Timothy Perla > WilmerHale > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
WilmerHale Offices
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2100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036
United States
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Timothy Perla
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Work Department
Class Actions ; Commercial Litigation ; Insurance, Annuities and Retirement ; Investigations ; Life Sciences ; Litigation ; Securities Enforcement ; Securities Litigation ; Trials
Position
Partner
Vice Chair, Securities & Financial Services Department
Career
Tim Perla is a leader in the rising generation of complex civil litigators. Over the past 15 years, he has defended over a hundred securities class actions, shareholder derivative lawsuits, insurance and annuity class actions, consumer class actions, and regulatory enforcement matters. A major publication honored him as one of the top under 40 class action practitioners in the country.
Mr. Perla is accustomed to litigating on the biggest stage, with recent successes including leading the defense of securities litigation brought against Theranos and orchestrating the defense of nearly 30 related securities cases brought against a renewable energy company. He has also tried an insurance class action to a defense jury verdict and defeated class certification on numerous occasions in securities and consumer class actions.
Mr. Perla achieves his clients’ goals by combining a deep knowledge of securities, insurance and class action practice with a logical, commonsense approach to problem solving. His clients include energy companies, banks, life sciences companies, technology companies, insurance companies, and officers and directors. He has a nationwide practice, having litigated in 25 states.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Perla clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton, United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts. He graduated summa cum laude from Boston University School of Law with the highest grade point average in his class.
Class Actions
Mr. Perla devotes much of his practice to defending securities fraud class actions and other class actions brought against companies and their officers and directors. In the past year alone, he defended more than a dozen securities class actions in federal courts around the country. He has repeatedly obtained dismissals, as well as settlements on favorable terms. He has extensive knowledge of complex procedural and class certification issues, and is often called upon to consult on class certification proceedings. Finally, Mr. Perla has had the rare experience of taking a class action to jury trial, obtaining a full defense verdict on all 11 claims after a three-week trial.
Shareholder Derivative Litigation
Dozens of companies, officers, and directors have looked to Mr. Perla for counseling and defense when faced with allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and other alleged corporate governance failures. He often litigates in the Delaware Court of Chancery, including recently defeating a motion for preliminary injunction in a bet-the-company matter brought against a renewable energy firm. His recent matters include: litigation challenging mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation litigation, disputes arising from conflict of interest transactions, statutory records demands, shareholder derivative demands, short-swing profits cases, and other corporate governance matters.
Regulatory Enforcement
Mr. Perla has represented clients before federal and state regulatory and law enforcement agencies, including the SEC, US Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Labor, and the Massachusetts Securities Division. Investigations have concerned allegations of: securities, accounting, tax and other fraud; insider trading; financial reporting and disclosure improprieties; noncompliance with professional and regulatory standards; anti-money laundering violations; and discriminatory conduct. His recent success includes persuading the SEC not to pursue charges against a company controller who had presided over accounting errors that led to a financial restatement.
Insurance and Business Litigation
Mr. Perla maintains a robust practice representing insurance companies in the defense of class actions, claims of improper sales practices, regulatory enforcement matters involving departments of insurance, and other litigation matters. In recent years, he has obtained dismissals of class actions brought against insurers in California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars of exposure to damages. He also recently took a large individual life insurance action to trial in California Superior Court, obtaining a favorable settlement after trial began.
Professional Activities
Mr. Perla is active in the leadership of the Boston Bar Association. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
He has given numerous talks and presentations covering matters including mergers and acquisitions litigation, Delaware corporate law, federal securities laws, and the impact of technology (particularly mobile computing) on litigation. He is also a frequent media commentator on class actions and securities litigation.
Memberships
- Massachusetts
- New York
Education
JD, Boston University School of Law, 2004
BA, Computer Science, State University of New York at Geneseo, 2001
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
(Next Generation Partners)WilmerHale has a proven track record in both SEC and DOJ enforcement matters, as well as securities fraud class actions, and it continues to uphold its streak of successes. Stephanie Avakian in Washington DC is chair of the securities and financial services department, while the lead partners for securities litigation and enforcement are Michael Bongiorno in New York and DC-based Matthew Martens. Bongiorno secured a motion to dismiss for North America’s largest producer of advanced biofuels, Renewable Energy Group, Inc., in a case concerning its 2021 multiyear restatement. Susan Muck in San Francisco also played a pivotal role in that matter. The ‘smart and client service-oriented‘ Kevin Muck, also in San Francisco is frequently called up on to defend issuers, officers and directors in securities class actions, particularly in the technology sector. Up-and-coming partner Timothy Perla in Boston increasingly takes the lead role in high-stakes matters.
Lawyer Rankings
- Next Generation Partners United States > Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Securities litigation: defense United States > Dispute resolution
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International trade > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Industry focus > Education
- Industry focus > Education
- Industry focus > Education
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Industry focus > Native American law
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Government > State attorneys general
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- International trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- International trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Government > Government contracts
- Government > Government relations
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Finance > Fintech
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense