July 17, 2024
The New York Law Journal has named Laura Posner, a partner in our Securities Litigation & Investor Protection practice, one of three finalists for the 2024 Attorney of the Year award.
Laura was named a finalist for her exceptional leadership in In re Wells Fargo Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y), a securities fraud class action which resulted in a historic $1 billion settlement, making it the largest securities class action settlement in 2023, the sixth largest in the last decade, the ninth largest ever in the Second Circuit, and the 17th largest ever. It is also the largest securities class action settlement ever without a parallel restatement or related action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or U.S. Department of Justice. The $1 billion recovery reflects an unusually high percentage of investor losses—more than 25%. In its final approval order of the Wells Fargo settlement, the court noted that the settlement “occurred because of the efforts of Plaintiffs’ Counsel” and that “Lead Counsel conducted the litigation and achieved the settlement with skill, perseverance and diligent advocacy” and “had Lead Counsel not achieved the settlement there would remain a significant risk that [investors] may have recovered less or nothing from Defendants.”
A firm believer in fair and open financial markets, Laura is also at the vanguard of spoofing and other market manipulation securities cases. She’s presently leading several such cases in the Second Circuit, including Set Capital v. Credit Suisse (S.D.N.Y.), which helped establish precedential case law on appeal before the Second Circuit on what is required to prove market manipulation and whether the manipulation must be secret. The class was partially certified in 2023. She’s also leading Northwest Biotherapeutics v. Canaccord Genuity (S.D.N.Y.) and Phunware v. UBS Securities (S.D.N.Y.), which address broader market confidence issues involving illegal spoofing claims.
Laura has also recently helped investors trailblaze novel shareholder derivative litigation, with successful cases against the board of directors of Wynn Resorts, Pinterest and Victoria’s Secret, bringing about not only sweeping corporate governance and management changes at the companies, but recovering $230 million. In re Wynn Resorts (Nev.) remains to date the only derivative case ever to survive a demand futility challenge based on underlying sexual or racial misconduct allegations.
Nationally, Laura is a highly respected thought leader on securities litigation and investor protection issues. She was recently named President of the Institute for Law & Economic Policy, the nation’s foremost think tank on securities law and investor protection, is a member of the Public Policy Council of the Certified Financial Planner Board, a member (and immediate past-Chair) of the New York City Bar Securities Litigation Committee, and the author of numerous successful amici briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before joining Cohen Milstein in 2017, Laura was the Bureau Chief for New Jersey’s Bureau of Securities, the Garden State’s top securities regulator and enforcer, and the Enforcement Chair of the North American Securities Administrators Association, the association of all state, territorial and provincial securities regulators in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Read New York Law Journal Names Laura Posner a 2024 Attorney of the Year Finalist.