Nicole Lavallee

Practice Areas

Nicole Lavallee is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and the managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office. She has been litigating securities fraud and derivative claims since 1994, many on behalf of public pension funds. She is the primary contact for numerous firm public pension clients. Her work has been instrumental to building the San Francisco office of Berman Tabacco —recognized as one of Benchmark Litigation’s Top 10 Plaintiffs firm for the firm’s work “on behalf of individuals and institutions who have suffered financial harm due to violations of securities or antitrust laws” in Benchmark Litigation’s 2017-2023 editions, wherein the firm received the highest rating of “Highly Recommended.”

Ms. Lavallee was one of the lead attorneys 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 in 2015—one of the largest private MBS class recoveries and the largest where the issuer bank was in bankruptcy. The IndyMac settlement was 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 defences.

By contrast, nearly all other MBS class action settlements included claims against the MBS issuer, which is held to a strict liability standard for which there is no due diligence.

In addition, Ms. Lavallee was the firm’s partner handling the day-to-day prosecution of numerous other cases including: (i) In re KLA-Tencor Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 06-cv-04065 (N.D. Cal.), an options-backdating class action, representing co-lead plaintiff the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System, which settled for $65 million and earned praise from the Honourable Charles R. Breyer for “working very hard” in exchange for an “extraordinarily reasonable” fee. “I appreciate the fact that you’ve done an outstanding job, and you’ve been entirely reasonable in what you've done”; (ii) In re International Rectifier Sec. Litig., No. 07-cv-02544 (C.D. Cal.), on behalf of the co-lead plaintiff Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension Fund, alleging manipulation of the company’s financial results, which settled for $90 million in 2009 and earned praise from the Honourable John F. Walter who stated that “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”; (iii) the derivative action alleging Delaware breach of fiduciary duty law and violations of California insider trading laws against Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, captioned Oracle Cases, Coordination Proceeding, Special Title (Rule 1550(b)), No. JCCP 4180 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Mateo Cty.), in which, after almost five years of litigation and near the eve of trial, plaintiffs obtained a settlement whereby Mr. Ellison personally made charitable donation of $100 million in Oracle’s name to an institution approved by Oracle and paid plaintiffs ‘attorney’s fees and expenses; the judge praised her work stating: “... [Ms.] Lavallee, I just want to tell you I thought your [summary judgment] brief was excellent. ”

Currently, Ms. Lavallee is a lead partner at Berman Tabacco on several class action securities fraud cases. She is currently one of the lead partners overseeing several securities class actions on behalf of public pension fund clients including, In re Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 18-cv-04993-NRB (S.D.N.Y.) (settlements of $29.8 million approved; additional settlements with the two remaining individual defendants for $11,949,999 pending preliminary approval); and Hayden v. Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc., etal., No. 3:20-cv-00367-VC (N.D. Cal.). ($17.5 million). She also oversaw two securities class action on behalf of public pension fund clients that recently settled, subject to court approval: In re Aqua Metals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 4:17-CV-07142-HSG (N.D. Cal.) ($7 million); and Koch v. Healthcare Services Group, Inc., No. 19-cv-1227-ER (E.D. Pa.) ($16.8 million).

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)

Awards

Ms. Lavallee has been ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a California State Litigation Star (2020-2023), San Francisco Litigation Star (2020-2023), Noted Star (Plaintiff Work, Securities) (2019-2020). She was also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation-Securities (2021-2023) and in Northern California Best Lawyers for Litigation-Securities (2021-2023). She has also been ranked as a Recommended Attorney in Securities Litigation by The Legal 500 (U.S. edition 2017-2022). She was ranked as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal in 2020. In 2021, she was included on the Top 50 Women and the Top 100 lists of attorneys in California by Northern California Super Lawyers magazine, where she has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in securities litigation (2017-2022) and was featured in San Francisco Magazine’s Top Women Attorneys in Northern California (2017-2022). She is AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and was selected for the Martindale-Hubbell® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™. Martindale-Hubbell® also selected her as a Top-Rated Litigator (2019) and as one of its Women Leaders in Law (2021). She was also selected by Law dragon for its 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide (2019-2022), as featured in Law dragon’s The Plaintiff Issue magazine (2020-2021).

Professional Memberships

Ms. Lavallee also is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Bar Association of San Francisco, where Ms. Lavallee is a member of the Steering Committee for the Barristers’ Association of San Francisco’s Women’s Impact Network: No Glass Ceiling 2.0 (“WIN”).

Publications

Ms. Lavallee has presented on securities litigation, settlements, and class action matters for various groups, including presentations in the last few years with The Knowledge Group, the National Consumer Law Center, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and WiSE (Women in Securities). She has also published numerous articles on securities litigation over the years.

Personal

Ms. Lavallee serves as co-chair of the Board of Trustees for an independent school.