The Securities Litigation Committee, whose diverse membership includes attorneys from both the plaintiff and defense perspective, corporate counsel, and academicians, strives to be an invaluable resource to those practicing or interested in securities litigation, arbitration or regulatory enforcement matters.

Our website provides information on a variety of securities-related topics, including practical tools and discussion of the latest issues in the securities field. The Committee's quarterly publication, the Securities Litigation Journal, which includes articles on matters of new or continuing interest in the securities area authored by notable practitioners and academics, is distributed to the Committee's membership.

The Committee also publishes an annual survey of Broker Dealer Litigation which is made available to Committee members and at the annual Securities Industry Association Compliance and Legal Conference.

Our members can also benefit from educational programs sponsored by the Committee and presented through the ABA by live audio teleconference, regional CLE meetings across the country, and panel discussions at ABA conferences.

On January 13, 2010, Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami announced a number of recommendations arising from the division’s vigorous self-assessment of its organization, process, and strategy.

On January 11, 2010, Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York issued another important decision regarding e-discovery and the appropriate level of sanctions for discovery misconduct. See Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of America Securities, 05 Civ. 9016, slip op. (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 11, 2010).

On the heels of the NERA Report, Stanford Law School's Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research have issued a study that confirms that 2009 was a slow year for securities fraud class action filings.

The study reports that only 169 securities fraud class action were filed in 2009. This number represents a 24% decrease in the number of similar suits filed in 2008 and a decline significantly larger than the one identified by the earlier NERA report. The number of filings in 2009 was also 14% below the historical average of 197 annual filings made between 1997 and 2008.

Earlier this month, NERA Economic Consulting published the latest installment of its bi-annual study on recent trends in securities class action litigation.

In its study, NERA predicts the total number of federal securities filings in 2009 to top out at 235, which represents only a slight decline from the 253 actions filed in 2008. While the volume of cases may have declined in 2009, this year's numbers still greatly exceed the 130 filings in 2006, before the start of the credit crisis.

On December 23, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit certified numerous questions to the New York Court of Appeals regarding whether Plaintiff-Appellant Marc Kirschner ("the Trustee"), in his capacity as the trustee of the Refco Litigation Trust, has standing to sue former senior managers of Refco, and its lawyers and auditors, who allegedly participated in defrauding Refco's creditors.