The Supreme Court’s Ruling in Halliburton Could Slash Securities Class Actions

S.J. Quinney College of Law, Room 107
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund on March 5, 2014. At stake in this case is whether the longstanding “fraud-on-the-market presumption” will survive in securities class actions. This theory enables plaintiffs to form a class without having to prove that each investor independently relied on an alleged misstatement. Undoing this presumption would destroy the securities class action as we know it today. This CLE Panel will discuss the important issues in the Halliburton case, the arguments before the Supreme Court, and the current climate for securities litigation.

5:00 – Reception
5:30 – Panel

1 hour CLE, email communications@law.utah.edu

SCOTUSblog entry for the case >>
Halliburton Supreme Court Ruling Could Slash Class Actions >>

Panelists Include:

Karen Martinez
Before joining the SEC staff, Ms. Martinez was in private practice. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Christine M. Durham of the Utah Supreme Court. Ms. Martinez earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho, and she earned a master’s degree in Mathematics and her law degree from the University of Utah.

John G. Rich is a partner of Rich, Intelisano & Katz, LLP, an internationally recognized New York law firm that focuses on complex, highly sophisticated litigation and arbitration, and related advisory and transactional services. Mr. Rich represents individual and institutional investors in securities arbitration and litigation against financial firms. He also represents OTC derivatives and commodities investors, as well as employees in industry disputes and self-regulatory organization investigations. He has been practicing securities and commercial litigation law in New York for over 29 years.

Erik Christiansen is a shareholder in Parsons Behle & Latimer’s Litigation practice group and chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation practice group. He is a trial lawyer in practice for 24 years and he represents clients in commercial and business litigation matters, including commercial contract disputes, fraud litigation, financial services industry matters, securities litigation, banking litigation, insurance coverage litigation, and multi-level marketing litigation. Mr. Christiansen represents companies; officers; directors; broker dealers; financial advisors; and registered representatives, among others, in securities litigation; securities class actions; derivative actions; internal investigations; proxy disputes; FINRA arbitrations; shareholder disputes; partnership disputes; and in defense of enforcement actions and investigations involving the SEC, FINRA, and the PCAOB. Mr. Christiansen is Chair of the Utah State Securities Commission, which oversees the Utah Division of Securities.

Professor Schwartz received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his law degree, Order of the Coif, from the University of California, Berkeley. His research centers on securities law, investment-management regulation, and retirement policy, with a special focus on how social science and political philosophy inform regulatory analysis. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Professor Schwartz taught at California Western School of Law. Before that, he practiced in Southern California. He served both as in-house counsel and as a corporate attorney for Munger, Tolles & Olson, where he represented clients regarding mergers and acquisitions, corporate-governance matters, and securities-law compliance.

Moderator:

Professor Holbrook received a B.A. in 1966 from Grinnell College where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Honorary Fellowship. In 1968 he received an M.A. from Indiana University, which he attended as a National Science Foundation Fellow. He fought in combat in Vietnam in 1969, for which service he was awarded the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal for Valor. In 1974 he received a J.D. from the University of Utah where he was an articles editor of the Journal of Contemporary Law. After law school, he clerked for the chief judge of the federal district court for Utah and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City.

Co-sponsored by the Securities Section of the Utah Bar