Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (“Robbins Geller” or the “Firm”) is an American limited liability partnership, governed by a six-member Executive Committee with a total of 425 employees. Founding attorneys are Darren J. Robbins,^[1] Paul J. Geller,^[2] Samuel H. Rudman,^[3] and Michael J. Dowd.^[4] Robbins Geller practices law related to securities fraud, corporate governance, shareholder derivative litigation, options backdating litigation, corporate takeover litigation, insurance, antitrust, consumer fraud, human rights, environment and public health, and intellectual property.^[5]

Notable cases

Robbins Geller has obtained some of the largest recoveries in history.^[5][6][7]

• Obtained securities class action settlement against Enron in excess of $7.2 billion.^[8]
• Obtained a settlement of $1.575 billion after 14 years of litigation in Jaffe v. Household Int'l, Inc. (now HSBC Finance Corp.).^[9]
• Obtained a $925 million recovery on behalf of the UnitedHealth Group shareholders.^[10]
• Securities action recovery of $657 million against WorldCom in In re WorldCom Securities Litigation.^[11]
• Secured a $627 million settlement in In re Wachovia Preferred Sec. & Bond/Notes Litigation. The global recovery, including $590 million from Wells Fargo and $37 million from Wachovia's auditor, KPMG, is one of the largest recoveries under the Securities Act of 1933 arising out of the credit crisis. The suit focused on Wachovia's exposure to "pick-a-pay" loans, which the bank's offering materials assured were of "pristine credit quality." Investors had alleged that these loans were made to subprime borrowers, many of whom defaulted, which ultimately led to a massive impairment of the bank's mortgage portfolio, and alleged that Wachovia's offering documents materially misstated and failed to disclose the true nature and quality of Wachovia's mortgage loan portfolio, which exposed the bank to tens of billions of dollars in losses on mortgage-related assets and misled investors. Robbins Geller was one of these firms appointed to represent the class.^[12][13]
• Obtained final approval of a $590.5 million settlement with three private equity firms: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Blackstone Group and TPG. The accusations were that the three firms colluded with one another to drive down the prices of corporate takeover targets. This resulted in investors receiving less per share for their shares in the target companies. The case was filed as Kirk Dahl, et al. v. Bain Capital Partners, LLC, et al.^[14]
• Obtained a $400 million class action settlement with Pfizer, Inc. in Jones v. Pfizer Inc. Pfizer was accused of misleading investors in connection with off-label marketing, making false statements to shareholders, and making misleading statements about various government investigations.^[15]
• Obtained a $272 million settlement on behalf of Goldman Sachs' shareholders in NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs & Co.^[16]
• Obtained a $215 million settlement for former HCA Holdings, Inc. shareholders.^[17]
• Merger & acquisition recovery of $200 million from Kinder Morgan in In re Kinder Morgan, Inc. Shareholders Litigation. The case was one of the largest securities class action cases to be settled in 2010.^[18]
• Secured a $67 million settlement in City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement System v. Stumpf. The shareholder derivative action alleged Wells Fargo's directors' failure to disclose their lack of cooperation in a federal investigation into the bank's mortgage and foreclosure practices. The shareholder suit arises from allegations that Wells Fargo participated in "robosigning," i.e. mass-processing foreclosure documents.^[19][20]
• Obtained unprecedented corporate governance reforms on behalf of Community Health Systems, Inc. in a case against the company's directors and officers for breaching their fiduciary duties by causing Community Health to develop and implement admissions criteria that systematically steered patients into unnecessary inpatient admissions, in contravention of Medicare and Medicaid regulations. The governance reforms obtained as part of the settlement include two shareholder-nominated directors, the creation of a Healthcare Law Compliance Coordinator with specified qualifications and duties, a requirement that the Board's Compensation Committee be composed solely of independent directors, the implementation of a compensation clawback that will automatically recover compensation improperly paid to the company's CEO or CFO in the event of a restatement, the establishment of an insider trading controls committee, and the adoption of a political expenditure disclosure policy. In addition to these reforms, $60 million in financial relief was obtained, which is the largest shareholder derivative recovery ever in Tennessee and the Sixth Circuit.^[21]
• Secured a significant recovery in a case against Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Rating Services in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank v. Morgan Stanley & Co. The details of the settlement were confidential, but the case resulted in documents never seen by the public before that gave a behind the scenes look at how the ratings companies work and their role in the financial crisis on Wall Street.^[22][23]

Recognition and rankings

Robbins Geller and many of its attorneys have been recognized as leaders in the field by various publications and organizations.

• For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements.^[24]
• Best Lawyers® selected Darren J. Robbins, Paul J. Geller, Michael J. Dowd, Patrick J. Coughlin, Spencer A. Burkholz, Travis E. Downs III, David W. Mitchell and Dennis J. Herman to its "2018 Best Lawyers in America" list, and named the Firm one of the "Best Law Firms." ^[25]
• Lawdragon has consistently named several Firm partners as Leading Lawyers in America.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}
• Chambers USA awarded Robbins Geller with a nationwide Band 1 ranking in "Securities: Litigation Mainly Plaintiff," a Band 1 ranking in "Litigation: Mainly Plaintiff" and "Litigation: Securities Mainly Plaintiff" in the California category and "Litigation: Securities Mainly Plaintiff" in the New York category.^[31]
• Benchmark Litigation named Robbins Geller one of the Top 10 Plaintiff Firms in America and recognized Robbins Geller as a "Highly Recommended" plaintiffs firm in California.^[32]
• The Legal 500 ranked Robbins Geller Tier 1 in "Securities Litigation: Plaintiff" and ranked the firm highly in "M&A Litigation: Plaintiff."^[33]
• The National Law Journal named Randall J. Baron as a 2016 M&A Trailblazer.^[34]
• The National Law Journal named the firm to its "Elite Trial Lawyers" finalist list in 2014-2016 and 2018,^[35][36][37] named the firm as the Securities Winner for 2016,^[38] and named the firm to its "Plaintiffs' Hot List" for 2004-2009, 2011, 2013-2014.^{[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]}
• Law360 named the firm as one of the nation's Securities Practice Groups of the Year.^[48]
• BTI Consulting Group named the firm one of the Most Feared Litigation Firms for 2014-2015.^[49]
• U.S. News Ranked Robbins Geller a National Tier 1 Firm.^[50]

References