Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

Headquarters	San Diego, CA
No. of offices	10
No. of attorneys	200
No. of employees	425
Major practice areas	securities, consumer, insurance, healthcare, human rights, employment discrimination, and antitrust
Key people	Darren J. Robbins Paul J. Geller Samuel H. Rudman Michael J. Dowd
Company type	Limited liability partnership
Website
http://www.rgrdlaw.com

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller") is an American limited liability partnership, governed by a seven-member Executive Committee with a total of 425 employees. Founding partners 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]

The firm has 10 offices located in San Diego, Atlanta, Boca Raton, Chicago, Manhattan, Melville (NY), Nashville, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.^[6]

Performance

The 2014 ISS Securities Class Action Services “Top 50” report ranked Robbins Geller first in both the amount and number of shareholder class action recoveries of any other law firm, while the "Top 100" report ranked the firm in the top 5 firms that are most frequently lead counsel in the top 100 securities litigation settlements. In the top 10 cases, the firm was highly ranked with over 31% of the overall recovery value. In total, Robbins Geller has recovered more than $15 billion in settlements from the top 100 cases alone.^[7][8]

Other services

In addition to litigation services, Robbins Geller monitors the investment portfolios of hundreds of institutional investors, including public and multi-employer pension funds, fund managers, banks and insurance companies.^[9]

Areas of practice

Robbins Geller represents plaintiffs in litigation involving securities fraud, corporate takeovers, shareholder derivative claims, intellectual property, consumer and insurance fraud, and antitrust claims, as well as whistleblower protection and qui tam suits.^[10]

Notable cases and record recoveries

Robbins Geller has obtained some of the largest recoveries in history.^[11]

• Obtained securities class action settlement against Enron in excess of $7.2 billion.^[12]

• Antitrust class action settlement of $5.7 billion against Visa/MasterCard in Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. The settlement provided for the creation of two cash funds, estimated at a combined $5.7 billion, as well as significant changes to rules regarding acceptance of Visa and MasterCard credit cards, including the ability for merchants to surcharge certain transactions. Robbins Geller was one of three firms appointed to serve as class counsel.^[13]
• Obtained a $925 million recovery on behalf of the UnitedHealth Group shareholders.^[14]
• Securities action recovery of $657 million against WorldCom in In re WorldCom Securities Litigation.^[15]
• Secured a $500 million settlement against Countrywide Financial Group.^[16]
• 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.^[17]
• Obtained $629 million recovery in In re AOL Time Warner, Inc. Securities and "ERISA" Litigation. The AOL Time Warner litigation arose out of the merger of AOL and Time Warner, which the companies consummated while AOL was falsifying its financial results. Over 100 of Robbins Geller’s institutional clients followed the firm’s recommendation to "opt-out" of the securities fraud class action settlement and instead pursued individual actions.^[18] By doing so, those institutional clients successfully recovered $629 million, approximately 10 times of what they would have received in the class action settlement.^[19]
• 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.^[20][21]
• Obtained a $600 million recovery for Cardinal Health shareholders in In re Cardinal Health, Inc. Securities Litigation.^[22]
• 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. Robbins Geller was one of these firms appointed to represent the class.^[23]
• 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.^[24][25]
• Obtained a $265 million settlement in In re Massey Energy Co. Securities Litigation. The shareholder suit stemmed from a coal mine accident. Massey Energy, its executives and its board were targeted in civil and criminal actions since the April 5, 2010 explosion at its Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, which killed 29 workers. A government investigation found that the explosion was the result of basic safety violations and unlawful policies and practices. Robbins Geller represented shareholders that claimed Massey made false and misleading statements and omissions about its health and safety practices, policies and results, and that its true conduct was revealed through the Upper Big Branch disaster and subsequent disclosures.^[26]
• 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.^[27][28]
• 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^[29][30]

Current notable cases

In April 2014 Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the city of Providence, Rhode Island in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York. The complaint in the high frequency matter named "every major stock exchange in the U.S. (including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, BATS, Direct Edge, etc.) as well as major Wall Street firms (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank of America) along with high frequency trading firms and hedge funds."^[31] The lawsuit claimed that, "For at least the last five years, the Defendants routinely engaged in at least the following manipulative, self-dealing and deceptive conduct," which included "spoofing – where the HFT Defendants send out orders with corresponding cancellations, often at the opening or closing of the stock market, in order to manipulate the market price of a security and/or induce a particular market reaction."^[31]

In May 2015, Robbins Geller filed a federal class action suit against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The suit, filed on behalf of a Facebook user, alleges that Facebook violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting facial recognition data from user-uploaded photos without first notifying users and receiving their written consent, and by failing to inform them how long the information will be stored and how it will be used.^[32]

Recognition and rankings

Many Robbins Geller attorneys have been recognized as leaders in their field by various publications and organizations.

