innovation
The firm's managing member and founder has dedicated his career to finding innovative solutions to legal problems, and this commitment to innovation is the bedrock principle of the firm today. Recent examples of this commitment include:
Assisting with the launch of US offices of London-based law firm: David helped launch the newly-formed US arm of Stewarts Law LLP, Europe’s largest litigation-only law firm, after several months of quiet planning and addressing novel cross-border issues. Stewarts Law was one of the first European plaintiff firms ever to open US offices, and was the first European law firm ever to open two US offices simultaneously (New York and Delaware). David was also the first head of the global Investor Protection Litigation Department.
Citigroup Euro Note Class Action, 12-cv-6653 (SDNY): Helped to develop (and co-counsel in) the first securities class action ever filed in the United States asserting only foreign law.
Hedge Fund Class Action Initiative: Helped to develop (and co-counsel in) three innovative hedge fund class actions in the SDNY with co-counsel Zamansky & Associates on behalf of investors in various onshore and offshore funds, including the two largest hedge fund cases filed in 2012: In re: Harbinger Capital Funds Investor Litigation, 12-cv-1244 (pursuing both direct and derivative claims simultaneously and seeking $3 billion for investors); Marylebone PCC Limited – Rose 2 Fund v. Millennium Global Investments Ltd., et al., 12-cv-3835 (relevant funds are all offshore funds and in receivership in Bermuda); and Beach v. CAI, et al., 12-cv-7717 (a class action against the managers of a now-defunct group of hedge funds).
Digital Privacy Litigation: Helped to develop and lead two novel actions pursuing federal Wiretap Act claims and various state common law claims against Facebook, Inc. and Google Inc. for allegedly illegal web tracking; these are the first cases seeking to apply the Wiretap Act specifically to web tracking. In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litig., 5:12-md-02314 (N.D. Cal.) and In re: Google Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litig., 12-md-2358 (D. Del.). In the Facebook case, David filed the motion for consolidation and transfer and successfully argued in the JPML to keep the case caption unaltered after Facebook moved to change it; David also successfully moved to transfer the Google action to the District of Delaware.
Royal Bank of Scotland Securities Litigation in London: Instrumental in helping to develop the first class-action-type securities litigation ever filed in the United Kingdom under Section 90 of the FSMA 2000 (prospectus liability statute similar to Section 12(a)(2) of the ’33 Act in the United States) related to RBS’s £12 billion rights issue in 2008, the largest rights issue in European history to date. Called a “ground-breaking class action” by the Telegraph (UK).
Molycorp Derivative Action in Delaware Chancery: Helped to develop a derivative action on behalf of Molycorp, Inc. against the board of directors asserting a novel theory of usurpation of corporate opportunity.
LoanHD, Inc. Delaware Chancery Litigation: Co-prosecuted an action under Section 225 of the Delaware Corporate Code to determine proper officers of the company; addressed the novel question of whether a CEO may rescind a resignation if the Board of Directors has not yet formally accepted or acknowledged it.
