Gibson Dunn Expands Leadership of Securities Litigation Practice

People in The News

< Back

Compliance : Sarbanes Oxley : People

Gibson Dunn Expands Leadership of Securities Litigation Practice

Robert Serio
Partner & Co-Chair
Securities Litigation Practice Group

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has appointed Jonathan Dickey, a Palo Alto partner, and Robert Serio, a New York partner, to serve as Co-Chairs of the firm?s Securities Litigation Practice Group. They will work with Wayne Smith, an Orange County partner, who will continue to serve as Co-Chair. Together, they will lead the Firm's nationwide practice of more than 75 lawyers in nine offices throughout the United States.

?We are expanding the leadership of our Securities Litigation Practice Group to reflect the growth of the practice and the need for national coordination given the increasing level of multi-office staffing on major matters,? said Ken Doran, Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. ?Jon and Rob are very highly regarded lawyers with thriving practices representing blue-chip clients, such as Merrill Lynch and Amazon.com. Given the breadth and depth of their experience and their leadership qualities, I am confident they will do a great job with Wayne, leading our securities litigation group.?

Jonathan C. Dickey

Jonathan C. Dickey specializes in securities class actions, shareholder derivative litigation, corporate investigations, and Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement matters. He represents public companies, underwriters, venture capital firms and accounting firms in securities fraud class action litigation matters. He also acts as counsel to boards of directors and board committees on securities disclosure and compliance issues, SEC and stock exchange investigations, insider trading, and corporate governance issues. Dickey is also a frequent author and lecturer on securities litigation, corporate governance, corporate compliance, SEC investigations and other securities-related topics. Since 1996, he has been a regular faculty member at the annual Directors? College sponsored by Stanford Law School, where he has spoken on a variety of subjects, including corporate governance, audit committees, complex litigation and directors? and officers? insurance. Dickey also has served as an advisor to various industry organizations on securities class action law reform and legislative matters, and was significantly involved in passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Robert F. Serio's practice involves representing financial institutions and public companies in securities litigation, shareholder derivative actions and bankruptcy litigation. He is currently representing Merrill Lynch in various Enron-related securities litigation matters. He successfully obtained dismissal of securities litigation claims asserted against Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley in connection with their role as co-lead underwriters in Duke Energy public offerings and represented Merrill Lynch in a class action alleging that brokerage houses had conspired to prevent their retail customers from "flipping" shares purchased in IPOs. Serio is also currently representing Cincinnati Bell in securities class action litigation. In other matters, Serio has represented The FINOVA Group Inc., Citiscape Corp., Unilever and Bank Brussels Lambert. In addition, Serio serves as Partner in Charge of the New York office of Gibson Dunn.

Gibson Dunn is one of the leading defense firms in the United States for the defense of corporations involved in major securities-related litigation. Over the last few decades, the firm has defended more than 250 major securities class action cases. Complementing its national team of experienced trial lawyers are a number of former SEC officials, including a former Director of the SEC's Division of Corporate Finance, a former Associate Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement and several former federal prosecutors and senior SEC staff members. As a result, the firm's attorneys are particularly adept at managing the competing considerations that arise from defending a major securities action and parallel government proceedings.

Besides its proven track record in defending securities cases in state and federal court, the firm also has significant recent experience and expertise in conducting internal investigations on behalf of audit committees, boards of directors and special litigation committees. As well, the firm specializes in defending parallel ERISA class actions and "whistleblower" cases before the Department of Labor.

Representative current matters include representation of:

• Merrill Lynch as its co-counsel in securities litigation arising from the collapse of Enron Corporation. The representation includes defending Merrill Lynch in a consolidated federal securities class action as well as in connection with over 30 other actions brought by holders of Enron securities that have been filed in state and federal courts throughout the country.

• Amazon.com and its officers and directors in 15 consolidated shareholder class action cases alleging that the Company issued misleading disclosures concerning its strategic partnering relationships and improperly accounted for the revenues in connection with those partnering relationships. Gibson Dunn's motions to dismiss have been granted with respect to a majority of claims, and additional motions to dismiss are still pending. The firm successfully resolved a related SEC investigation.

• PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in a group of federal and state actions, including securities class actions, arising from the announcement of accounting irregularities by, and subsequent bankruptcy of, Safety-Kleen Corp., formerly the country's largest hazardous waste disposal company.

• A "Big Four" accounting firm in a major securities class action brought by investors in Homestore.com, an Internet company which suffered a massive loss of market capitalization with the demise of the Internet bubble, for alleged fraud in the preparation and publication of financial statements. This case is set for trial in June 2005.

• Janus Capital Group in parallel New York Attorney General, Colorado, and SEC investigations and parallel litigation arising out of alleged "market timing."

• The Williams Companies and certain of its officers and directors in consolidated class action securities litigations. The cases were filed following two steep stock declines arising out of the bankruptcy of its former telecommunications subsidiary and the downturn in the energy marketing and trading industry following the bankruptcy of Enron Corporation.

In addition, the firm currently represents numerous corporate clients in M&A and takeover litigation in Delaware Chancery Court and other venues, and frequently defends directors and officers and other clients in state court derivative lawsuits, as well as ERISA class actions and other parallel proceedings.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world?s top law firms in industry surveys and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today?s global marketplace with more than 800 lawyers and 13 offices, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Orange County, Century City, Dallas and Denver.

Advertise your product/service here!

About Us

Editorial