Nicole Lavallee

Nicole Lavallee is the Managing Partner of the San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.  Nicole focuses on financial justice through asset recovery for investors and consumers alike and is a lead partner of the Securities Practice Group.  Nicole is the primary contact for many of the firm’s institutional clients and is also an integral member of the firm’s New Case Investigations Team, which scrutinizes potential securities law violations to determine whether a case meets the firm’s exacting standards.

Since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), Nicole has prosecuted dozens of high-profile cases for the firm, earning judicial praise for her work and recovering over a billion of dollars for investors.

Ms. Lavallee’s experience has earned her recognition by leading ranking firms. For example, she is AV Rated by Martindale Hubell, has been ranked a leading securities litigator by Chambers USA for the past three years and was named as one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation in 2023.  Chambers quoted one client describing her as “great in terms of communication and understanding how to bring a case together, produce a strategy and make a path for a way forward.”  It quoted a market source who noted “Nicole is a really terrific plaintiff lawyer and a real advocate in the community” and further quoted an opposing counsel as stating that “Nicole is a good adversary, she is smart and puts up a good fight for her clients.” Additionally, she has been recognized as a top securities and class action attorney for several years by Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, The Legal 500, Lawdragon, among others.  She was ranked as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal in 2020 and 2023 and Northern California Super Lawyers magazine named her to their lists of the Top 100 attorneys in California and one of the Top 50 Women attorneys in California in 2021.

Education

• LL.B. (Canadian Common Law equivalent to J.D.), Osgoode Hall Law School (1991)
• LL.B. (Civil Law equivalent to J.D.), Université de Montréal (1989)
• College Degree in Health Sciences and in Pure and Applied Sciences, Vanier College, Dean’s List (Montreal, 1986)

Experience

• One of the lead partners overseeing the securities fraud class action Erwin v. Veradigm Inc., No. 1:23-cv-16205 (N.D. Ill.), in which the firm represents the sole lead plaintiff Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association in a securities fraud class action against health technology company Veradigm Inc. brought under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as SEC Rule 10b-5, alleging that the company made materially false and misleading statements during the Class Period regarding its revenues, gross margins, and earnings growth.
• Served as lead partner overseeing lead plaintiffs in several recently settled class actions, including (i) In re Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 18-cv-04993-NRB (S.D.N.Y.) (settled for $41.749 million, the last two settlements being approved in October 2023); (ii) Hayden v. Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 3:20-cv-00367-VC (N.D. Cal.) ($17.5 million settlement approved March 6, 2023); (iii) Utah Retirement Systems v. Healthcare Services Group, Inc., et al., No. 2:19-cv-01227-ER (E.D. Pa.) ($16.8 million settlement approved by the court on January 12, 2022); and (iv) In re Aqua Metals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 4:17-cv-07142-HSG (N.D. Cal.) ($7 million approved by the court on March 2, 2022).
• Served as a lead partner representing the Wyoming State Treasurer and the Wyoming Retirement System as lead plaintiffs in In re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation, No. 09-cv-4583 (S.D.N.Y.), which settled for $346 million and received final court approval in February 2015. This settlement is extraordinary, not only because of its size but also because $340 million of the settlement amount was paid entirely by the underwriters who had due diligence defenses.
• Served as the lead day-to-day partner representing the Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension Fund as co-lead plaintiff in a class action against International Rectifier Corp, In re International Rectifier Securities Litigation, No. 07-cv-2544 (C.D. Cal.), which settled for $90 million.  At the settlement approval hearing, Judge John F. Walter praised counsel, stating: “I think the work by the lawyers – all the lawyers in this case – was excellent. … In this case, the papers were excellent.  So it makes our job easier and, quite frankly, more interesting when I have lawyers with the skill of the lawyers that are present in the courtroom today who have worked on this case … the motion practice in this case was, quite frankly, very intellectually challenging and well done. … I’ve presided over this consolidated action since its commencement and have nothing but the highest respect for the professionalism of the attorneys involved in this case. … The fact that plaintiffs’ counsel were able to successfully prosecute this action against such formidable opponents is an impressive feat.”
• Served as lead day-to-day partner representing the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System as co-lead plaintiff in the KLA-Tencor Corp. options-backdating class action, In re KLA-Tencor Corp. Securities Litigation, No. 06-cv-04065 (N.D. Cal.), which settled for $65 million.  At the conclusion of the case, Judge Charles R. Breyer praised plaintiffs’ counsel for “working very hard” in exchange for an “extraordinarily reasonable” fee, and “I appreciate the fact that you’ve done an outstanding job, and you’ve been entirely reasonable in what you’ve done.”
• Handled the day-to-day prosecution of a derivative insider trading action against Lawrence J. Ellison, the Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corporation, Oracle Cases, Coordination Proceeding, Special Title (Rule 1550(b)), No. JCCP 4180 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Mateo Cty.), which led to a novel settlement whereby Mr. Ellison agreed to personally make charitable donations of $100 million in Oracle’s name.  The presiding judge singled out Nicole’s summary judgment brief as “excellent.”  This case remains one of the largest known settlements in a derivative action.
• Represented public pension fund clients in several securities-fraud opt-out cases where clients’ recovery was significantly higher than their pro-rata share of the corresponding class action.
• Involved in several trials since joining the firm, including one in an individual action alleging state law misrepresentation claims, where the jury found in favor of plaintiffs, and a bench trial in a derivative suit.

