Top 10 Most-Feared Plaintiffs Firms Posted on October 30, 2014 by Larry Bodine Law360, a legal news organization for corporate subscribers, has named a list of “Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms Of 2014.” “They have given the U.S. Department of Justice a run for its money in extracting billion-dollar accords from big banks. They have won jaw-dropping settlements and jury verdicts against drugmakers over the hidden harms of pharmaceuticals. And they have put the clamps on monopolistic practices that hurt small businesses everywhere.” Law360 will publish daily profiles of the 10 firms in November. A subscription is required and the cost is not published. The firms were chosen based on the legal victories they obtained between July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014, whether it was finalizing an $8.5 billion deal with Bank of America Corp. or forcing one of the world’s richest men to disburse nearly half a billion dollars of his personal wealth following a transaction that came under fire. The firms selected were: Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC – “In February the firm inked a $275 million settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC over its RMBS deals, one of the top-five class action accords for soured MBS transactions.” Gibbs & Bruns LLP – “In January, a New York state judge finalized an $8.5 billion cash settlement the firm struck with Bank of America to end claims tied to 530 troubled residential mortgage-backed securities trusts packaged and sold by BofA subsidiary Countrywide Financial Corp.” Grant & Eisenhofer PA – “In September 2013, the firm, serving as co-counsel to a Michigan pension fund in a derivative suit, reached an agreement with Oracle Corp.’s billionaire founder and chief executive Larry Ellison, who agreed to fork over roughly $440 million he and his associates made from a transaction in which Oracle bought another company Ellison owned.” Labaton Sucharow LLP The Lanier Law Firm PLLC Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP – “The firm won the largest judgment following a securities class action trial, when in October 2013 an Illinois federal judge imposed a nearly $2.5 billion order against Household International Inc. and three former executives.” Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP Susman Godfrey LLP
