Practice Areas
Jesse Bernstein is Co-Chair of the Securities Litigation practice and a partner in the firm’s New York Office. He specializes in securities and shareholder litigation, including representing plaintiffs and defendants in individual and class actions involving the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and various state blue sky laws. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants in breach of fiduciary duty actions and shareholder books and records actions.
Jesse is one of the only lawyers in the country to have helped obtain complete defense victories at trial in both a securities class action and an individual securities action brought under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He was a member of the trial teams in In Re Tesla Securities Litigation and Blattman v. C3, which resulted in a complete defense-side jury verdict and defense-side judgment respectively. In addition to his securities trial experience, he has helped defend companies and individuals in securities and shareholder actions alleging billions of dollars damages, achieving favorable results for clients, including complete dismissals on motions to dismiss and summary judgment.
On the plaintiff side, Jesse has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved investors and shareholders, including some of the world’s largest institutional investors. Among his plaintiff-side representations, Jesse helped represent KKR and Canyon Partners in opt-out actions against Goldman Sachs and other bank underwriters related to SunEdison’s $650 million preferred offering that was led by Goldman months before SunEdison declared bankruptcy. He currently represents Hound Partners in an opt-out action against Valeant Pharmaceuticals and its former directors and officers related to the company’s infamous downfall in 2015.
Jesse also has experience litigating contract and real estate actions, including as lead counsel to a real estate investment management company in an arbitration alleging a breach of a finder’s fee agreement, which resulted in an arbitration decision in our client’s favor. Jesse also represented a client, pro bono, in a fraud and breach of contract action arising from an alleged multi-million scheme to defraud an apparel manufacturer; shortly after Jesse presented the opening statement, the Firm’s client was voluntarily dismissed from the case.
