Maeve O’Connor is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Securities Litigation Practice and Chair of the Firm’s Insurance Litigation Practice, and spent six years as a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She has significant experience in defending securities litigation and in representing life insurance companies in a range of litigation and regulatory matters.
She is recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA (2018) and The Legal 500 US (2018), where she is described as a “whip-smart, ferocious and superbly skilled litigator” and as an “outstanding writer and advocate.” She is also recognized as a “Litigation Star” and as one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in the IFLR Benchmark Litigation Guide (2018).
Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. O’Connor served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. H. Lee Sarokin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ms. O’Connor received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. She obtained her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Experience:
- MetLife, Inc. in multiple securities class action and derivative lawsuits challenging the company’s estimates of liabilities for incurred but not reported claims.
- The Special Committee and independent members of the Board of Directors of Dell in defeating requests for a preliminary injunction and obtaining dismissal of 26 stockholder class actions challenging $25 billion going-private transaction.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York in obtaining dismissal of claims for over $40 billion against the Bank by the largest shareholder of AIG challenging the terms of a rescue loan the Bank provided to AIG during the 2008 financial crisis.
- Prudential Financial and certain present and former officers and directors in securities class action and derivative lawsuits arising from the company’s practices with regard to unclaimed life insurance benefits.
- Directors and officers of Cablevision in a derivative lawsuit related to executive and board compensation.
- J.C. Flowers in the dismissal of all claims arising from collapse of MF Global.
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. and certain of its affiliates in dismissal of a class action lawsuit challenging provision of private mortgage reinsurance under RESPA
The former Chief Financial Officer of Hertz in a securities class action lawsuit challenging Hertz’s accounting arising from restatement of financial results. - Providence Equity Partners in winning summary judgment in a shareholder class action lawsuit arising from Providence’s $1.9 billion acquisition of SRA International.
- The Special Committee of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in multiple stockholder class actions challenging proposed sale of company to Sequential Brands.
- The Board of Directors of StanCorp Financial Group Inc. in multiple stockholder class actions challenging proposed acquisition of StanCorp by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company.
- Protective Life Insurance Company in multiple stockholder class actions challenging proposed acquisition of Protective by Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company.
- The Board of Directors of Capital One Financial Corp. in obtaining dismissal with prejudice of a shareholder derivative action alleging that the board members breached their duty of loyalty by consciously disregarding their responsibility to oversee the company’s compliance with various anti-money laundering laws.
Education:
- Yale Law School, 1995, J.D.
- Harvard University, 1990, B.A.
Bar Admissions:
- New York
Cost
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