The New York office of Clifford Chance has a small but active group of securities litigators led by the head of the US litigation practice Robert Houck. Experienced in complex cross-border securities and commercial litigation, including class actions and investigations, Houck frequently acts for large companies, underwriters, corporate officers, and outside directors in class actions. His recent work includes the successful defense of ICBC Standard Bank in a class action alleging manipulation of platinum and palladium benchmarks in London. All claims were dismissed. On that matter, Houck worked closely with John Friel, who focuses on securities, derivatives, and antitrust matters, and senior counsel David Yeres. Partner Anthony Candido is also active in federal and state courts at the trial and appellate level, and he recently worked with Houck to advise a major US financial institution on SEC and DOJ investigations, which also involved key team members in the firm’s Washington DC office.

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Key clients

  • Dr. Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy
  • ICBC Standard Bank Plc
  • NatWest Markets
  • A U.S. hedge fund
  • A major U.S. financial institution
  • A NYSE-listed property developer
  • A major international bank
  • Government of Sri Lanka
  • The trading arm of a major European company
  • A major U.S. financial institution
  • NatWest Group plc

Work highlights

  • Advising Dr. Mike Lynch in connection with civil litigation and criminal investigations in the UK and US. The matter involves allegations of accounting improprieties at Autonomy, a FTSE 100 UK technology company which Hewlett-Packard (HP) purchased in 2011 for US$11 billion. In a press release in November 2012, HP announced the write-down of US$8 billion in the value of Autonomy and claimed US$5 billion was attributable to the alleged improprieties.
  • Successfully defending ICBC Standard Bank plc, a large financial institution, in U.S. class action litigation concerning alleged manipulation of platinum and palladium benchmarks in London. Plaintiffs are investors in a variety of US derivatives and physical metals contracts.
  • Advising NatWest Markets in numerous class actions and regulatory investigations alleging manipulation of LIBOR and other benchmarks, and in subsequent implementation of settlement undertakings and compliance audits.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Robert Houck

Other key lawyers

David Yeres, John Friel, Anthony Candido