On July 24, 2024, Williams & Connolly secured a victory for Silver Lake before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a putative securities class action. Plaintiffs lodged securities law claims against BC Partners and Silver Lake relating to Intelsat. In September 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted defendants’ motion to dismiss. In April 2023, the case was dismissed for a second time, this time with prejudice. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision, holding that the Plaintiffs failed to meet the stringent pleading standard applicable to their claims. The court held that they failed to plead adequately that any of the defendants possessed any alleged material, non-public information at the time of their stock sales.

The Williams & Connolly team representing Silver Lake included Gerson Zweifach, Steven Farina, Amanda MacDonald, Lauren Weinberger and Jamie Wolfe. As a result of the win, the Williams & Connolly team received a shout out in The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week.”

Click here to read The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” coverage. Click here to see Law360’s coverage of this case.