On October 22, 2007, The National Law Journal named Bernstein Liebhard LLP to its Plaintiffs’ Hot List for a fifth consecutive year. The Hot List features “exemplary firms that devote at least half of their resources to plaintiffs’ work, and which have achieved at least one significant win” during the previous year. Of the thirteen firms named to the list in 2007, Bernstein Liebhard LLP is one of only two named for five straight years (the other of which does not make securities litigation its primary focus).
In its profile, the Law Journal stated that the Firm has been “[l]ong known for blazing trails in securities and shareholder class actions,” and “has been active lately in litigation over the value of companies being taken private.” The Law Journal featured three of the Firm’s recent successes: its settlement with Cigna Corp. for $93 million; its settlement with Lumenis for $20 million; and its settlement with Cablevision, in which the Firm successfully deterred a going-private transaction proposed by Cablevision’s controlling shareholder at an inadequate price. The proposal was ultimately converted to a $2.5 billion special dividend payable ratably to all Cablevision shareholders.
The Law Journal’s lead article on the plaintiffs’ bar also featured the comments of partner Stanley Bernstein: “‘When you finally survive all the hurdles that Congress and the courts have put in the way, you’ve got an unbelievable case — and that case is going to be pursued to the very end,’ Bernstein said. ‘The ultimate dollars paid are going to be bigger.'”