Honors & Distinctions

• Ranked by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in Litigation: Securities – California (U.S. edition 2021-2023)
• Ranked by Benchmark Litigation as one the Benchmark Top 250 Women in Litigation (2023)
• Ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a California State Litigation Star (2020-2024), San Francisco Litigation Star (2020-2024), Noted Star (Plaintiff Work, Securities) (2019-2024)
• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation-Securities (2021-2024) and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs (2024)
• Recognized in Northern California Best Lawyers for Litigation-Securities (2021-2024) and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs (2024)
• Ranked as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal (2020, 2023)
• Recognized as a Recommended Attorney in Securities Litigation by The Legal 500 (U.S. edition 2017-2023)
• Ranked in the Top 50 Women list of attorneys in California in Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine (2021)
• Ranked in the Top 100 list of attorneys in California in Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine (2021)
• Named a Super Lawyer by Northern California Super Lawyers magazine, which features the top 5% of attorneys in the region (2017-2023)
• Featured in San Francisco Magazine’s Top Women Attorneys in Northern California (2017-2022)
• Awarded a rating of AV Preeminent^® by Martindale-Hubbell^®
• Selected for the Martindale-Hubbell^® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™
• Selected by Martindale-Hubbell^® as a Top-Rated Litigator, as featured in Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer magazines (2019)
• Selected by Martindale-Hubbell^® as one of the Women Leaders In Law, as featured in The National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, and The American Lawyer magazines (2021-2023)
• Selected by Martindale-Hubbell^® as one of the California Top-Rated Lawyers, as featured in The National Law Journal and The Recorder magazines (2023)
• Selected by Lawdragon for its 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide (2019-2023), as featured in Lawdragon’s The Plaintiff Issue magazine (2020-2023)

Admissions

• State Bar of California
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
• Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals

Affiliations

• Bar Association of San Francisco
• Federal Bar Association
• Queen’s Bench
• National Association of Women Lawyers
• National Association of Public Pension Attorneys (NAPPA)
• State Association of County Retirement Systems
• Women in Securities (WISe)

Education

• Member of the Board of Trustees, Chair of the Trustees Committee and recently completed a two-year term as Co-Chair of the Board in 2021-2023 at an Independent School in San Francisc

Publications, Presentations & Appearances

• What To Expect This Proxy Season With New Exec Pay Rules, Law360 by Nicole Lavallee and Michael Stocker Dark, Feb. 8, 2023
• Panel presenter on Exercising Shareholder Rights and the Role of Public Pension Funds in Shareholder Litigation, California Association of Public Retirement Systems (CalAPRS) Trustee’s Roundtable webinar, May 10, 2021
• Panel presenter on Women Lawyers: Balancing our Practices, Families, and Mental Health, Monterey County Women Lawyers Association webinar, January 28, 2021
• Steering Committee Member and Panel Moderator at The Bar Association of San Francisco’s (BASF) Women’s Impact Network: No Glass Ceiling 2.0 Board Balance Conference, November 19, 2020
• Steering Committee Member and Discussion Leader on Settlements at Cambridge Forum on Plaintiffs’ Class Action Litigation, May 6-8, 2019
• Webinar panel presentation, The Knowledge Group, Dec. 7, 2018: Securities and Shareholder Litigation – A 2019 Outlook
• Panel presenter on The Significance of Upcoming Rule 23 Amendments and Proposed rule 30(b)(6) Changes, National Consumer Law Center’s (NCLC) 19^th annual Class Action Symposium, October 28, 2018
• Panel presenter on Cyan and Beyond: The History and Future of 1933 Act Litigation in State Courts, WISe, April 19, 2018
• Presented on 2018 Securities Litigation and Regulation Update: What’s New and What’s Next, Bar Association of San Francisco CLE, March 19, 2018
• Panel presenter on Securities Litigation Trends at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance panel discussion, March 1, 2017
• Presenter on What’s New in 2017 and What’s Next in Securities Litigation at the Bar Association of San Francisco CLE, February 28, 2017
• Cambridge Cross-Border Litigation Forum, Co-Chair and moderator in November 2016 and Steering Committee Member and Moderator at 2012, 2014 Forums
• The SEC – and Warren Buffett – Scrutinize Non-GAAP Accounting by Nicole Lavallee and Justin Saif, SACRS Fall Magazine, October 2016
• Panel presenter on Settlement Talks at Practicing Law Institute’s Pretrial Practice 2016 Program, June 22, 2016
• Securities Litigation Deters Peers from Similar Misconduct by Nicole Lavallee, The TEXPERS Pension Observer, Winter 2016
• California Lawyer Roundtable Series panel participant, Securities, January 2015
• US Supreme Court to Decide Whether Investors Must Take Individual Actions to Preserve Securities Act Claims by Nicole Lavallee and Jay Eng, Corporate Disputes magazine, July-September 2014
• Supreme Court Hands Investors Victory in Amgen Class Action by Nicole Lavallee, The TEXPERS Pension Observer, Spring 2013
• Restoring Shareholder Value and Policing Executive Greed – Derivative Lawsuits, Presenter at American Association of Justice 2009 Annual Convention, Business Torts Section, July 25-29, 2009
• Securities Class Action, Presenter at CLE International, 5th Annual Conference, March 2009