Carrington Coleman represents investment firms, directors, and officers in some of the highest-profile and most cutting-edge securities lawsuits being litigated today. Our extensive experience in all types of securities matters — shareholder class actions, derivative suits, SEC investigations and enforcement actions, Department of Justice investigations, and ERISA litigation — enables us to navigate strategically in this complex landscape and to work creatively and efficiently.
Securities Litigation
Carrington Coleman has an experienced group of securities litigators, including practitioners with over 30 years’ experience in a wide range of securities litigation. We have defended clients in securities actions filed against officers and directors of major public corporations such as Enron, Fleming, Flowserve, and ACS. We have defended clients in securities class actions filed against underwriters and issuers. We regularly counsel directors, officers, and corporations on securities matters. In short, the depth of our experience is second to none. Moreover, our experience across the entire spectrum of litigation that today often accompanies securities class actions — fiduciary duty derivative suits, ERISA litigation, SEC enforcement actions, and Department of Justice investigations — helps us anticipate potential issues and think strategically rather than merely reacting to events as they unfold.
We also draw upon our experience to efficiently defend suits launched simultaneously on multiple fronts, including suits in state and federal courts, in different states, and in arbitrations. The extensive experience of our counsel allows us to promptly staff significant matters with knowledgeable teams. Our wide-ranging practice has involved virtually every major industry, including finance, insurance, technology, consumer products, telecommunications, energy, health care, and real estate.
Director & Officer and Special Committee Representations
From its beginning, our firm has represented officers, directors, and majority shareholders in complex litigation that has focused on corporate fiduciary obligations. As a result, we have lawyers that are recognized for their experience and knowledge in this field. Post-Sarbanes Oxley, this expertise has become even more important to our clients. Our lawyers have defended officers and directors in a wide array of fiduciary duty litigation, represented directors in special committee litigation, and assisted directors in special investigations. Of course, we also advise directors, officers, and majority shareholders concerning the myriad of new legal and regulatory requirements that have arisen post-Sarbanes Oxley, and we provide seminars for our clients to ensure that they are up-to-date on this quickly changing area of the law.
We have considerable depth of experience in internal fraud, whistleblower, and special committee investigations. We have represented directors and special committees of major companies in connection with mergers, investigations of putative derivative claims, and internal fraud investigations. Our attorneys have represented special litigation committees investigating, and subsequently seeking to dismiss or pursue, putative derivative lawsuits.
Many of these representations require that we learn the business and financial strategy of the underlying corporation to determine the nature and scope of our client’s obligations. Because our litigators have experience with a wide range of industries, we can quickly come up to speed on these matters in an efficient way.
Regulatory and Criminal Investigations
We have a broad range of experience representing clients in SEC investigations and enforcement actions, as many of the securities class actions in which we defend issuers, officers, and directors of public companies involve such investigations. In addition, we have experience handling matters involving criminal allegations, as well as ongoing Department of Justice investigations. Our attorneys, therefore, have considerable experience in handling such matters, including responding to inquiries and subpoenas, responding to Wells notices, litigating against the SEC, and handling settlement negotiations and consent decrees.
In addition, we have significant experience assisting clients with broker-dealer regulatory matters, including investigations conducted by the SEC and FINRA. We represent investment firms and registered individuals in a wide array of regulatory matters, from routine inquiries triggered by customer complaints and U-5 disclosures, to formal disciplinary proceedings in which firms, compliance personnel, and branch managers face failure-to-supervise charges. We also represent persons who have been identified as witnesses or targets in insider trading investigations.
ERISA Litigation
Our firm has litigated major cases in the developing area of ERISA law since 2001. Thus, the depth of our experience in this area is second to none. We have extensively analyzed and briefed numerous legal issues that were almost unknown prior to Enron’s bankruptcy.
A few years ago, employer securities seemed an uncontroversial investment option for 401(k) plans and employee stock ownership plans. The demise of Enron, quickly followed by other major corporate bankruptcies, altered this accepted wisdom. Currently, ERISA litigation involving employer securities has become contentious and highly publicized with the potential in certain cases for policy-limits liability. Plaintiffs’ lawyers recognize these “stock drop” cases as a potential source of significant revenue, and fiduciary insurers have seen the rise of these cases as one of their primary concerns.
For more information, please contact:
Practice Chair:
Sharon Shumway
214-855-3038
sshumway@ccsb.com
Attorneys:
Related Practice Areas:
Corporate Governance
White Collar Crime
Publications:
Recent Developments in Auction Rate Securities Litigation
Authors: Bruce Collins, Sharon Shumway and Todd Murray
Carrington Coleman Auction Rate Securities Litigation Bulletin (April 2008)
Courts Struggle to Define the Parameters of Honest Services Fraud in the Private Sector
Authors: Bruce Collins and Carolyn Raines
(November 2007)
Supreme Court Finds SEC Regulation of IPOs Implicitly Precludes Antitrust
Claims: Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC v. Billing, _ U.S. __, No. 05-1157
Authors: Ken Carroll, Bruce Collins, Sharon Shumway and Todd Murray
Carrington Coleman Securities Litigation / Competition Law Bulletin (July 2007)
The Fifth Circuit Raises the Bar for Class Action Certification in Securities Cases Involving the "Fraud-on-the-Market" Presumption: Oscar Private Equity Investments, et al. v. Allegiance Telecom, Inc., et al., No 05-10791 (5th Cir. May 16, 2007)
Author: Todd Murray
Carrington Coleman Securities Class Actions Bulletin (May 2007)
The Perils of Dismissing Enron as "Different"
Authors: Bruce Collins
American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Annual Conference (April 2007)
Not certified by the Texas Board of Legal Certification except as noted.
