The Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation is one of the largest securities class actions in history. It consists of 309 class actions involving more than 300 initial public offerings ("IPOs") marketed between 1998 and 2000. The actions are coordinated before U.S. District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in the Southern District of New York. The defendants consist of the companies brought public, certain of their officers and directors, and 55 of the investment banks that brought the companies public and underwrote various follow-on offerings.

The lawsuits allege that the IPOs were manipulated by the investment banks to artificially inflate the market price of those securities and to conceal the amounts of compensation actually received by the underwriters. On February 19, 2003, the Court denied in part and granted in part the defendants' motions to dismiss. As a result of the decision, discovery commenced and is ongoing.

In June 2003, the plaintiffs and the issuer defendants and their directors and officers reached a proposed settlement that will guarantee at least (or the first) $1 billion dollars to investors who are class members from the insurers of the issuers. The proposed settlement does not resolve the claims against the underwriter defendants. As a result, the plaintiffs will continue to prosecute the litigation against these defendants.

More recently, in 2006, Bernstein Liebhard has negotiated the first settlement with one of the underwriter defendants, JP Morgan Chase, for $425 million.

The plaintiffs' attorneys are led by a Court-appointed Executive Committee, of which Bernstein Liebhard serves as Vice Chair.