Securities Class Actions Around the World

Dr. Tiago Duarte-Silva’s experience at Charles River Associates spans US and international arbitration and litigation. He also has several years of industry experience valuing companies in developed and emerging markets and teaches valuation as an adjunct professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. He has offered expert opinions or testimony in US federal and state courts and abroad.

His expertise in commercial and investment disputes encompasses valuation, debt/equity issues and buybacks, rights issues, buyouts, minority shareholder oppression and appraisal actions in Delaware Court of Chancery, and lost profits involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, expropriation, and temporary injunction, among others.

His expertise in securities disputes covers class certification including assessments of market efficiency, loss causation and materiality, event studies/ price impact analyses, alleged accounting misstatements or omissions, and damages or settlement analyses within Rule 10b-5 and Section 11 matters, insider trading, and investigations of alleged market manipulation. The evidence he submitted as expert has led to the successful denial of class certification in the SDNY.

Dr. Duarte-Silva’s research on earnings announcements, event studies, the incorporation of information into prices, regulatory enforcement, prejudgment interest and quantum, commercial and investment banking, and equity and debt underwriting has been published in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Finance Research Letters, the Journal of International Arbitration, Law360, Global Arbitration Review, the World Arbitration and Mediation Review, the Westlaw Journal of Securities Litigation & Regulation, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, and various journals of the American Bar Association. He has also refereed articles for several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of International Arbitration, Financial Analysts Journal, and Business Valuation Review. He has been a speaker at MIT Sloan School of Management, Harvard Law School, and other institutions.

He has worked on behalf of corporations and their officers and directors, private equity firms, financial institutions, auditors, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other US and foreign regulators. His case experience includes support at deposition, trial, mediation, and settlement negotiations and spans various industries, including financial services, energy and natural resources, technology, consumer products, media, casinos, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecommunications, aerospace, insurance, education, outsourcing, and distribution.

Dr. Duarte-Silva co-chairs the American Bar Association’s Expert Witness subcommittee of the Commercial and Business Litigation committee and the Damages subcommittee of the Alternative Dispute Resolution committee.

Steven Sofer is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office, practising in the area of advocacy. He has been actively involved in securities matters and class actions for over 20 years.

Steven has prosecuted cases for the Ontario Securities Commission involving insider trading and broker/dealer misconduct. Upon returning to private practice, he taught staff of various securities commissions in both of these areas. Steven has also co-ordinated internal investigations and responses to regulatory inquiries. He has acted for regulators and has represented a number of registrants before regulators.

Achieving the best possible result on budget and in a timely manner is Steven’s prime directive. He provides unhedged practical advice, regular prompt and concise reporting, and is always available. Where a fair settlement is achievable and is the optimal result, it is expeditiously obtained. Where settlement is not optimal or possible, litigation is vigorously pursued in a dignified manner that garners respect from the decision makers and other affected parties.

Steven works in teams, both with lawyers inside and outside of Gowling WLG, ensuring that the most appropriate person is always the one doing the required task. He has been a key part of and has co-ordinated teams acting in product liability litigation across Canada. Steven has also acted or coordinated for a manufacturer in various constitutional matters that reached the Supreme Court of Canada.

Martin Davies is a partner in the London office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice. An accomplished trial lawyer, Mr. Davies has more than 20 years experience advising clients on a broad range of complex, high-profile commercial disputes, including corporate and shareholder disputes, banking and financial litigation and fraud.

Mr. Davies has deep knowledge in the financial services, communications, entertainment, sports and media, and technology sectors, combining significant High Court experience with a recognized track record in domestic and international arbitration, including before specialist tribunals, such as the Copyright Tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and IFTA (Independent Film and Television Alliance), both in the UK and US.

Mr. Davies also regularly advises on public law issues, conducting judicial reviews for both applicants and regulators, and has considerable experience running internal investigations on behalf of clients, including appearing before the regulator.

Jurjen Lemstra specializes in advising and prosecuting in company law disputes. He regularly represents the interests of shareholders and interest organizations in survey procedures for the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Justice and in public bid procedures. He is also involved in settlements and procedures on mass claims. In the field of financial law, Jurjen focuses primarily on liability of financial product providers, the duty of care of financial companies and the position of (financial) supervisors. In addition, he advises shareholders, directors and supervisory directors on corporate governance and (personal) liability risks in and out of bankruptcy situations.

Jurjen is a professor at the Van der Heijden Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen. He regularly publishes in his field of study and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Enterprise Law Practice. Jurjen is a member of the monitoring committee corporate governance.

Darren J. Check, a partner of the Firm, concentrates his practice in the area of shareholder litigation and client relations. Mr. Check manages the Firm’s Portfolio Monitoring Department and works closely with the Firm’s Case Evaluation Department.

Currently, Mr. Check consults with institutional investors from around the world with regard to their investment rights and responsibilities. He currently works with clients in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Australia.

Mr. Check assists Firm clients in evaluating and analyzing opportunities to take an active role in shareholder litigation, arbitration, and other loss recovery methods. This includes U.S. based litigation and arbitration, as well as an increasing number of cases from jurisdictions around the globe. With an increasingly complex investment and legal landscape, Mr. Check has experience advising on traditional class actions, direct actions, non-U.S. opt-in actions, fiduciary actions, and arbitrations to name a few. Mr. Check is frequently called upon by his clients to help ensure they are taking an active role when their involvement can make a difference, and that they are not leaving money on the table.

Mr. Check regularly speaks on the subjects of shareholder litigation, corporate governance, investor activism, and recovery of investment losses at conferences around the world.

Mr. Check has also been actively involved in the precedent setting Shell settlement in the Netherlands, direct actions against BP, Vivendi, and Merck, and securities class actions against Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Royal Bank of Scotland (U.K.), and Hewlett-Packard. Currently, Mr. Check represents investors in numerous high profile actions in the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.