Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP > Wilmington, United States > Firm Profile

Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP
300 DELAWARE AVENUE
SUITE 1340
WILMINGTON, DE 19801
DELAWARE
United States

Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: plaintiff Tier 1

Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP in New York has a 21-partner practice that is ‘very knowledgeable and experienced’, and clients remark that the firm is ‘superb in their securities litigation’. It represents more than 220 institutional investors, among them 130 public pension plans, with collective assets under management in excess of $2.5 trillion. Over the years, the firm has recovered more than $18bn for investors, among its key victories being In re SCANA Corporation Securities Litigation, in which it recovered $192.5m. ‘The people I have worked with are very personable and knowledgeable’, remarks one client, noting that ‘not every firm has the ability to encompass both’. Chairman Christopher Keller and head of litigation Jonathan Gardner oversee the practice, which includes standout partner Thomas Dubbs. Dubbs and James Johnson are acting as co-lead counsel in a high-profile case based on Goldman Sachs’s concealment of misconduct related to multiple collateralized debt obligations shorting the mortgage market leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Carol Villegas, who secured a $73m settlement in a securities class action against data analytics company Nielsen, is one of the most prominent women in the securities litigation field. Clients also single out Michael Rogers and up-and-coming partner James Christie for praise. Both are key to a securities class action against EV company Nikola Corporation.

Practice head(s):

Christopher Keller; Jonathan Gardner

Testimonials

‘The team is very knowledgeable and experienced. I was very impressed with James Johnson, Michael Rogers, and James Christie.’

‘The Labaton team is superb in their securities litigation. I recently was in a mediation that included another firm on the plaintiff’s side and the Labaton team was much more effective and were able to work around some of the extraneous comments to get to the heart of the issue. Labaton has a very diverse workforce with whom I enjoy working.’

‘The people I have worked with are very personable and knowledgeable. Not every firm has the ability to encompass both.’

Key clients

Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Firefighters’ Pension System of the City of Kansas City, Missouri Trust

Rhode Island State Investment Commission

West Virginia Investment Management Board

Indiana Public Retirement System

Utah Retirement Systems

Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho

Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi

Oklahoma Firefighters Pension & Retirement System

Work highlights

  • Representing Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan in a historic class-action victory, the firm reached an agreement for a historic $1 billion cash settlement on behalf of shareholders in Dell Technologies Inc. The agreement comes as the shareholders’ lawsuit – In re: Dell Technologies Inc. Class V Stockholders Litigation – was scheduled to go to trial next month in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The settlement, if approved by the court, will end the dispute arising from a $23.9 billion conversion of Dell stock in a controversial 2018 deal
  • Acting as co-lead counsel in a securities class action against SCANA Corp representing West Virginia Investment Management Board, the firm obtained a $192.5 million settlement for investors.
  • Acting as lead counsel representing Public Employees Retirement System of Mississippi in a securities class action against Nielsen Holdings plc (“Nielsen”), the data analytics company that provides its customers with detailed information about consumer preferences as well as what programming consumers watch and listen to, and certain of its executives, that alleges the company misrepresented (i) the strength of its Buy business, (ii) the value of its goodwill, and (iii) the impact of the EU’s privacy law, the GDPR.

Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: plaintiff Tier 2

The Delaware office of Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP is home to an M&A litigation practice that is ‘excellent at identifying the strongest claims in each case and aggressively prosecuting those claims without wasting time and resources on less strategically relevant issues‘. Lead partner Ned Weinberger is ‘already one of the best stockholder lawyers in Delaware – his judgment and strategic thinking combined with a depth of understanding of the law make him a tenacious advocate for his clients‘. He recently acted as co-lead counsel in a class action against controlling stockholders of Dell, who are accused of breaching their fiduciary duties and expropriating billions of dollars in value from Dell’s Class V Stockholders – the defendants settled the suit with only three weeks left before trial with an agreement for a $1bn cash settlement, which is currently awaiting court approval. Up-and-coming partner Mark Richardson played a key role in that matter. Michael Wagner joined from Smith, Katzenstein & Jenkins LLP in late 2022, bringing extensive experience in the representation of stockholders against corporate officers and directors in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Practice head(s):

Ned Weinberger

Other key lawyers:

Testimonials

‘Ned Weinberger and his team are excellent at identifying the strongest claims in each case and aggressively prosecuting those claims without wasting time and resources on less strategically relevant issues.’

‘Ned Weinberger is the leader of the practice and is already one of the best stockholder lawyers in Delaware. His judgment and strategic thinking combined with a depth of understanding of the law make him a tenacious advocate for his clients.’

Key clients

Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan

Peggy Olenik

Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 60 Pension Trust

Jody Britt

Shareholders of Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc.

Nantahala Capital Partners II Limited Partnership

Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension Fund

Cambridge Retirement System

Macomb County Employees’ Retirement System

Shareholders of Straight Path, including JDS1 LLC and The Arbitrage Fund

Richard Rose and Dennis E. Murray Sr.

