Nathaniel L. Orenstein

A partner in the firm’s Boston office, Nathaniel L. Orenstein focuses his practice on securities and consumer litigation. He currently leads the firm’s Corporate Governance and Shareholder Rights practice, directing the firm’s efforts to ensure that corporate fiduciaries meet their shareholder obligations. Mr. Orenstein has successfully prosecuted derivative actions using oversight theories of liability and his advocacy has helped to advance shareholders’ ability to ensure accountability for oversight breaches. Mr. Orenstein also leads consumer cases, including data breach related litigation and cases alleging violations by student loan servicers. While Mr. Orenstein prosecutes cases to be trial ready, he also seeks pragmatic solutions to achieve the best outcome for his clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Nathaniel was the lead attorney on several high-profile securities fraud regulatory actions for the Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While there, he performed company examinations as well as investigated and pursued enforcement actions to detect and prevent fraud at hedge funds and related companies. Before that, while studying law at New York University, Nathaniel was a legal intern in the Investor Protection Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General. Also, while in law school, Nathaniel was president of the Public Interest Law Foundation, raising and awarding thousands of dollars to deserving public interest projects.

Before studying law, Nathaniel was the Associate Director of the Center for Insurance Research, a consumer advocacy organization. In this role he supported complex litigation matters and advanced public policy initiatives involving insurance and banking industries and mutual holding company conversions.

Nathaniel has been ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a Massachusetts Local Litigation Star (2026) in Securities and was previously ranked as a Massachusetts Future Star (2021-2025).  In 2020-2025, Nathaniel was named a Super Lawyer by Massachusetts Super Lawyers.  He had previously been named a Rising Star by New England Super Lawyers in 2014 and 2015.  He was also selected by Lawdragon for its 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide (2026), as featured in Lawdragon’s The Plaintiff Issue magazine.

Education

• New York University School of Law (J.D., 2005)
• Bates College (B.A., Economics, 1997)

Experience

• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys in the seminal oversight derivative action captioned Ontario Provincial Council of Carpenters’ Pension Trust Fund v. S. Robson Walton, No. 2021-0827 (Del. Ch.), which alleged that Walmart officers and directors put corporate profits ahead of their legal obligations to help control the diversion of opioids. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the complaint was mostly denied in two landmark opinions in April 2023. Ontario Provincial Council of Carpenters’ Pension Trust Fund v. S. Robson Walton, No. 2021-0827-JTL, 2023 WL 2904946 (Del. Ch. Apr. 12, 2023); 2023 WL 3093500 (Del. Ch. Apr. 26, 2023). The $123 million settlement achieved in this case was the second largest oversight claim recovery in the Court of Chancery’s history, and the largest for an oversight claim following formation of a special litigation committee.
• Co-lead counsel in the Emergent BioSolutions derivative litigation, which alleged that the company’s board and management utterly failed to implement and oversee Covid-19 vaccine quality-control systems, leading to a $15 million settlement. In re Emergent BioSolutions Inc. Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2021 0974 MTZ (Del. Ch.)
• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys representing co-lead plaintiff in a derivative action captioned Norfolk County Retirement System v. Smith (Sinclair Broadcast Group Derivative Action), No. 18-cv-03952 (D. Md.). Plaintiffs alleged that a merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Company was blocked by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) because Sinclair’s controlling stockholder proposed “sham” divestitures and otherwise “engaged in misrepresentation and/or lack of candor” with its regulators. The settlement included substantial corporate governance reforms along with nearly $25 million in financial recovery – including a rare $5 million personal contribution from Sinclair’s controlling shareholder. In approving the settlement, the court noted that “[i]n this case, plaintiffs’ counsel secured an excellent settlement that includes significant corporate governance reforms that would not have resulted from a trial on the merits.”
• Helped to lead the team that successfully expanded the types of materials that can be considered under § 220’s “credible basis” standard, leading to important decisions being issued, first by the Delaware Court of Chancery and then at the Delaware Supreme Court. See In re UnitedHealth Grp., Inc. Section 220 Litig., 2018 WL 1110849 (Del. Ch. Feb. 28, 2018), UnitedHealth Group Inc. v. Amalgamated Bank, No. 162, 2018 (Del. Oct. 26, 2018).
• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys and trial counsel in In re PHC, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, No. 1:11-cv-11049 (D. Mass. 2011), a case that was tried for nine days and resulted in a post-trial verdict requiring defendants to pay $3 million in disgorgement.
• Co-lead counsel in In re LastPass Data Security Incident Litig., No. 1:22-cv-12057-PBS (D. Mass.), an action concerning an alleged data breach that exposed data of more than 33 million users and 100,000 businesses worldwide. Achieved a settlement worth up to $24.45 million, including a first-of-its-kind process for recovery of stolen cryptocurrency by class members.
• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys representing institutional and individual clients in a number of cases involving mergers in which shareholders of the acquired companies received inadequate consideration. These cases include, for example: In re Bluegreen Corporation Shareholder Litigation, Case No. 502011CA018111 (Fla.) (first, increased merger consideration by $75 million, then settled for additional $36.5 million); In re TPC Group Inc. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 7865 (Del. Ch.) (increased merger consideration by $79 million); In re El Paso Corporation Shareholder Litigation, C.A. No. 6949-CS (Del. Ch.) ($110 million monetary recovery for El Paso shareholders).
• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys in In re: Columbia Gas Cases, C.A. No. 1877CV01343G (Mass. Super. Ct. Essex County), in which the firm served as a member of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee representing three residents of Andover, Massachusetts. The litigation was filed in the wake of the September 13, 2018, catastrophe in which the over-pressurization of natural gas lines caused widespread explosions and fires in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts. Thousands of residents were displaced and suffered significant physical and emotional injury. Plaintiffs’ counsel negotiated an extraordinary $143 million, non-reversionary settlement fund for the benefit of the proposed class of residents, property owners and businesses in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.
• Served as one of the firm’s lead attorneys representing a class of foreign investors who sought to obtain green cards by investing in the Jay Peak ski resort through the Federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, in Daccache v. Raymond James Financial, Inc., et al., No. 1:16-cv-21575 (S.D. Fla.), which resulted in a $150 million monetary recovery for defrauded limited partnerships.
• Served as a member of the litigation team In re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, No. M:07-cv-01827 (N.D. Cal.), which resulted in total settlements of $437 million.
• Member of the firm’s litigation team in In re American Home Mortgage Securities Litigation, No. 07-MD-1898 (E.D.N.Y.), which settled for $37.25 million.

Honors & Distinctions

• Ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a Massachusetts Local Litigation Star (2026) and as a Massachusetts Future Star (2021-2025)
• Named a Super Lawyer by Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine (2020-2025)
• Named a Rising Star by New England Super Lawyers magazine (2014-2015)
• Selected by Lawdragon in its 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide (2026), as featured in Lawdragon’s The Plaintiff Issue magazine

Admissions

• State Bar of Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Affiliations

• Boston Bar Association
• Boston Bar Association, Steering Committee on Multi-District Litigation and Class Actions

Education

• Member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Insurance Research

Publications, Presentations & Appearances

• Co-author of The Facts on SPACs: Why Wall Street Darlings Fell Back to Earth, NCPERS PERSist, Fall 2023
• Co-author of The SEC “Cools Off” Insider Trading, Directors & Boards, Mar. 1, 2023
• Avoiding Legal Disputes, presentation to the State Tax Committee of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, December 2016
• Co-author of Delaware Corporations Turn to Bylaws, Again, to Discourage Lawsuits Corporate Disputes, October- December 2014