Led from its Philadelphia headquarters by David Axelrod and with a team in Wilmington focused on handling matters before the Delaware Chancery Court, Ballard Spahr LLP is well-placed to represent companies and their officers and directors on every type of securities and corporate governance claim – from derivative actions and regulatory or internal investigations to special committee representations and significant shareholder class actions. Benefiting from a strong track record in private practice as well as during his time at the SEC and before that as a federal prosecutor, Axelrod has a rounded practice that sees him regularly engaged in both securities private class actions as well as in the context of government-initiated enforcement actions. As part of Norman Goldberger‘s multi-faceted offering, he regularly handles securities-related matters, including defending issuers in relation to rule 10-b 5 and Section 11 claims. Wilmington-based David Margules is also a key member of the team, particularly in the context of handling Delaware-related business disputes, including corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.
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Key clients

  • KPMG
  • Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
  • James Pearson
  • Prestamos CDFI LLC
  • Sandoz AG
  • Gannett Ventures
  • Clarivate PLC
  • The New York Times and James Bennet
  • Norman Chandler and Justin Law

Work highlights

Representing five former KPMG employees who have been sued by shareholders of Credit Suisse based on allegations that the five employees were part of a RICO conspiracy.
Representing the former CFO of First Energy. In 2020, the speaker of the house of representatives of the state of Ohio (Larry Householder) was indicted in connection with a scheme to accept more than $60m in bribes from First Energy.
Retained to represent Bolt Financial after the Chancery Court entered a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining it from pursuing a financing transaction designed to raise at least $500m, and shortly before a scheduled preliminary injunction hearing.

Lawyers

Practice head

David Axelrod

Other key lawyers

Norman Goldberger

David Margules

Laura Krabill

Elizabeth Sloan

Keisha Coleman

Elizabeth Fenton

Lauren Engelmyer