Joseph S. Allerhand

Joseph Allerhand Co-Heads Weil’s Securities Litigation practice, and is one of the leading securities litigators and corporate counselors in the United States. Mr. Allerhand has more than 30 years of experience in shareholder class actions, M&A litigation, SEC investigations, arbitrations, and busted deal litigations.

Mr. Allerhand has argued and tried numerous high-profile cases in state and federal courts, and before arbitration panels. In particular, he appears regularly in the Delaware Chancery Court and the Delaware Supreme Court in connection with M&A transactions and shareholder disputes, including of late, the successful defense of Kinder Morgan’s $80 billion corporate reorganization of three publicly traded entities, Signet’s acquisition of Zale, and many other transactions.

Mr. Allerhand also regularly counsels boards of directors and special committees on a wide variety of corporate transactions and internal investigations. His notable recent experience includes:

• Successfully represented Fairway Group Holdings Corp. and its private equity owner in a securities class action and shareholder derivative litigation relating to Fairway’s 2013 initial public offering and subsequent disclosures. Obtained dismissal of shareholder class and derivative actions.
• Successfully represented lululemon athletica in securities class action and derivative litigation relating to alleged product defects in lululemon’s popular yoga pants. Obtained dismissal of complaints, affirmed on appeal.
• Served as lead counsel for Aéropostale in class action and derivative litigation arising out of disclosures concerning Aéropostale’s inventory and sales levels, and earnings projections. Obtained dismissal of derivation action, and settled class action.
• Recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for [email protected] bondholders in a series of multi-billion dollar breach of fiduciary duty and securities lawsuits against AT&T, Cox, Comcast and others arising from their role as controlling shareholders in the first company to provide high-speed internet access via cable modem.

Mr. Allerhand writes and lectures frequently on securities litigation. Most recently, he authored a chapter on “Defending Companies in Crisis,” which appeared in Litigating Securities Class Actions (Matthew Bender).

Mr. Allerhand currently serves as co-President of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and on the Boards of the New York Legal Assistance Corp. and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of New York.

He recently completed service on the board of UJA – Federation of New York, which in 2018 awarded him the prestigious Judge Joseph M. Proskauer Award for outstanding professional achievements and service to the community, and was one of the founders of the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan.

Admissions:

• US Court of Appeals 2nd Cir.
• US Court of Appeals 3rd Cir.
• US Court of Appeals 6th Cir.
• US Court of Appeals 7th Cir.
• US Court Federal Claims
• Eastern District New York
• US Supreme Court

Education:

• Columbia University (B.A., 1975)
• Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1978)