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    Home /  Lawyers /  Robert A. Sacks

    Robert A. Sacks

    Partner

    Robert A. Sacks Headshot Photo Portrait backdrop

    Los Angeles

    +1-310-712-6640

    New York

    +1-212-558-4880

    |

    sacksr@sullcrom.com

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    Robert Sacks is a partner in S&C’s Los Angeles office and is responsible for the Firm’s litigation practice on the West Coast.

    For more than 35 years, Mr. Sacks has successfully represented many of the largest and most influential businesses and prominent individuals in complex business disputes of all types. He has extensive experience in all phases of complex litigation and regularly advises clients in the areas of securities and other class action litigation, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, contractual disputes, the obligations of corporate officers and directors, SEC and internal corporate investigations, and intellectual property.

    Mr. Sacks appears in federal and state courts throughout the United States, in proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, and in arbitrations and other types of private dispute resolution proceedings.

    In recent years, Mr. Sacks has tried multiple cases, including several jury trials, non-jury trials in Delaware and California, and a trial before a three-person FINRA hearing panel. He also has handled numerous appeals, including in the Ninth, Second, D.C. and Federal Circuits, California Court of Appeals, New York Appellate Division and Delaware Supreme Court.

    Community Service

    • Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, Scripps College (Claremont, CA)
    • Board Member and Member of the Executive Committee, Constitutional Rights Foundation
    • Former Board Member and former President, Western Justice Center
    • Former member of Boards of Village School and Legal Aid Foundation
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    Spotlight

    S&C Prevails for AT&T as Second Circuit Rejects Shareholder Suit

    Read More

    Robert Sacks recognized as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark.

    Read More

    S&C Prevails at Trial in Real Estate Loan Dispute

    Read More
    • Experience
    • Rankings and Recognitions
    • News
    • Publications, Videos and Podcasts
    • Credentials
    • Related Practices
    Experience

    Experience

    Selected Cases: Securities, M&A and General Commercial Litigation

    • JPMorgan Chase as national coordinating and direct counsel in numerous litigations, investigations and settlements related to residential mortgage-backed securities
    • VeriFone Systems, Inc. in class and derivative litigation and SEC and criminal investigations relating to a restatement and $2 billion stock drop
    • Syntel and its former directors in class litigation arising out of Syntel’s sale to Atos
    • CIM Group in Delaware Chancery Court litigation relating to Cantor Commercial Real Estate, L.P.
    • Stifel Financial in defending fraud claims by investors in a CDO
    • Goldcorp in securities fraud class actions

    • Special Committee of Dole board in class litigation over the buyout of Dole by David Murdock
    • AT&T in class litigation involving its acquisitions of Leap and of DirecTV
    • The CEO and Chairman of Activision-Blizzard in class action litigation over a transaction involving the restructuring of Vivendi’s ownership
    • A former director of Sears in defending claims by the bankruptcy estate seeking almost $2 billion
    • The former non-executive Chairman of Relativity Media in defending tort and fiduciary duty claims by a significant creditor of Relativity following its bankruptcy
    • JPMorgan Chase in litigation in federal and bankruptcy courts arising out of its acquisition of the assets of Washington Mutual Bank from the FDIC
    • Amgen in class action litigation relating to its acquisition of Onyx Pharmaceuticals
    • Amylin in expedited litigation in Delaware Chancery Court, and later in an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, relating to a proxy contest
    • DirecTV in appraisal litigation arising out of its acquisition by AT&T
    • Underwriters in litigation over various IPOs and other securities offerings, including King Digital, GoPro, Clovis Pharmaceuticals and Under Armour
    • Hycroft Mining in securities fraud class actions and related derivative litigation
    • Softbank in class litigation relating to Global Crossing’s failure
    • Lone Star Funds in expedited litigation arising out of its acquisition of Accredited Home
    • Goldman Sachs in various class actions
    • MRV Communications in class and derivative litigation relating to a restatement and historical option-granting practices
    • Philips Electronics in a multinational arbitration involving the development and delivery of a satellite broadcast system to Malaysia
    • Shareholder class actions relating to numerous other mergers, including the sale of Collective Brands, the acquisition of UnionBanCal, the sale of Hilton Hotels, and many others

    Selected Cases: Qui Tam

    • Thomas Weisel in a DOJ investigation and qui tam and class litigation relating to the Lance Armstrong/USPS Cycling Team doping scandal
    • Stifel Financial in qui tam litigation relating to municipal securities
    • JPMorgan Chase in a qui tam action relating to mortgage-backed securities
    • Philips Medical in connection with federal and California qui tam claims relating to the sale of various medical devices

    Selected Cases: Individual Clients

    • Real estate investor Richard D. Cohen in obtaining a favorable ruling in a federal bench trial in the Southern District of New York over Mr. Cohen’s personal liability for a loan obtained by entities he controlled to buy a San Francisco residential apartment complex known as Rincon Center.
    • Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a dispute with major league baseball and litigation with his former wife
    • An individual in defending claims, including under a limited personal guaranty, in New York and California for more than $100 million arising out of a failed real estate project
    • A former officer of Broadcom in criminal and SEC investigations into options backdating
    • The former CEO of International Rectifier in class, derivative and trade secret litigation, and SEC and criminal investigations relating to a restatement

    Selected Cases: Antitrust

    • BP in an ongoing class action alleging a conspiracy to manipulate gasoline prices
    • Stifel in actions alleging a conspiracy to raise prices of GSE bonds on secondary market
    • EnCana Corporation in multiple antitrust actions, including class action litigation, involving alleged manipulation of natural gas prices
    • Cablevision Systems in a class action challenging the bundling of cable programming
    • Technicolor in actions relating to a conspiracy to fix LCD prices

