement actions and prosecutions. Our track record includes avoiding charges and achieving full acquittals, often defeating government prosecutions before trial. We represent clients in actions by the SEC, DOJ, PCAOB, FINRA, CFTC, state attorneys general, Congress, and other global regulators. Our team excels in export controls, economic sanctions, and national security-related work, including CFIUS reviews and FOCI mitigation. Our defense lawyers include former senior prosecutors and government officials from top agencies.

Updated Oct 2024