Austin P. Van
Partner
OFFICE
New York
PRACTICE AREAS
Securities Litigation
LAW SCHOOL
Yale Law School
ADMITTED
New York and New Jersey; United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the District of New Jersey, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Southern District of Texas; United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.
CONTACT
Austin focuses his practice on high-profile securities class actions. In 2020, Austin was named an MVP in Securities Litigation by Law360, as part of an “elite slate of attorneys [who] have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.” Only up to six attorneys nationwide are selected each year as MVPs in Securities Litigation. Austin was named to Benchmark Litigation’s “40 and Under Hotlist” in 2020 and 2021. Austin has been recognized by Lawdragon as one of the top 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, and has been named as a Recommended Lawyer by The Legal 500. From 2018–2021, Austin was honored as a Super Lawyers® Rising Star.
With Pomerantz Managing Partner Jeremy Lieberman, Austin heads the firm’s representation of lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against drug behemoth Mylan N.V. This multi-billion-dollar litigation is one of the largest securities class actions pending anywhere. The complaint alleges that Mylan misled investors about wide-ranging wrongful conduct in what some estimate to be the largest price-fixing conspiracy in U.S. history. Austin devised the central theories of the case and authored all three amended complaints in this matter, which has continued to expand. He authored all of lead plaintiffs’ three successful opposition briefs to defendants’ motions to dismiss, in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively, as well as lead plaintiffs’ successful arguments for class certification in 2019. In April 2020, the court rejected the Defendants’ motion to dismiss the third amended complaint in a precedent-setting decision concerning scheme liability, and certified a class of investors spanning five years, all based on Austin’s arguments. He led fact discovery in the matter, which consisted of review and distillation of millions of documents, orchestrated the Class’s thirty fact depositions, and most recently, completed overseeing the Class’s submission of five expert reports, totaling thousands of pages of expert disclosures.
Austin was in charge of Pomerantz’s securities class action against TechnipFMC, an oil and gas services provider. He uncovered the theory of this case: that TechnipFMC massively overstated its net income in its initial registration statement due to its use of incorrect foreign exchange rates. Austin successfully argued at oral argument in 2018 that the Court should deny defendants’ motion to dismiss the central claim in the matter. In 2019, Austin successfully argued lead plaintiff’s motion for class certification. He led the class through complete preparations for trial. The case settled in 2020 for approximately $20 million.
Austin led a successful securities class action at Pomerantz against Rockwell Medical, Inc. and served as co-lead counsel on the matter with another firm. Austin extensively investigated the facts of this case and drafted the operative complaint. At a pre-motion conference for Defendants’ motion to dismiss, District Senior Judge Allyn R. Ross stated: “based on what I have reviewed, it is virtually inconceivable to me that the consolidated amended complaint could possibly be dismissed on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion or a Rule 9(b) motion” and that the proposed motion practice “would be a complete waste of time and resources of counsel, of the clients’ money, and my time.” Defendants declined even to move to dismiss the complaint and settled the case in 2019 for $3.7 million—a highly favorable settlement for the Class.
Austin received a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of International Law. He has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.
Austin is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey; the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the District of New Jersey, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Southern District of Texas; the United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.