Securities Litigation
Maya Saxena
Saxena White P.A.
msaxena@saxenawhite.com
Maya Saxena, co-founder of Saxena White P.A., has been practicing exclusively in the securities litigation field for over 20 years, representing institutional investors in shareholder actions involving breaches of fiduciary duty and violations of the federal securities laws. Prior to forming Saxena White, Ms. Saxena served as the Managing Partner of the Florida office of one of the nation’s largest securities litigation firms, successfully directing numerous high profile securities cases. Ms. Saxena gained valuable trial experience before entering private practice while employed as an Assistant Attorney General in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. During her time as an Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Saxena represented the State of Florida in civil cases at the appellate and trial level and prepared amicus curiae briefs in support of state policies at issue in state and federal courts. In addition, Ms. Saxena represented the Florida Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies in civil forfeiture trials.
Ms. Saxena has been instrumental in recovering nearly a billion dollars on behalf of investors. Recently, Ms. Saxena played a key role in obtaining a $320 million settlement against Wells Fargo & Company. The settlement includes a $240 million cash payment from Defendants’ insurers-representing the largest insurance-funded monetary component of any shareholder derivative settlement by over $100 million. Ms. Saxena also led the litigation team that settled against Wilmington Trust for $210 million, one of the largest settlements in 2018. Other prominent settlements include: Rayonier, Inc. ($73 million settlement), SIRVA, Inc. ($53.3 million settlement), Aracruz Celulose ($37.5 million settlement), Brixmor Property Group ($28 million settlement), and Sunbeam (settled with Arthur Andersen LLP for $110 million-one of the largest settlements ever with an accounting firm-and a $15 million personal contribution from former CEO Al Dunlap).
Ms. Saxena is a frequent speaker at educational forums involving public pension funds and advises public and multi-employer pension funds on how to address fraud-related investment losses. She is an active member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys (“NAPPA”) and co-chairs its Securities Litigation Committee. As part of her professional endeavors, Ms. Saxena writes numerous articles on protecting shareholder rights, and works closely with other NAPPA members to author, update, and publish a white paper on post-Morrison International Securities Litigation.
Ms. Saxena has been recognized in the South Florida Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar” as one of the top lawyers in South Florida, and has been selected to the Florida Super Lawyers list for ten consecutive years in a row. Ms. Saxena was also selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® four years in a row, as well as one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine. Recently, Ms. Saxena was named a “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer” by Lawdragon.
Ms. Saxena graduated from Syracuse University summa cum laude in 1993 with a dual degree in policy studies and economics, and graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1996.
Hannah Ross
Partner
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP
hannah@blbglaw.com
Hannah is involved in a variety of the firm’s litigation practice areas, focusing in particular on securities fraud, shareholder rights and other complex commercial matters. She has two decades of experience as a civil and criminal litigator, and represents the firm’s institutional investor clients as counsel in a number of major pending actions.
A key member and leader of trial teams that have recovered billions of dollars for investors, Hannah is widely recognized by industry observers for her professional achievements. Euromoney/Legal Media Group named her one of the top female litigators in the country (1 of 9 finalists for its “Best in Litigation” category). Named a “Litigation Star,” a “Top U.S. Woman Litigator” and one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in the nation by Benchmark Litigation, she has earned praise as one of the elite in the field. She has been recognized by The National Law Journal as a member of the “Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” list for two consecutive years and as a “Litigation & Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer,” and honored as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar” by legal newswire Law360. She has been named to an exclusive group of notable practitioners by Legal 500 US for her achievements, and to the list of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” and the list of “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” compiled by leading industry publication Lawdragon.
In addition to her direct litigation responsibilities, she is one of the senior partners at the firm responsible for client development and client relations. A significant part of her practice is dedicated to initial case evaluation and counseling the firm’s institutional investor clients on potential claims. Hannah is also one of the partners who oversees the firm’s Global Securities and Litigation Monitoring Team, which monitors global equities traded in non-U.S. jurisdictions on prospective and pending international securities matters. In that capacity, she advises the firm’s institutional investor clients on their options to recover losses incurred on securities purchased in non-U.S. markets. Hannah is the Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee and Co-Chair of the firm’s Forum for Institutional Investors and Women’s Forum. She serves on the Corporate Leadership Committee of the New York Women’s Foundation and on the Council of Institutional Investors’ Market Advisory Council.
Hannah was a senior member of the team that prosecuted In re Bank of America Securities Litigation, which resulted in a landmark settlement shortly before trial of $2.425 billion, one of the largest securities recoveries ever obtained, and by far the largest recovery achieved in a litigation arising from the financial crisis. Most recently, she was the lead partner in the securities class action arising from the failure of major mid-Atlantic bank Wilmington Trust, which settled for $210 million. Hannah was also a senior member of the trial team that prosecuted the litigation arising from the collapse of former leading brokerage MF Global, which recovered $234.3 million on behalf of investors. In addition, she led the prosecution against Washington Mutual and certain of its former officers and directors for alleged fraudulent conduct in the thrift’s home lending operations, an action which settled for $216.75 million and represents one of the largest settlements achieved in a case related to the fallout of the subprime crisis and the largest recovery ever achieved in a securities class action in the Western District of Washington. Hannah was also a key member of the team prosecuting In re The Mills Corporation Securities Litigation, which settled for $202.75 million, the largest recovery ever achieved in a securities class action in Virginia and the second largest recovery ever in the Fourth Circuit.
She has been a member of the trial teams in numerous other major securities litigations resulting in recoveries for investors in excess of $2 billion. These include securities class actions against Nortel Networks, New Century Financial Corporation, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”), as well as In re Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. Securities Litigation, In re DFC Global Corp. Securities Litigation, In re Tronox Securities Litigation, In re Delphi Corporation Securities Litigation, In re Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. Derivative Litigation, In re OM Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, and In re BioScrip, Inc. Securities Litigation.
Hannah has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the trial advocacy program at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. Before joining BLB&G, Hannah was a prosecutor in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as well as an Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex County (Massachusetts) District Attorney’s Office.
