Breakout: Defend Your Company, Defend Yourself: Private Litigation Strategies

Private litigation risks facing directors, officers, and corporations are inevitable and increasingly complex. Securities class action lawsuits continued at a very high pace in 2018, and companies on U.S. exchanges were more likely to be the subject of a class action than in any previous year. Litigation against foreign filers listed in the US has also hit a very high rate. Derivative suits and the re-emergence of state court filings further add to the complexity as the plaintiffs’ bar continues to develop new legal theories and causes of action designed to maximize corporate and individual director liability. What can you do to make your company—and yourself—more defensible from lawsuits by your stockholders? What protections are available to you through risk transfer instruments like indemnification agreements and D&O insurance, and under what conditions do these risk-transfer mechanisms fail? This panel explores a series of cutting-edge litigation issues that can threaten corporations, directors, and senior executives, with an emphasis on practical strategies for minimizing and insuring against these risks and responding to litigation if the challenge arises.