California

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

Founded in 2019 by former Big Law attorneys, DTO Law is an elite boutique with offices in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and New York, though its litigators handle cases across the country. DTO offers an exceptional team whose credentials rival those of any competitor, be they Big Law or boutique. At the same time, DTO’s model brings unparalleled value: its attorneys are highly skilled, highly efficient, and extraordinarily diverse. DTO is trusted outside counsel for a variety of clients from startups to Fortune 50 companies in class action, complex commercial, intellectual property, and white collar litigation and transactional matters.

Firm overview

What a Law Firm Should Be: Unique in its culture and business model, Polsinelli is a large, national, first-generation law firm with the entrepreneurial DNA of its earliest days. Built 50 years ago on a strong foundation, we now are an Am Law 100 firm with 1,000+ attorneys in over 20 offices. Like-minded legal talent from across the country who hold in high regard the same principles of superior client service, diversity of thought and collaboration has made us who we are today. Our litigation practice encompasses business disputes, white collar investigations and enforcement, health care, intellectual property, bankruptcy, data privacy, real estate, financial services, products liability and toxic tort and labor and employment matters. We have litigators located from coast to coast in major financial centers. Our reputation for dedicated client service and innovative business solutions is a benchmark for excellence in the legal profession.

Commercial Litigation: Polsinelli’s nationally recognized Litigation practice is composed of attorneys committed to providing practical, industry-specific business litigation strategies informed by substantive and procedural knowledge, real courtroom experience, and a keen awareness of how legal outcomes impact our clients’ bottom lines. Our attorneys advise clients on business litigation matters, including contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and class actions and we represent public and private entities of all sizes. Our vast experience spans numerous industries, including real estate, telecommunications, technology, financial institutions, food and beverage, retail and hospitality, manufacturing, energy, aviation and transportation. We also have significant experience identifying and advising on evolving areas of law, including those based on consumer protection statutes such as privacy statutes, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the Fair Credit and Reporting Act (FCPA).

Government Investigations: Polsinelli’s Government Investigations team is highly qualified to quickly and effectively help companies and individuals respond to and defend against civil, criminal and regulatory government actions. Many of our attorneys are former federal prosecutors with specific experience.

Our team takes the guesswork out of navigating investigations involving the government. Clients seek out our team’s counsel at all stages of their interactions with government agencies, whether a client needs help responding to a subpoena or civil investigative demand, a comprehensive internal investigation, preemptive counsel on a compliance program, or a trial lawyer to defend against allegations of white-collar crimes. Our team has experience with governmental entities, including the Department of Justice, SEC, Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, EPA and States’ Attorney General Offices.

Health Care Litigation: Polsinelli Health Care Litigation attorneys combine their in-depth knowledge of the evolving health care industry with clients’ business needs to devise practical litigation strategies. We advise clients in managing risk and resolving complex disputes. When litigation is necessary, we collaborate with clients to effectively and efficiently protect their interests. Our attorneys are experienced in litigating government investigations and health care disputes in different forums, including lawsuits, arbitrations, administrative hearings, audits and investigations.

Our team is well known and respected by judges, regulators, arbitrators, health care industry leaders and the legal community. Members include former Department of Justice attorneys, including Assistant United States Attorneys, former experienced state Medicaid fraud unit attorneys, a former realtor attorney and former in-house counsel to private and publicly traded health care companies.

Intellectual Property Litigation: Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice takes creative and strategic approaches to resolving intellectual property disputes for local, regional, national and global companies and individuals. With more than 1,300 intellectual property litigation filings over the past six years, we frequently try high-technology intellectual property cases tied to diverse subject matter including patent litigation, trademark, copyright & branding, anti-counterfeiting and grey markets, restrictive covenants and trade secrets litigation, ITC Section 337, IP litigation funding and design patent litigation.

Labor & Employment Litigation: Our attorneys defend clients before administrative agencies and in trials, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals of lawsuits arising over virtually every conceivable employment-related action including age, religion, gender, pregnancy, race, national origin, disability, harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, FMLA and OSHA violations.

Our Employment Litigation practice group has substantial experience representing management in the administrative charge and litigation phase of cases involving issues such as but not limited to The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), The Equal Pay Act (EPA), Whistleblower claims, work-related torts and wrongful termination.

Products Liability and Toxic and Mass Tort: Polsinelli’s litigators have deep experience defending and protecting our clients against defective design, defective manufacturing, premises liability, catastrophic injury, and toxic exposure claims that oftentimes go to the heart of our clients’ businesses.

Our experienced Products Liability and Toxic Tort team assesses cases early, identifying potential risks and working with our client’s legal, business, technical and regulatory teams to craft effective litigation strategies. Our electronic discovery (e-discovery) lawyers and other professionals are adept at coordinating and managing the often- burdensome discovery process that comes with defending these high-stakes cases. Our trial lawyers have the skills and experience to take cases to trial in any courtroom in the country.

These trial teams work hand in hand with our certified appellate specialists, who identify appellate issues and represent clients at the appellate level in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Updated Aug 2024

Firm overview

Hueston Hennigan is a leading litigation boutique that has made a name for itself as one of the go-to trial firms in the country, regularly securing accolades such as a “Trials Group of the Year,” “U.S. Boutique Firm of the Year,” “U.S. Trial Firm of the Year” and “Commercial Litigation Firm of the Year” from publications including Law360, Chambers, Benchmark Litigation, and more.

