Plaintiffs Securities Litigation Lawyer Taking Qs Forum

[Anonymous User]

... but at the end of the day I get to fuck up corporations. I like that.

What are your thoughts re: the two common arguments against shareholder class lit, which I understand as follows:

1.) Really you're just hurting current shareholders (by reducing the value of the company), and it's unclear who wins there -- but the current shareholders are certainly innocent of wrongdoing.

2.) Shareholder class actions don't touch the people who actually made money off of this stuff (i.e. executives etc).

The first one is one that gets peddled often that I think shows a misunderstanding of securities lit. Again want to differentiate shareholder activism from straight 10b5 cases. In 10b5 cases the class is of all buyers and sellers of the security at issue during the class period. Meaning there are a decent number of stockholders who no longer have a position in the security who suffered losses. So you literally need a vehicle to address those people. And by necessity that would include people who are still shareholders. On a more global scale, a security's price really ought to reflect the company's propensity to violate federal securities laws if it's going to serve as any sort of deterrence value. Unfortunately for that to be the case current shareholders have to take the L. Current shareholders certainly don't possess scienter like the executives, but they're also not innocent in the sense that they own a company that violates federal laws. Moreover if they are, that's what derivative litigation is supposed to solve later on. Besides vindicating shareholders, 10b5 is also about trying to strong arm boards/management into compliance.

And 2. that's not always entirely true. A lot of the times it is, and executives are not personally liable. But sometimes they are. Of the bad securities fraud cases, you'll pretty often see executives fired during the course of the fraud as disclosures happen. Shareholder derivative lit from what I understand goes after executives personal check books more. This is really a more general capitalism issue and one that can't really be addressed through private 10b5 litigation so long as corporate boards are all about exculpating their own executives over short term stock value maximization. Ideally, there would be some sort of collateral similar effect where securities law violators should see compensation decreases whether they remain at the company or leave (or just be unemployable) but the fact remains that boards are just hugely deferential and sympathetic to management. Not sure what we as 10b5 litigators can do about it.

[Anonymous User]

Different plaintiffs securities litigation attorney (junior) bumping because I do not want to do my work right now and thought this my be a nice refresher from posts about how we should fire more associates.

If anyone has any questions ask away.

[Anonymous User]

Thinking about applying to one of the more well-known securities P-side firms.

What's the consensus on junior partner salary at a place like Litowitz, Gellar, Pomerantz?

Since there's no real book of business type feel, is it just doing good work that gets you in the door for partnership?

Long term consensus on the field?

[Anonymous User]

Junior at a well known securities plaintiffs firm.

On comp I have to speculate a bit, but from what I have ferreted it out it seems like:

Base = below big law

Discretionary = much more varied and tied to actual case outcome (which is not the case for associates.) The belief is that nonequity junior partners still get a taste of the settlements in cases the personally work.

Also I'm assuming you mean true nonequity junior partner and not like a K&E "partner".

I can give a less speculative answer on the book of business which is: there is 100% still a book of business type feel at these firms. Certain large regular clients have personal relationships with partners and cultivating those relationships can help push you along in the firm hierarchy. (Don't ask how you actually go about doing it, I have no clue.) Of course many of these relationships develop once the lawyer actually makes partner. In terms of actually making partner, since its not an up or out system, good work is usually enough assuming you aren't a complete asshole to work with. But keep in mind that these firms can't make a ton of partners every year. If there is already a large number of lawyers at the firm eyeing partnership around your year that will increase the chance you get skipped over.

Long term prospects of the field:

Right now things seem to be humming along, covid did not have a major impact outside of court delays. The biggest existential fears are probably: 1) any type of reform that makes the PSLRA even more of a struggle (no real signs of that); 2) the new glut of Trump judges being more defense friendly (this is probably the most common issue I've heard brought up); 3) SCOTUS makes some hyper business friendly ruling that fucks us long term (has not happened yet, but whenever a case rises that high you can tell it stresses out the partners.)

[Anonymous User]

Appreciate that!

How are the hours? From what I've gathered, it's still a lot of work but you're not working crazy hours like some NYC biglaw.

For a senior associate, what is comp like at your firm? I've heard numbers from 180-220k

[Anonymous User]

Hours are long, don't expect a step down from Big Law. But from a junior perspective the work is more substantive and I never feel like I am stuck doing things with little value or that do not matter. I know seniors are often doing the work of junior oartners when I compare what teammates are doing to what opposing counsel is doing. Varies year to year,

Thinking about applying to one of the more well-known securities P-side firms.

What's the consensus on junior partner salary at a place like Litowitz, Gellar, Pomerantz?

Since there's no real book of business type feel, is it just doing good work that gets you in the door for partnership?

Long term consensus on the field?

but I would expect more 2500 hour years than 2000 hour years (although time keeping is a bit more lenient, so a 2500 hour year P-side may feel more like 2400 hour year in big law.)

180k base seems low for a senior, but firms vary a lot. 200-220k or more is closer to what I would expect if you're a 6 year+. Remember bonuses are way bigger and more varied (heavily tied to firms actual performance in a given year.) I think at a lot of firms the ideal year you make big law comp all in as an associate. It's just that there are bad and only okay years mixed in.