Stanley D. Bernstein

Stanley D. Bernstein has been named to the 2009 “Directorship 100,” the list of “The Most Influential People in the Boardroom” as determined by The National Association of Corporate Directors and Directorship magazine.  He is the only plaintiffs’ lawyer in the country included on this list.  Mr. Bernstein has also been selected by Lawdragon as one of the “500 Leading Litigators in America,” one of the “500 Leading Plaintiffs’ Lawyers,” and one of the “100 Lawyers You Need to Know in Securities Litigation.”  Super Lawyers magazine has selected him as a Super Lawyer for three consecutive years, in the fall of 2007, 2008, and 2009.  A 1980 graduate of the New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics, he is a frequent lecturer on directors and officers liability, class action practice and securities law issues at continuing legal education seminars, insurance seminars, and educational programs for corporate directors.

Mr. Bernstein is the court-appointed chair of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, No. 21 MC 92 (S.D.N.Y.), a coordinated litigation of over 300 securities class actions (which recently settled for $586 million).  He has been lead counsel in scores of other securities class actions, including:  In re Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 04-CV-8144 (CM) (S.D.N.Y.), in which a settlement of $400 million recently received final approval; and In re Royal Dutch/Shell Transport Securities Litigation (U.S. settlement with a minimum cash value of $130 million, and a contingent value of more than $180 million as well as an additional $28.34 million secured in connection with a related European settlement of $350 million, which the Firm was substantially responsible for obtaining).  He has tried many cases in state and federal court, and has successfully argued appeals on behalf of shareholders before the Delaware Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Bernstein has also been lead counsel in many of the leading securities cases enforcing and expanding the rights of shareholders, including:  In re Sears, Roebuck Derivative Litigation (Ill. Cir.), and In re Archer Daniels Midlands Corp. Derivative Litigation, No. 14403 (Del. Ch.) (pioneering cases which improved corporate governance at both companies); and In re Bankers Trust Securities Litigation, No. 98 Civ. 8460 (S.D.N.Y.) ($58 million; representing a 100% recovery of losses).  He has litigated scores of cases enforcing shareholders’ rights in the Delaware Chancery Court, where most of the important corporate governance litigation is conducted.

In addition, Mr. Bernstein was lead trial counsel for the public stockholders of Quickturn Design Systems, Inc., in a trial in the Delaware Chancery Court that invalidated an anti-takeover device in Shapiro v. Quickturn Design Systems, Inc., No. 16850 NC (Del. Ch.).  Mr. Bernstein was also lead trial counsel in a seven-day bench trial in a pro bono case in which the Firm represented the Westchester Day School (“WDS”), an Orthodox Jewish day school, in a bitter zoning litigation with the Village of Mamaroneck, New York, the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village, and members of the Zoning Board in their official capacities.  The court delivered a verdict for WDS, which was affirmed in its entirety by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Westchester Day Sch. v. Vill. of Mamaroneck, 417 F. Supp. 2d 477 (S.D.N.Y. 2006), aff’d, 504 F.3d 338 (2d Cir. 2007).

Mr. Bernstein is currently serving as counsel in Republic of Iraq v. ABB Ltd., No. 08 CV 5951 (S.D.N.Y.), a suit brought on behalf of the Republic of Iraq and the Iraqi people over the corruption of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, which allowed the Hussein Regime to sell Iraqi oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people, described as the largest financial and political fraud in history.  Mr. Bernstein is also active in the Firm’s antitrust practice, and is one of the co-lead counsel in In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, No. 08-md-2002 (E.D. Pa.).

He is admitted to the Bars of the States of New York and Florida, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.