Teamsters Local 443 Health Services & Insurance Plan

Work highlights

  • Representing Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan in In re: Dell Technologies Inc. Class V Stockholders Litigation, a Delaware case stemming from a $23.9 billion conversion of Dell stock in 2018.
  • Representing Nantahala Capital Partners II Limited Partnership shareholders of QAD Inc. in a suit against the company, its controlling stockholder and several directors for breach of contract and breaches of fiduciary duty, and against Thoma Bravo and its affiliates for aiding and abetting such breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with Thoma’s June 27, 2021 proposed acquisition of QAD.
  • Represented Macomb County Employees Retirement System in a derivative action against the officers and director of Stamps.com for breach of fiduciary duty, insider selling, and corporate waste ($30 million settlement, plus corporate governance reforms).
Firm Overview

Founded in 1963, Labaton Keller Sucharow stands as a tenacious advocate for investors and consumers. The Firm represents many of the largest institutional investors worldwide and has secured billions of dollars in landmark recoveries, earning a reputation as a renowned global leader. The Firm specializes in representing clients in U.S. and Non-U.S. securities litigation, consumer protection and data privacy litigation, and corporate governance and shareholder rights litigation, as well as alternative dispute resolution. The Firm’s success is built on its team of more than 80 attorneys as well as its industry-leading in-house investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants. Labaton Keller Sucharow’s offices are strategically located in New York, Wilmington, and London, and Washington, D.C.

Main Areas of Practice

Securities Litigation:
Representing institutional investors around the globe, Labaton Keller Sucharowis a highly regarded securities litigation powerhouse that provides global securities portfolio monitoring and advisory services to more than 250 institutional investors with collective assets under management in excess of $3.5 trillion. Through these actions, Labaton Keller Sucharow has recovered more than $25 billion in the aggregate for investors. At every stage, from investigation to the litigation of claims, we work closely with our clients to provide the information and analysis necessary to fully protect their investments. The detailed nature of Labaton Keller Sucharow’s methods for evaluating filed and proposed actions is reflected in the results we have achieved prosecuting class actions. The Firm recently secured victories in In re SCANA Corporation Securities Litigation ($192.5 million recovery); Boston Retirement System v. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ($125 million recovery); In re The Allstate Corporation Securities Litigation ($90 million recovery); In re Nielsen Holdings PLC Securities Litigation($73 million recovery); City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ($39 million recovery); and Avila v. LifeLock, Inc. ($20 million recovery), among others. Along with securing newsworthy recoveries, the Firm has a track record for successfully prosecuting complex cases from discovery to trial to verdict. “Labaton Keller Sucharow has a deep and experienced team in the securities litigation space. The expertise they display gives us a high degree of confidence in the successful litigation of our class action cases.” We have been named Securities Litigation Firm of the Year by The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers and Securities Practice Group of the Year byLaw360, among other accolades.

Corporate Governance & Shareholder Rights Litigation:
Our breadth of experience in shareholder advocacy has also taken us to Delaware, where we press for corporate reform through our Wilmington office. These efforts have already earned us a string of enviable successes, including the recent historic $1 billion cash settlement, just weeks before trial, for former Dell stockholders—the largest recovery prior to judgment ever achieved in a fiduciary duty action in the Delaware Court of Chancery, and a $79 million partial settlement between individual defendants, in addition to going to trial as to Plaintiffs’ remaining claims against former Columbia executives and TransCanada Corporation, n/k/a TC Energy, among others. Labaton Keller Sucharow’s Corporate Governance practice has had a record two years including taking three cases through trial, settling two cases right before trial, and multiple other settlements. Our Delaware office has earned recognition as Shareholder Rights Litigation Firm of the Year by The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers and as a Delaware Powerhouse by Law360.

Consumer Protection and Data Privacy Litigation:
Labaton Keller Sucharow is dedicated to working on behalf of consumers who have been wronged by fraud in the marketplace. Built on our world-class litigation skills, deep understanding of federal and state rules and regulations, and an unwavering commitment to fairness, our Consumer Protection and Data Privacy Practice focuses on protecting consumers and improving the standards of business conduct through litigation and reform. Our team achieved a historic $650 million settlement in the In re Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation matter—the largest consumer data privacy settlement ever, and one of the first cases asserting biometric privacy rights of consumers under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

International Work: Non-US Securities Litigation:
Labaton Keller Sucharow’s Non-U.S. Securities Litigation Practice is comprehensive, covering all aspects of non-U.S. actions. To this end, the Firm not only identifies all non-U.S. actions and verifies a client’s eligibility but also performs a thorough investigation and analysis for each action to which our clients have exposure—the depth of which is wholly unique to the Firm. Labaton Keller Sucharow serves, or has served, as liaison counsel for clients in more than 45 such matters and has helped secure significant recoveries for clients.

Department Name Email Telephone
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/christopher-keller Christopher Keller
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/michael-p-canty Michael Canty
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/carol-villegas Carol Villegas
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/eric-belfi Eric Belfi
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/thomas-dubbs Thomas Dubbs
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/ned-weinberger Ned Weinberger
https://www.labaton.com/ourpeople/jonathan-gardner Jonathan Gardner
Photo Name Position Profile
Mark Richardson photo Mark Richardson Partner
Ned Weinberger photo Mr Ned Weinberger Partner
Number of Partners : 20
Number of Lawyers : 50