Sean Murphy

Partner

Mr. Murphy’s practice focuses on complex securities matters. He has defended dozens of companies and financial institutions in multi-jurisdictional class action and derivative litigation under state and federal securities laws, including claims under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940 and ERISA.  He has extensive experience representing investment advisers and mutual fund boards in litigation and regulatory investigations involving management fees, revenue sharing, conflicts of interest, prospectus disclosure, distribution and trading, ERISA breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions, portfolio mismanagement, Rule 12b-1, board oversight and fiduciary duty litigation. He represents clients in regulatory and enforcement proceedings before the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, DOL and state regulators.

Mr. Murphy’s practice focuses on complex securities matters. He has defended dozens of companies and financial institutions in multi-jurisdictional class action and derivative litigation under state and federal securities laws, including claims under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. He has extensive experience representing investment advisers and mutual fund boards in litigation and regulatory investigations involving management fees, revenue sharing, conflicts of interest, prospectus disclosure, distribution and trading, ERISA prohibited transactions, portfolio mismanagement, Rule 12b-1, board oversight and fiduciary duty litigation. He represents clients in regulatory and enforcement proceedings before the SEC, CFTC, FINRA and state regulators.

Mr. Murphy has represented some of the largest financial institutions in the country in complex securities cases, including Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, Capital Group, AllianceBernstein, American Century, Dodge & Cox, Dreyfus, Federated Investors, First Trust Advisers, Great West Financial, the Hartford, Legg Mason, AXA, Neuberger Berman, Prudential, Putnam, Royal Bank of Canada, Russell Investments, Salomon Smith Barney, Voya Investments and Waddell & Reed.

He has extensive experience trying securities cases, including high profile and multi-billion-dollar cases. In 2024, he successfully defended flexPATH Strategies and NFP Retirement in an ERISA class action lawsuit alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction in connection with their selection of proprietary funds for use on the plan’s investment menu. In 2020, he successfully represented Putnam Investments in the first “virtual trial” of a complex securities case in the Southern District of New York. The case, involving Putnam’s role as a collateral manager for a CDO, was covered by the National Law Journal and earned Mr. Murphy “Litigator of the Week” honors from The American Lawyer. Also in 2020, Murphy successfully defended Great West Capital Management in a three-week bench trial, after which he secured a sanctions award of up to $1.5 million against the plaintiffs’ law firm for pursuing a frivolous suit.

In 2016, Mr. Murphy tried the first “manager-of-managers” case to go to trial under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act. There, he led the successful defense of AXA in a seven-week trial involving a damages claim of approximately $600 million based on allegations that the fees charged to mutual funds used in AXA’s variable annuity offering were excessive. Murphy’s victory for AXA led to his being named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer. In 2017, he scored a trial victory for Hartford Financial Services in a similar case seeking disgorgement of hundreds of millions of dollars. He also defended AllianceBernstein L.P. in a seven-week jury trial in an action brought by the Florida state pension board in Tallahassee, Florida, seeking over $3 billion in damages stemming from Alliance’s investments in Enron. The jury returned a verdict in Alliance’s favor which was ranked by The National Law Journal as one of the Top 10 Defense Wins of the Year. In addition, Mr. Murphy successfully defended Capital Research and Management Company in an action in which plaintiffs sought billions of dollars for an alleged breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the management of eight of the largest mutual funds in the country. Following a two-week bench trial in August 2009, the court rendered an opinion dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint with prejudice. In re American Mutual Funds Fee Litigation, No. CV 04-5593 GAF, 2009 WL 5215755 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 28, 2009).

Mr. Murphy received his J.D. from Albany Law School and his B.A. from St. Lawrence University.