Lex Machina Releases 2023 Securities Litigation Report

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May 18, 2023, 11:00 ET

Courts have seen a general slow-down in securities cases across the board over 2021 and 2022, including in shareholder derivative cases, cryptocurrency cases, and SPAC cases

MENLO PARK, Calif., May 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its annual Securities Litigation Report. The report examines trends in securities litigation in federal district courts and appellate courts. Focusing on the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, it surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on general securities cases, shareholder derivative suit cases, class action securities cases, cryptocurrency cases, SPAC cases, and securities appellate cases.

Lex Machina 2023 Securities Litigation Report Highlights

"We've been tracking a general increase in securities cases since 2016, and this report revealed some interesting recent changes in litigation trends," said Laura Hopkins, Lex Machina's securities legal data expert and editor of the report. "By looking at our data and analytics, we uncovered the beginnings of a slow-down in securities litigation over the past one to two years. Furthermore, our filters revealed this litigation pattern was reflected in several key subsets of securities cases including shareholder derivative cases, cryptocurrency cases, and SPAC cases. We look forward to continuing to monitor these litigation trends as they unfold in the future."

Highlights from the report include:

In 2022, 1,972 securities cases were filed in federal district courts, the lowest number of cases filed in any year over the past decade.
In the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, the highest number of securities cases was filed in the Southern District of New York, while Judge Andrews from the District of Delaware was the most active judge for securities cases.
A large bulk of the most active plaintiffs were individual litigants, while banks and financial institutions dominated the most active defendants.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented defendants in the highest number of securities cases filed in the three-year period from 2020 to 2022.
For securities cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2020 to 2022 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 25% were ultimately reversed.

$8.8 billion in total damages were awarded as Approved Class Action Settlements from 2020 to 2022.

Lex Machina's reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.

Securities Litigation Report Webcast

Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on May 18, 2023 at noon ET/9am PT with Colleen Smith (Partner at Latham & Watkins), Alexander Rodney (Partner at Kirkland & Ellis), Laura Hopkins (Lex Machina's Legal Data Expert in Securities Litigation), and Aria Nejad (Lex Machina's in-house counsel). Register for the event or view a recording: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2023SecuritiesReportWebcast_LP.html

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LexisNexis Legal & Professional® provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina

Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.

Lex Machina was named one of "Legal Tech's Most Promising Solution Providers" (CIO Review Awards 2022), "Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022" (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), "Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021" (CIO Review, 2021), "2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer" (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the "Media Excellence" Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.

SOURCE Lex Machina