Ira A. Schochet has over 20 years of experience in commercial litigation, with primary emphasis on class actions involving securities fraud. Mr. Schochet has played a leading role in litigation resulting in multimillion dollar recoveries for class members in cases such as those against Countrywide Financial Corp., Caterpillar, Inc., Spectrum Information Technologies, Inc., InterMune, Inc., and Amkor Technology, Inc. In Kamarasy v. Coopers & Lybrand, a securities fraud class action, Mr. Schochet led a team that won a settlement equal to approximately 75% of the highest possible damages that class members could have recovered. The Court in that case complimented him for "the superior quality of the representation provided to the class." In approving the settlement he achieved in the InterMune litigation, the Court complimented Mr. Schochet's ability to obtain a significant cash benefit for the class in a very efficient manner, saving the class from additional years of time, expense and substantial risk. Mr. Schochet represented one of the first institutional investors acting as a Lead Plaintiff in a post-Private Securities Litigation Reform Act case, STI Classic Funds v. Bollinger, Inc., and obtained one of the first rulings interpreting that statute's intent provision in a manner favorable to investors. From 2009-2011, Mr. Schochet served as President of the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys (NASCAT), a membership organization of approximately 100 law firms that practice class action and complex civil litigation. Since 1996, Mr. Schochet has acted as chairman of the Class Action Committee of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association. In that capacity, he has served on the Executive Committee of the Section and was the primary author of articles and reports on a wide variety of issues relating to class action procedure. Such issues include revisions to that procedure proposed over the years by both houses of the United States Congress and the Advisory Committee on Civil Procedure of the United States Judicial Conference. Examples include "Proposed Changes in Federal Class Action Procedure," "Opting Out On Opting In," and "The Interstate Class Action Jurisdiction Act of 1999." He also has lectured extensively on securities litigation at continuing legal education seminars. Mr. Schochet has received a rating of AV from the publishers of the Martindale-Hubbell directory. Noteworthy Loss Causation and the Global Economic Crisis Contact by Counsel with Putative Members of Class Prior to Class Certification Ongoing Cases In re Massey Energy Co. Securities Litigation Settled Cases In re Vesta Insurance Group, Inc. Securities Litigation In re Countrywide Financial Corporation Securities Litigation In re HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. Securities Litigation In re DHB Industries, Inc. Class Action Litigation In re aaiPharma Inc. Securities Litigation In re Van der Moolen Holdings N.V. Securities Litigation In re InterMune Securities Litigation In re Veritas Software Corporation Securities Litigation |