Pomerantz Wins European Pensions Thought Leadership Award
On December 10, 2020, Pomerantz was honored by European Pensions with its prestigious Thought Leadership Award – a recognition that the Firm “has demonstrated the possibility to make a real, material difference to the pension fund space.”
In honoring Pomerantz’s thought leadership, European Pensions recognized the Firm’s long tradition of developing innovative ways to advance institutional investors’ interests. Beyond expanding European pension funds’ access to the robust securities laws of the United States through ground-breaking legal strategies, Pomerantz is at the forefront of representing its clients in global litigations, no matter where they are based.
Throughout its 85-year history, Pomerantz has shaped the law, winning landmark decisions that have expanded investor rights and initiated historic corporate governance reform, all while recovering billions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors, with many settlements breaking previously-held records.
The United States Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank barred purchasers of securities on non-U.S. exchanges from pursuing claims in U.S. courts under the federal securities laws. The Morrison ruling presented a seemingly insurmountable hurdle for institutional investors, who increasingly invest in securities both in the U.S. and abroad. Often the same institutional investor decides to purchase securities of dual-listed securities on domestic and foreign exchanges but, under Morrison, was only able to recover monies for securities listed on a U.S. exchange.
Pomerantz responded to Morrison by developing novel legal strategies to advance the interests of its institutional investor clients that purchase securities both on U.S. and non-U.S. exchanges. For example, Pomerantz has pursued ground-breaking claims on behalf of institutional investors in BP plc. (“BP”) to recover BP losses sustained from purchases of stock on the London Stock Exchange stemming from the devastating 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Pomerantz, in its role as Lead Liaison counsel, represents dozens of institutional investors in the Southern District of Texas pursuing claims under English common law. “This litigation is literally the first time, post-Morrison, that institutional investors have been permitted to pursue foreign claims seeking recovery for foreign traded securities in a U.S. court,” said Managing Partner Jeremy A. Lieberman.
More recently, Pomerantz achieved a historic victory for investors in a securities fraud class action against Perrigo Co. plc (“Perrigo”) by obtaining class certification for investors that purchased securities on a non-U.S. exchange. Judge Arleo of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey certified classes of investors that purchased Perrigo securities on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Roofers Pension Fund v. Papa, No. 16-cv-02805 (D.N.J.) (“Perrigo”)
This is the first time that a U.S. district court has certified a class of investors in securities on a non-U.S. exchange since Morrison barred purchasers of securities on non-U.S. exchanges from pursuing claims in U.S. courts under the federal securities laws.
Beyond expanding European pension funds’ access to the robust securities laws of the United States though ground-breaking legal strategies, Pomerantz is at the forefront of representing European clients in global litigations. In November 2018, Pomerantz formed an international coalition to bring a group action in Denmark against Danske Bank for allegations relating to an extensive money laundering scheme and falsification of financial records. Pomerantz also represents major European pension funds in global litigations against, among others, Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (the Netherlands), Tesco plc (U.K.) and Wirecard AG (Germany).
Pomerantz is strongly committed to providing global monitoring services to its worldwide client base. Jennifer Pafiti is qualified to practice law in the United States and the United Kingdom and is responsible for the Firm’s PomTrack® portfolio monitoring service, which provides services to institutions with over $5.8 trillion of assets under management.
French lawyer, Nicolas Tatin, heads the Firm’s Paris office. Mr. Tatin brings to the Firm his experience as a lawyer at one of France’s largest public pension funds, as well as at one of its largest asset managers.
Jeremy Lieberman and Jennifer Pafiti regularly travel throughout the U.S. and across the globe to advise foreign and domestic institutional investors on how best to evaluate losses to their investment portfolios attributable to financial misconduct and how best to maximize their potential recoveries. They are frequent speakers at investor conferences and educational forums in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The Firm also organizes educational seminars and conferences to bring together institutional investors from around the globe, where experts speak on essential topics related to securities litigation and corporate governance.
The Pomerantz team is collectively fluent in English, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Ukranian.