Sean M. Murphy is a partner in the New York office of Milbank and a member of the firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Group. Prior to joining Milbank in 2004, Mr. Murphy was a partner in the New York office of Clifford Chance LLP, where he was a member of that firm’s Securities Litigation practice group.
Mr. Murphy’s practice focuses on complex securities matters. He has defended dozens of companies and financial institutions in multi-jurisdictional class action and derivative litigation under state and federal securities laws, including claims under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. He has extensive experience representing investment advisers and mutual fund boards in litigation and regulatory investigations involving management fees, revenue sharing, conflicts of interest, prospectus disclosure, distribution and trading, ERISA prohibited transactions, portfolio mismanagement, Rule 12b-1, board oversight and fiduciary duty litigation. He represents clients in regulatory and enforcement proceedings before the SEC, CFTC, FINRA and state regulators.
Mr. Murphy has represented some of the largest financial institutions in the country in complex securities cases, including Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, Capital Group, AllianceBernstein, American Century, Dodge & Cox, Dreyfus, Federated Investors, First Trust Advisers, Great West Financial, the Hartford, Legg Mason, AXA, Neuberger Berman, Prudential, Putnam, Royal Bank of Canada, Russell Investments, Salomon Smith Barney, Voya Investments and Waddell & Reed.
Mr. Murphy has been recognized as a leading litigator by a number of publications, including: The American Lawyer’s “Fab Fifty” list of the top 50 litigators in the country under the age of 45; Benchmark Litigation selected him as among the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America” (2017-2018); he was selected as one of the top 500 lawyers in the country in The Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America; and Legal 500 described him as “one of the best young lawyers for securities shareholder litigation, anywhere in the country.” In 2019 and 2020, Legal 500 named Mr. Murphy a Next Generation Lawyer in the area of Securities Litigation – Defense. Lawdragon also elected Mr. Murphy to its list of “100 Lawyers You Need to Know in Securities Litigation,” and profiled him as a “rising star” in The Lawdragon 500 New Stars, New Worlds. Mr. Murphy also has been consistently recognized as a leading securities lawyer in Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation and New York Super Lawyers.
Last Updated September 2020
