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William J. Foley

Senior Associate

New York

William Foley is a Senior Associate in the New York Office and a member of the Securities Litigation, Investigations and Enforcement practice group.

His practice focuses on the representation of financial institutions, investment advisors and other public and privately-held companies in corporate and securities litigation, and other complex business litigation matters. In particular, he has wide-ranging experience representing clients in stock-drop class actions, shareholder derivative actions, M&A and hostile takeover disputes, and complex contractual and business tort cases before federal and state courts and the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Mr. Foley also devotes a significant portion of his practice to providing pro bono services, primarily in civil rights and immigration matters.

He has written and contributed to articles appearing in the New York Law Journal, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Financial Law Fraud Report, Bloomberg BNA, and Westlaw Journal. He was previously an associate with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.

  • Mr. Foley's representative engagements include:

    • Pfizer Inc. and certain of its directors in federal securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation relating to the marketing and sale of the pharmaceuticals.
    • The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of a leading satellite television provider in fraud and shareholder derivative actions related to an attempted asset purchase.
    • Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC in litigation involving breach of contract claims related the conveyance of an interest in a mezzanine loan.
    • A financial institution in connection with an investigation and lawsuit initiated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission related to alleged manipulation of commodity prices.
    • An investment management firm in CDO litigation involving allegations of breach of contract and gross negligence in connection with the management of the CDO’s underlying reference portfolio.
    • A military defense contractor in cases litigated in California state court involving significant contract disputes, misappropriation of trade secrets and related claims, including a lawsuit involving claims by former employees alleging breach of oral contract and unlawful termination.
    • Johnson & Johnson and numerous individual defendants in a federal securities class action pending in the District of New Jersey arising out of alleged product liability lawsuits.
    • Board of Directors of McKesson Corporation in a shareholder derivative suit pending in the Northern District of California regarding the Company’s prior settlement with government regulators over allegedly unlawful opioid distribution.
    • Akari Therapeutics PLC and related individual defendants in a federal securities class action in the Southern District of New York regarding Company statements about clinical trials.
    • A life sciences company in a securities class action arising out of the FDA’s rejection of application for marketing approval of a medical device.

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