    Selected Cases: Intellectual Property

    • J2 Global and its affiliates in numerous infringement actions relating to electronic messaging patents
    • Collective Brands in trademark disputes with Adidas, Sketchers and K-Swiss over footwear design
    • Philips in the defense of publicized claims brought by Tom Cruise and other well-known actors for wrongful use of their likenesses in advertisements

    Selected Cases: Trials

    • Pabst in a November 2018 jury trial in Milwaukee against MillerCoors relating to an obligation to extend a brewing supply contract
    • JPMorgan Chase in a contested trial in New York state court over approval of a $4.5 billion settlement of mortgage-backed securities claims
    • Frank McCourt in a trial in California Superior Court in successfully defending a claim by his former wife to vacate their property settlement on grounds of fraud
    • Thomas Weisel Partners in successfully defending claims of fraud relating to the sale of auction rate securities brought by FINRA
    • Philips Semiconductor in obtaining a $16 million jury verdict in its favor against a manufacturer of one of the components in its semiconductor chips
    • An individual charged (and previously convicted) of first degree murder in the highly publicized shooting of a California highway patrol officer in obtaining hung juries in two retrials
    • The estate of the owner of NRG Barriers in a trial in Delaware Chancery Court in successfully defending against claims of fraud relating to the purchase of the interests of former minority stockholders
    • JPMorgan Chase in defeating the claims of numerous groups of creditors and obtaining confirmation in bankruptcy court of a multibillion-dollar settlement relating to Washington Mutual Bank
    • Amylin Pharmaceuticals in successfully defending claims at trial in Delaware Chancery Court relating to a proxy context
    • Kodak, as one of the three principal lawyers in a seven-month trial in the District of Massachusetts involving the extent of Kodak’s liability for infringement of Polaroid’s instant photography patents; the monetary award against Kodak was a small fraction of market expectations

    Selected Cases: Investigations

    • Thomas Weisel Partners in regulatory investigations into research analyst conflicts of interest
    • The former lead director of Banc of California in internal and SEC investigations
    • J2 Global in an internal investigation arising out of a whistle-blower complaint
    • A special litigation committee of Edison International addressing shareholder demands
    • The CEO of a reporting company in an audit committee investigation into accounting issues
    • A real estate company in an SEC investigation into placement agent payments
    • A former employee of Theranos in criminal and SEC investigations into the Company’s alleged fraud
    Read More
    Rankings and Recognitions

    Rankings and Recognitions

    • AmLaw Litigation Daily – Runner Up, “Litigator of the Week” (January 2022)
    • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – recognized as one of the leading lawyers in Commercial and Securities Litigation (California) (2005-2023), Securities Litigation (Nationwide) (2010-2017)
    • Euromoney’s Benchmark: America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys – recognized as a National Practice Area Star (2012-2023), a Local Litigation Star (2011-2023) and a California Litigation Star (2019, 2021-2023)
    • Lawdragon 500: Leading Litigators in America (2024)

    • The Best Lawyers in America – recognized for Bet-the-Company Litigation (2011-2024), Commercial Litigation (2008-2024), Intellectual Property (2008-2024), Corporate Governance and Compliance Law (2011) and Litigation – Bankruptcy (2012-2022)
    • Southern California Super Lawyers – recognized for Securities, Business and Antitrust Litigation (2005-2024)
    • BTI Client Service All-Star (2011)
    • Who’s Who Legal: Litigation
    • The Los Angeles Area’s Best Lawyers – recognized for Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property (2007-2009)
    • The Legal 500 United States – recognized for M&A Litigation: Defense (2016-2019), Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions (2016-2017), Securities Litigation (2007-2009, 2012, 2014, 2018)
    • Practical Law Company – recognized as a leading Dispute Resolution lawyer in the PLC Cross-border Dispute Resolution Handbook (2011)
    Read More
    News

    News

    • S&C Obtains Complete Dismissal of Antitrust Class Actions Against BP

      January 25, 2023
    • S&C Prevails for AT&T as Second Circuit Rejects Shareholder Suit

      December 16, 2022
    • S&C Prevails at Trial in Real Estate Loan Dispute

      January 19, 2022
    • S&C Obtains Dismissal of Securities Lawsuit Against AT&T

      October 1, 2021
    • S&C Reaches Successful Outcome for Pabst Following MillerCoors Trial

      November 28, 2018
    • Ziff Davis, LLC Completes $465 Million Acquisition of Everyday Health, Inc.

      December 5, 2016
    Read More
    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    • Trends in M&A Litigation Webinar

      Webinars October 15, 2018
    Read More
    Credentials

    Credentials

    Education

    • The University of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1982
    • Harvard University, A.B., 1979

    Bar Admissions

    • California
    • New York

    Clerkships

    • The Honorable William C. Conner, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 1982-1984
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    Related Practices

    Related Practices

    • Litigation
    • Antitrust
    • Bankruptcy Litigation
    • Capital Markets
    • Congressional Investigations
    • Corporate Culture, Workplace Investigations & Whistleblower Litigation
    • Corporate Governance Litigation
    • Criminal Defense & Investigations
    • Financial Services Investigations & Litigation
    • General Practice
    • Healthcare & Life Sciences
    • Intellectual Property & Technology Litigation
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Securities & Commodities Investigations Practice
    • Securities Litigation
    • Sports & Entertainment
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