Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has a strong track record in securities litigation, having achieved notable victories in both securities fraud class actions and derivative litigation, as well as having a strong regulatory enforcement practice. The firm is particularly strong in busted IPO cases, though it handles a broad spectrum of work for both major financial institutions and large corporates. Litigation chair Tariq Mundiya and co-chairs of securities litigation Todd Cosenza and Antonio Yanez in New York are the principal practitioners. Cosenza recently succeeded in resolving a high-stakes securities class action against CBS, which was accused of making false or misleading statements related to sexual misconduct by its former CEO. The firm’s IPO work includes the on-going representation of underwriters to Uber’s $1bn listing. Litigation partners Charles Dean Cording in New York and Laura Leigh Geist in San Francisco also feature in high-profile cases.

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Key clients

CBS Corporation and its executives
GWG Holdings, Inc.
Underwriters to Uber’s $8.1 billion IPO
Cloopen Group Holding Ltd. (“Cloopen”) and its underwriters in U.S. IPO
Goldman Sachs & Co., LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co., LLC, and eight remaining members of an investment banking syndicate (Oscar Health)
L-5 Healthcare Partners, LLC
Nine underwriters in Farfetch Limited’s initial public offerings
The underwriter group of Casper’s February 7, 2020 IPO
Former SEC Officials and Law Professors (Arkansas Teacher)
Directors and Officer of Spruce Power Holding Corporation f/k/a XL Fleet Corp. f/k/a Pivotal Investment Corporation II
AdaptHealth Corp. and its current and former officers
Underwriters of Vroom Inc.’s June 9, 2020 IPO
SMBC Nikko Securities America Inc
CareDx, Inc. and current and former company executives
Barclays Capital Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, JMP Securities LLC, KeyBlanc Capital Markets Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Piper Sandler & Co., Telsey Advisory Group LLC, Wells Fargo Securities LLC
Board Members of Wells Fargo & Co.
Union Square Ventures
Resideo

Work highlights

Successfully resolved a major securities class action brought against CBS and several of its officers and directors, including former CBS CEO Les Moonves, pending before Judge Caproni of the Southern District of New York.
Represented the underwriting syndicate of Farfetch Ltd.’s 2018 IPO, led by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan, in securing a unanimous Second Circuit affirmance of the dismissal of a shareholder class action filed in the wake of a decline of almost 45% in Farfetch’s stock price and a market cap drop of nearly $2 billion.
Representing Goldman Sachs & Co., LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co., LLC, and eight remaining members of an investment banking syndicate in a putative securities class action lawsuit arising out of the $1.4 billion March 2021 initial public offering of insurance tech company, Oscar Health.