• The National Law Journal named the firm to its Elite Trial Lawyers in its 2014 inaugural listing,^[33] as well as the 2014 "Plaintiffs Hot List"^[34]
• Chambers & Partners Ranks the firm a Band 1 Law Firm, the highest rating available nationally and in New York^[35]
• Law360 named the firm one of the "Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms" in 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2015^[36] and to its Plaintiffs Securities Firms of the Year list in 2009
• Forbes selected the firm to its 2014-2015 Legal Black Book^[37]
• U.S. News Ranked Robbins Geller a National Tier 1 Firm^[38]
• California Lawyer named Michael J. Dowd Attorney of the Year in 2010^[39]
• In 2012, A. Rick Atwood, Jr. and Randall J. Baron were named Attorneys of the Year by California Lawyer.^[40]

References

1. "Darren J Robbins". chambersandpartners.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
2. "Paul J. Geller". Equilar Atlas. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
3. "Samuel Rudman". chambersandpartners.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
4. "Michael Dowd". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
5. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
6. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP". chambersandpartners.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
7. "Securities Class Action Services: Top 50 for 2014" (PDF). issgovernance.com. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
8. "Securities Class Action Services: Top 100 Settlements for 1H 2014". Retrieved 2 December 2015.
9. "Portfolio Monitoring Program". Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
10. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
11. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP". Chambersandpartners.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
12. "Enron settlement: $7.2 billion to shareholders". Chron. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
13. "Judge approves Visa, MasterCard $5.7 billion settlement with retailers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
14. "UPDATE 2-Judge OKs UnitedHealth $925.5 mln backdating pact". Reuters. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
15. "$651 million is recovered in WorldCom settlement". UT San Diego. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
16. "BofA Reaches $500M Deal In Countrywide MBS Class Action". Law360. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
17. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Partners Named California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year". Business Wire. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
18. Perez, Juan Carlos (April 11, 2006). "Judge Approves AOL Shareholder Settlement". IDG News Service. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
19. "University Snags $246M From Time Warner". Law 360. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
20. "Wachovia Bondholders Reach Record Settlement for $627 Million". The AM Law Litigation Daily. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
21. "Wells Fargo Agrees to Settle Wachovia Suit". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
22. "Cardinal Health Settles Suit For $600M". Law 360. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
23. "Prelim. approval for $590.5 mln U.S. buyout collusion settlement". Reuters. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
24. "Pfizer Strikes $400M Deal To End Shareholder Suit". Law 360. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
25. "Pfizer to pay $400 million to avert investor class action trial". Reuters. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
26. "Massey Energy Parent To Pay $265M To Exit Shareholder Suit". Law 360. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
27. "Wells Fargo Agrees to Settlement for Alleged 'Robo-Signing' Practices". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
28. "Wells Fargo settles remaining 'robo-signing' mortgage litigation". The LA Times. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
29. "http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-last-mystery-of-the-financial-crisis-20130619". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 31 March 2015. External link in |title= (help)
30. "Morgan Stanley Settles Washington, Abu Dhabi Lawuits". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
31. Martens, Pam (May 13, 2014). "The High Frequency Trading Lawsuit That Has Wall Street Running Scared". Wall Street on Parade. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
32. Godoy, Jody (May 15, 2015). "Facebook Hit With Federal Privacy Suit Over Photo Tagging". Law360. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
33. "Elite Trial Lawyers: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd". The National Law Journal. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
34. "Plaintiffs' Hot List". National Law Journal. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
35. "Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP". Chambers And Partners. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
36. "Most Feared Plaintiffs Firm: Robbins Geller". Law 360. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
37. "2014 – 2015 Forbes Legal Black Book Law Firms". Forbes Legal Black Book. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
38. "Best Law Firms". US News & World Report. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
39. "2010 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year". California Lawyer. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
40. "2012 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year". California Lawyer. Retrieved 1 April 2015.