The securities and governance litigation group at BakerHostetler in New York continues to build on its growing reputation in both regulatory enforcement matters and securities litigation. Lead partner Douglas Greene has led since joining in 2018. Working with Genevieve York-Erwin, based in both Seattle and New York, he successfully defended Eagle Bancorp and former officers in a notable securities class action. Cleveland-based Douglas Shively is a securities class action specialist whose recent work encompasses matters in New York, Delaware, Ohio, Texas, and Nevada. One of his key highlights saw him defend electric vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors Corp. in a SPAC-related case, which resulted in a class action and shareholder derivative matters in Delaware concerning a $1bn drop in the company’s market capitalisation.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Key clients

  • Eagle Bancorp, Inc.
  • Tilray, Inc.
  • Directors and Officers of Pareteum Corporation
  • PlayAGS, Inc.
  • Berry Corporation
  • Athenex, Inc.
  • Lordstown Motors Corp.
  • Annovis Bio, Inc.
  • Pulse Biosciences, Inc.
  • Charles E. Jones
  • Uphold LTD, Uphold, Inc., Uphold HQ Inc, and Juanpablo Thieriot
  • Co-Diagnostics, Inc.
  • Maria Johnson (former CFO of Polished.com)
  • Charlotte Olympia Dellal

Work highlights

  • Successfully defended Eagle Bancorp, its current and former CEO, its current and former CFO, and its former General Counsel in a securities class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and in a related SEC investigation, related to an alleged loss of approximately US$ 500 million of market capitalization. We achieved favorable settlements in both matters. The litigation featured an important application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Omnicare decision, in which our Securities and Governance Team leader, Doug Greene, wrote the amicus brief that shaped the Court’s decision.
  • In one of the country’s most complex sets of SPAC-related lawsuits, the firm is defending electric vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC) and several of its current and former officers and directors in a consolidated securities class action in the Northern District of Ohio, in consolidated shareholder derivative actions in the District of Delaware and Delaware Court of Chancery, and in a shareholder derivative action in the Northern District of Ohio, related to an alleged loss of over US$ 1 billion in market capitalization.
  • The firm convinced the plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their cases without prejudice and no other related actions were filed against clients Annovis Bio, Inc. and its CEO and CFO, in two securities class actions filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging the defendants made false and misleading statements and related to an alleged loss of approximately US$ 530 million of market capitalization.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Douglas Greene

Other key lawyers

Genevieve York-Erwin, Douglas Shively