• Kramer Levin’s Securities and Shareholder Litigation lawyers have decades of experience achieving winning results for clients in high-profile, complex securities litigation, including securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative cases. We regularly represent corporations, officers and directors facing multibillion-dollar, bet-the-company litigation.

    Our lawyers have repeatedly achieved pretrial dismissal of claims alleging earnings misstatements, false statements or omissions concerning business operations (including regulatory compliance), insider trading, market manipulation, accounting irregularities, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, and other forms of alleged fraud and misconduct. When claims proceed beyond the pleading stage, our adversaries know they face formidable advocates who are well prepared to defend our clients’ interests through discovery and, if necessary, through trial. Our well-known willingness and ability to try tough cases provide substantial leverage in our dealings and negotiations with opposing counsel.

    Given our deep bench of trial-tested litigators, we are often called on to take over particularly difficult cases from other firms on the eve of trial.

    Our work includes:

    • Defending companies and their officers and directors in securities fraud class actions
    • Responding to shareholder demand letters and litigating shareholder derivative litigation
    • Defending executives, officers and directors who face breach of fiduciary duty and corporate-governance lapse allegations
    • Representing corporations and underwriters who face charges of misstatements in public offerings
    • Defending public auditing firms accused of securities law violations and accounting malpractice
    • Representing corporations, their officers and directors, and investment banking firms in litigation arising out of corporate mergers and acquisitions, including significant experience before the Delaware Court of Chancery
    • Defending broker-dealer firms, investment advisers and hedge fund managers, as well as their employees and affiliates, against fraud and similar claims by investors and trade counterparties 
    • Representing securities firms and professionals in customer disputes and employment arbitrations
    • Advocating for statutory insiders in short-swing profit cases

    Relatedly, we frequently conduct independent internal investigations of business conduct and represent audit and other special committees investigating potential corporate wrongdoing.

    Working collaboratively with our White Collar Defense and Investigations team, we help resolve parallel criminal proceedings and sensitive government investigations as well as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and other regulatory inquiries, proceedings and enforcement actions.