Seth Aronson

Seth Aronson defends corporations and their directors, officers, and professionals in securities class actions, shareholder derivative actions, SEC enforcement proceedings, RICO, and mergers and acquisitions litigation.

Seth is nationally recognized in his field and was recently named California Securities Litigation Attorney of the Year by Benchmark Litigation California and Los Angeles “Lawyer of the Year” for the second time by Best Lawyers in America (2013 and 2018).

Seth served as firmwide chair of the Securities Litigation practice from 2002-11 and as the managing partner of O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office from 2000-08.

From the trial court to the court of appeals to the US Supreme Court, many of the world’s leading companies in a variety of industries call on Seth to handle their most complex litigation, including Lockheed Martin, Skechers USA, Broadcom, E-commerce China Dangdang, Montage Technology Group, and Giant Interactive.

Seth recently argued and won a US Supreme Court victory for China Agritech in a much-watched securities litigation case, obtaining a unanimous Court decision that significantly narrows the tolling provisions established decades ago in the Court’s landmark American Pipe decision.

This victory will have a wide-ranging impact on securities litigation and on class actions generally, and Benchmark Litigation recently named it a National Impact Case. China Agritech v. Resh, 2018 WL 2767565 (decided June 11, 2018).

Seth is recognized as a “phenomenal” securities litigator by Chambers USA, owing to his “strong record of defending … shareholder class actions and derivative lawsuits” and “stellar reputation” as a “go-to person and a strong advocate.”

He has been named a “Top 100 Lawyer” by Daily Journal (“Around the country, he’s known as a perspicacious hard-nosed litigator who can go toe-to-toe with the most aggressive plaintiff lawyer”); is recognized by Best Lawyers in America (2006-17) in four categories: Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy), and Litigation – Securities; and earned the singular distinction of being selected as a “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in 2013 and 2018.

Education :

• Loyola University, J.D., 1981
• Ohio University, B.B.A., 1978

Bar Admissions : California

Court Admissions :

• US District Court for the Central, Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California and the District of Colorado
• US Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, Eighth and Ninth Circuits
• US Supreme Court

Professional Activities :

• Association of Business Trial Lawyers (1992-2002) (President, 2001-02)
• Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (2003-2008)
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (1993-2000) (President 1998-1999)
• UCLA School of Public Affairs (2001-2011)
• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Litigation Section Executive Committee (1999-2003)
• Chancery Club of Los Angeles, California (2016-17)

Experience :

• Trial counsel in defense of SEC enforcement action against former CFO of Basin Water, Inc., in US District Court. SEC v. Jensen and Tekulve, (C.D. Cal 2013)
• Several Chinese companies in the defense of securities class and shareholder derivative actions filed in US courts.
• Trial counsel in successful defense of federal class action securities case In Re: AST Computers Securities Litigation
• The Royal Automobile Club Limited and its directors in the successful defense of California litigation challenging widely publicized demutualization of the English company
• Various pro bono cases, including successful Eighth Circuit appeal on behalf of a plaintiff’s civil rights attorney in the Kansas City School desegregation cases.