With offices in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California, and New York City, the firm handles a range of high-stakes matters for a client roster that includes Amazon, Epic Games, Boeing, Chevron, Walmart, Caltech, Deloitte, Edison International, Qualcomm, Disney, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Monster Energy, the Navajo Nation, and many others. Hueston Hennigan achieves precedent-setting results in trials and appeals across a broad spectrum of issues and industries.

Recent highlights include securing over $500 million in trial awards for Monster Energy—consisting of the largest-ever Lanham Act award and among the largest-ever trademark awards—in two separate cases against rival VPX, obtaining over $300 million for Match Group in an antitrust case against Google, playing a critical role in Epic Games’ landmark antitrust trial victory against Google, scoring a complete defense win for Boeing following a high-profile trade secrets trial against an aerospace startup, and securing an unprecedented defense trial win for Endo Pharmaceuticals in $50 billion opioid litigation.

Hueston Hennigan is often called upon to replace Big Law giants and other famed litigation boutiques in order to deliver victories to clients.

To learn more about our practice, please visit hueston.com.

What Clients Say

“Hueston Hennigan is the firm we turn to when we know we must win at trial. Their attorneys are not only masterful lawyers, they are creative, thoughtful, strategic and tenacious. From the moment the first document is filed, every option is considered and every decision is made with the ultimate goal in mind, winning at trial. Hueston Hennigan has achieved historic, record-setting results for Monster in incredibly complex matters. Those results were achieved because Hueston Hennigan did what Hueston Hennigan does, win.”

-Aaron Sonnhalter, Monster Energy Company Chief Legal Officer

“After taking over a bet-the-company case months before trial, the Hueston Hennigan team quickly immersed themselves in the business and facts of the case, earned the trust and respect of our team, and positioned the case for victory. At trial, they put on a master class, including incredible opening and closing arguments, a compelling case-in-chief, and cross-examinations for the ages. Their entire team is smart, honest and a pleasure to work with.”

-Alex Dimitrief, Former General Counsel, GE Capital; Acting General Counsel, Amulet Estate

“Hueston Hennigan is bold, strategic, and relentless. Their deep lineup of talented and diverse trial lawyers weave masterful arguments, impactful direct exams and devastating crosses. We especially value their close and collaborative partnership with our in-house team in order to obtain the best possible outcomes. Hueston Hennigan is the total package and we are glad to have them on our side.”

-Jonathan Mothner, Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital) Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary

“I turn to Hueston Hennigan for our most significant legal matters. In each engagement, they have provided extraordinarily effective lawyering, counsel, and strategic business advice. They are unrivaled as go-to trial counsel for complex, high-risk litigation.”

-Julie Davis, Taco Bell Global, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary

“The lawyers at Hueston Hennigan have distinguished themselves with their wise counsel and outstanding advocacy from the boardroom to the courtroom. Their ability to balance legal and business considerations practically and efficiently is truly exceptional. They are among our go-to trial counsel, and they deliver results.”

-  Jake Schatz, Electronic Arts, Executive Vice President and General Counsel

“When the USEPA triggered an unprecedented environmental disaster that contaminated the Navajo Nation’s sacred waters, the Navajo Nation turned to Hueston Hennigan. For years, the USEPA hid behind its sovereign immunity and marshaled a massive litigation force to erect barriers to the Navajo Nation’s claims. Hueston Hennigan dismantled those barriers through relentless advocacy that left no stone unturned. They are fearless and determined, no matter the adversary, and as a result recovered over $40 million for the Navajo Nation.”

-  Doreen N. McPaul, Navajo Nation, Attorney General

“Hueston Hennigan is an ideal choice for the toughest cases. The combined, concentrated trial talent of Hueston Hennigan makes this firm a top-shelf litigation choice for virtually any high-risk, complex matter.”

-  Melissa Scanlan, T-Mobile, Vice President, Intellectual Property and Antitrust

“In one of Western Digital’s most important legal matters in recent years, Hueston Hennigan partnered with us to craft and implement a creative, multi-staged litigation strategy that delivered repeated victories in both court and international arbitration. Hueston Hennigan has a very deep bench of legal talent who are our trusted counselors for our most important cases.”

-  Michael Ray, Western Digital Corp., Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary

“Hueston Hennigan lawyers distinguished themselves by being dynamically creative and unsurpassed in courtroom advocacy. Their care extends beyond the individual case; they work closely with our in-house counsel, and their post-mortem review of matters is a value-add that fits squarely with our continuous improvement culture. They are a go-to firm for the most complex and challenging cases.”

-  Barry H. Caldwell, Waste Management, Former Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Legal Officer

“Hueston Hennigan is a world-class law firm for the 21st century, capable of serving the litigation needs of individuals to global companies. Its talented team of professionals is dedicated to working closely with clients and has the creativity and flexibility to bring the simplest solutions to the most complex problems.”

-  Arnold Pinkston, Edwards Lifesciences LLC, Corporate Vice President, General Counsel

“Hueston Hennigan creatively and relentlessly investigated and prosecuted claims arising from a complex, high-stakes commercial fraud, obtaining recoveries worth more than $75 million. They skillfully and efficiently positioned us for courtroom victories, while working hand-in-glove with in-house counsel to ensure that the legal strategy aligned with our business objectives. Their team was a pleasure to work with, and I strongly recommend the firm for difficult and important cases.”

-  William B. Sailer, Qualcomm, Inc., Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel

Updated Sep 2024