With more than 20 years of complex litigation and securities experience, Serena Hallowell has been recognized by her peers as a leader in the plaintiffs’ securities bar and a Plaintiffs’ Lawyer “Trailblazer” in 2019 by
National Law Journal for her work in securities opt-out litigation.
As lead of Motley Rice’s direct-action litigation efforts, and a leader of the firm’s securities fraud team, Serena litigates for some of the world’s largest institutional investors, including pension funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, family offices, and other large institutional investors. She also regularly advises institutional investors and public entities regarding recovery opportunities in connection with fraud-related conduct. She is actively litigating cases against Sotera Health Company, Meta’s directors and officers, Abbott Laboratories, and has recently resolved direct actions against Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Prior to her time at Motley Rice, Serena was the head of a direct-action practice and member of the securities class action group as a partner of a large securities law firm in New York. In that capacity, she was a key member of several litigation teams that achieved multi-million dollar settlements for clients, aggregating close to $500 million.*
Serena has also led opt-out cases against companies, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Perrigo Company, and Teva Pharmaceuticals, for a variety of institutional investors seeking to recoup losses stemming from alleged fraud-related conduct. With respect to Valeant, Serena and her team pursued claims under the New Jersey RICO statute and was the first opt-out plaintiff to successfully defeat a motion to dismiss those claims. Certain Valeant actions have since been resolved and in 2025 Serena resolved the last two Valeant matters she was prosecuting on behalf of two large institutional investors (under confidential terms).
Serena is a frequent speaker in legal circles throughout the country on matters related to securities litigation.
*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
•'Justices Should Acknowledge ESG’s Importance to Investors’ Law360 (June 2021)
•‘Don’t Forget the “E” and the “S” in ESG: Securities Lawsuits Are No Longer Only About Corporate Governance’ NAPPA Report (October 2021)
•'Mutual Funds Should Consider Shareholder Litigation,’ Law360 (Oct. 8, 2019)
•‘Around the World in a Decade: The Evolving Landscape of Securities Litigation Post-Morrison,’ NAPPA (Nov. 26, 2019)
•‘Emulex Highlights Greater Scrutiny of Issues at High Court,’ Law360 (April 25, 2019)
•‘China Agritech’s Positive Implications for Plaintiffs,’ Law360 (July 3, 2018)
•‘Direct Actions: A Path to Recovery for Foreign Purchases of Securities,’ The NAPPA Report (Oct. 31, 2017)
•‘Investor Recovery Strategies Following ANZ Securities,’ Law360 (July 12, 2017)
•‘Does ‘Dukes’ Require Full ‘Daubert’ Scrutiny at Class Certification?’ New York Law Journal (Nov. 25, 2011)
Awards, Accolades & Recognitions
Chambers USA
2025 Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Band 2
2024 Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Band 3
2020-2023 Litigation: Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Up and Coming
Benchmark Litigation
2020-2021 Future Star
National Law Journal
2020 Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar
2019 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers
Lawdragon
2019-2025 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
Securities Litigation
2019-2020 Leading Lawyers in America
Law360
2019 Securities MVP
2016 Rising Star
The Legal 500 United States
2016-2017 Securities Litigation
Super Lawyers
2022-2024 New York Metro Super Lawyers - Securities
Blog Posts
February 1, 2021
The impact of product recalls on shareholder wealth Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Christopher Moriarty
February 26, 2020
Decade in Review: Plaintiffs’ Litigation Highlights Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Joseph F. Rice
July 11, 2019
Corporate disclosure in the age of Twitter: Social media’s impact on pension funds Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Annie E. Kouba
News
April 28, 2025
The history and legacy of Workers’ Memorial Day
by:
M. Nolan Webb
March 7, 2024
A powerful question for International Women’s Day
by: Motley Rice
AV Preeminent®: The highest peer rating standard. This rating signifies a large number of the lawyer’s peers rank him
or her at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.
Distinguished: An excellent rating for a lawyer with some experience. This rating indicates the attorney is widely
respected by their peers for high professional achievement and ethical standards.
Notable: This rating indicates that the lawyer has been recognized by a large number of their peers for strong ethical standards.
