Accountants' Liability
The complexity of the financial world has changed in the past couple of years. Organizations of all sizes are ever more exposed to new trends in financial and accounting regulation, not just locally but globally. Orrick lawyers have decades of experience representing and assisting public accounting firms, including all of the "Big Four," in a wide variety of matters.
The broad range of services our lawyers provide to accounting firms provides us with a comprehensive understanding of auditing standards and accounting rules, the firms' structure, the business and regulatory environments in which they operate, and their strategic goals. Moreover, our lawyers are able to address issues that involve multiple practice areas or geographies in a comprehensive manner.
We have more than 30 partners and 50 associates and counsel who devote a significant portion of their practices to representing accounting firms. They work together out of 12 cities around the world and provide services in practice areas that include not only accounting firm litigation, but also securities litigation, white collar, insurance, restructuring, corporate, employment, project finance, real estate and intellectual property.
We work with accounting firms across all practice areas, with experience in:
 Complex Litigation
Our litigators have defended accounting firms against actions brought in state and federal courts across the United States, as well as in foreign jurisdictions, and have won complete defense verdicts in trials for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), Deloitte LLP and Grant Thornton LLP.
We work with clients from the beginning, allowing us to develop effective defense strategies before the first pleading is filed. We understand the legal issues confronting the profession and also have extensive experience in the application of the relevant professional standards, including GAAP, GAAS, PCAOB Auditing Standards and Rules and SEC regulations and interpretations.
Our litigators are also well-versed in securities law and have advised accounting firms with respect to the many issues posed, for example, by the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
We have achieved dozens of significant, favorable outcomes for our clients. Representative subject matters include:
- Securities class action lawsuits
- Professional malpractice claims
- State and federal wage and hour class action litigation
- Business disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, software licensing agreements and employment contracts
Our litigators have also advised accounting firms with respect to issues that transcend particular cases, for example, by conducting extensive internal investigations designed to identify potential issues and recommend best practices, by counseling firms on state laws and regulations affecting their practices, by assisting in the formulation of efficient and defensible e-Discovery practices and by providing counseling with respect to a variety of issues potentially impacting firm network liability.
Corporate
Orrick lawyers have been representing clients in their corporate financial market and capital market transactions for more than 70 years. We have assisted companies of all sizes in raising hundreds of billions of dollars through public equity and debt transactions of almost every imaginable variety and have been at forefront of securitization and structured finance. We also assist several of the Big Four firms in the U.S. and overseas with mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing and other transactional work.
Employment
Our employment group represents many of the most prestigious employers in the world—including the Big Four—in labor matters, wage and hour class actions, trade secrets defense and counseling on corporate transactions, both in the U.S. and in our offices abroad.
Insurance
Orrick's Insurance Group represents policyholders in coverage claims in the most complex coverage disputes. We frequently provide risk management counseling and insurance advice regarding some of the world's most challenging and important matters. We have handled such insurance matters for several accounting firms and have worked with forensic experts from the Big Four on many occasions.
Intellectual Property
Orrick's IP group advises and represents clients in patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, litigation, antitrust, strategic IP counseling, U.S. International Trade Commission actions, contentious licensing, patent and trademark infringement, branding issues, unfair competition, commercial disputes, Internet liability and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) interferences. In those matters, our lawyers often work closely with forensic experts and consultants from the Big Four firms.
International Perspective
We often represent foreign member firms in both U.S. and foreign litigation. With offices throughout Europe and Asia, Orrick is uniquely situated to bring our accounting knowledge to matters with cross-border significance. With the expected convergence of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards, as well as the further globalization of the economy, the international perspective is likely to become increasingly important to the defense of litigation and regulatory enforcement matters.
Parallel Criminal Proceedings
We are able to draw on the vast experience of litigators in Orrick's White Collar Criminal Defense and Corporate Investigations Group—which includes the former U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of California, more than a dozen former federal and state prosecutors as well as former SEC enforcement lawyers—in representing accountants in parallel criminal proceedings. These include investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, various federal agencies, state attorneys general and grand juries. Our comprehensive knowledge and experience allow us to provide outstanding representation to accountants, no matter what turn these investigations may take.
Regulatory Investigations and Enforcement Actions
When audit firms and individual accountants face potential enforcement investigations, administrative proceedings or related court actions, they need counsel who understand the complex legal and factual situations those matters present, such as the specific role auditors play in auditing and opining on an issuer's financial statements and the professional judgments that they are often called upon to make with respect to such issues.
Our lawyers have extensive experience in successfully representing accountants in SEC and PCAOB investigations and enforcement proceedings and investigations by state boards of accountancy. For example, Orrick represented a Big Four accounting firm partner in the first-ever PCAOB enforcement proceeding to proceed to administrative litigation. We also regularly advise firms on compliance issues under state laws and regulations governing the accounting profession.
Restructuring/Insolvency
The firm's restructuring and insolvency group consists of lawyers throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia who appear in formal bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings and out of court restructurings, and represent buyers and sellers of distressed debt and lender and financial institutions. We have extensive experience in defending claims against accounting firms by bankruptcy trustees. Our lawyers often represent or assist foreign member firms and their partners in their capacity as liquidators or receivers.
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