Dracena Partners, LLC, Et Al. V. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Et Al. 05-Cv
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1 Robert S. Green (State Bar No. 136183) GREEN WELLING LLP 2 235 Pine Street, 15th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 3 Telephone: (415) 477-6700 Facsimile: (415) 477-6710 4 Email: [email protected] 5 [Proposed] Liaison Counsel 6 Stuart L. Berman ([email protected]) Sean M. Handler ([email protected]) 7 Robin Winchester ([email protected]) SCHIFFRIN & BARROWAY, LLP 8 280 King of Prussia Road Radnor, PA 19087 9 Telephone: (610) 667-7706 Facsimile: (610) 667-7056 10 [Proposed] Lead Counsel 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 DRACENA PARTNERS, LLC, on behalf of ) Case No. C-05-1468-MHP 14 itself and all others similarly situated, ) ) DECLARATION OF ROBIN 15 Plaintiff, ) WINCHESTER IN SUPPORT OF ) MOTION TO APPOINT THE 16 v. ) ROBERTS GROUP AS LEAD ) PLAINTIFF PURSUANT TO SECTION 17 BRIAN M. NESMITH, ROBERT ) 21D (a)(3)(B) OF THE SECURITIES VERHEECKE, and BLUE COAT SYSTEMS, ) EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 AND TO 18 INC. ) APPROVE LEAD PLAINTIFF'S ) CHOICE OF COUNSEL 19 Defendants. ) ) Date: July 18, 2005 20 ) Time: 2:00 p.m. ) Dept.: 15 21 ) Judge: Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DECL. OF R. WINCHESTER ISO MOTION TO APPOINT THE ROBERTS GROUP AS LEAD PLAINTIFF Case No. C-05-1468-MHP EXHIBIT D FIRM BIOGRAPHY Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP, comprised of over forty-five attorneys, has specialized in prosecuting complex class action litigation for nearly twenty years. During this time, S&B has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of our clients and the classes they represent. S&B has developed a nationwide reputation for excellence, focusing primarily on the prosecution of securities fraud, transactional, derivative and ERISA/401K litigation brought against public companies, their officers and directors, and advisors. In addition, S&B has represented millions of consumers in drug litigation, product liability actions, credit card litigation and antitrust actions. Since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which specifically encouraged large investors, especially institutional investors, to partici- pate as lead plaintiff in securities class actions, S&B has actively and successfully represented public and Taft-Hartley pension funds, institutional money managers and investment advisors, hedge funds and individual investors from around the world in this important role. 280 King of Prussia Road Radnor, Pennsylvania 19087 610-667-7706 Fax: 610-667-7056 www.sbclasslaw.com ATTORNEY BIOGRAPHIES Richard S. Schiffrin Henry v. Sears, et al., Case No. 98 C 4110 (N.D. Ill. 1999): Schiffrin & Barroway served as Lead Counsel on behalf of the Richard S. Schiffrin, founding largest class of credit card holders in history. At stake was the partner of the firm, is licensed right of Sears and its newly formed affiliate, Sears National to practice law in Illinois and Bank (“SNB”), to retroactively increase the interest rates on Pennsylvania, and has been eleven million credit card accounts with outstanding balances admitted to practice before resulting from purchases made prior to the accounts being numerous United States District transferred to SNB. Schiffrin & Barroway alleged that such Courts. In his seven years of conduct violated the Truth-in-Lending Act, the National practice with the Office of the Banking Act and state consumer fraud statutes. After extensive- Public Defender of Cook County, ly litigating various aspects of liability, an additional nine Illinois, Mr. Schiffrin represented months were then spent determining damages. The extraordi- hundreds of clients in both bench nary complexity of the damage calculations required Mr. and jury trials, as well as appeals. Schiffrin and experts from both parties to develop, test and Mr. Schiffrin has also taught legal writing and appellate utilize a novel computer model to ascertain total damages for advocacy at John Marshall Law School and has served as a the class and individualized damages for each class member. faculty member at numerous legal seminars, including the Ultimately, Mr. Schiffrin and his partner, Mr. Kessler, were able Annual Institute on Securities Regulation, NERA: Finance, to negotiate a $156 million settlement, which represented Law & Economics — Securities Litigation Seminar, the Tulane approximately 66% of total damages. In approving the settle- Corporate Law Institute, and the CityBar Center for CLE ment, District Court Judge Leinenwebber of the Northern (NYC): Ethical Issues in the Practice of Securities Law. District of Illinois stated: Most recently Mr. Schiffrin spoke at the MultiPensions 2004 Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Mr. Schiffrin oversees . I am pleased to approve the settlement. I think it all aspects of litigation on behalf of the firm. Mr. Schiffrin has been recognized for his expertise in numerous cases, including does the best that could be done under the circumstances most prominently: on behalf of the class. The litigation was complex in both liability and damages and required both professional In re AremisSoft Corp. Securities Litigation, skill and standing which class counsel demonstrated in C.A. No. 01-CV-2486 (D.N.J. 2002): abundance. Schiffrin & Barroway is particularly proud of the results recently achieved in this case before the Honorable Joel A. The entire settlement fund of $156 million was distributed Pisano. This case was exceedingly complicated, as it involved without the filing of a single proof of claim form by any the embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars by former class member. officers of the Company, who are now fugitives. In settling the action, Schiffrin & Barroway, as sole Lead Counsel, assisted in Wanstrath v. Doctor R. Crants, et al., C.A. No. 99-1719-III reorganizing the Company as a new Company to allow for it (Tenn. Chan. Ct., 20th Judicial District, 1999): to continue operations, while successfully separating out the Schiffrin & Barroway served as Lead Counsel in a derivative securities fraud claims and the bankrupt Company’s claims action filed against the officers and directors of Prison into a litigation trust. The Settlement, which was recently Realty Trust, Inc., challenging the transfer of assets from approved, calls for the class to receive the majority of the equi- the Company to a private entity owned by several of the ty in the new Company, as well as their pro rata share of any Company’s top insiders. Numerous federal securities class amounts recovered by the litigation trust. The Court-appoint- actions were pending against the Company at this time. ed co-trustees, Joseph P. LaSala, Esq. and Fred S. Zeidman, Through the derivative litigation, the Company’s top manage- have retained Schiffrin & Barroway to continue prosecuting ment was ousted, the composition of the Board of Directors the actions on behalf of the litigation trust. In this capacity, was significantly improved and important corporate gover- the firm has filed an action in the Isle of Man, and has success- nance provisions were put in place to prevent future abuse. fully frozen more than $200 million of stolen funds from one Mr. Schiffrin, in addition to achieving these desirable results, of the fugitives, and are in the process of attempting to recover was able to personally effectuate a global settlement of all the money on behalf of the trust. In addition, Schiffrin & pending litigation against the backdrop of an almost certain Barroway is continuing to litigate the trust’s claims against the bankruptcy. The case was resolved in conjunction with the remaining fugitive. federal securities cases for the payment of approximately $50 million by the Company’s insurers and the issuance of over 46 million shares to the class members. 2 Jordan v. State Farm Insurance Company, Case No. 97 CH 11 Andrew L. Barroway (Cir. Ct., McLean County, Ill. 1998): Schiffrin & Barroway brought a claim on behalf of multiple Andrew L. Barroway, managing plaintiffs alleging that State Farm had engaged in fraudulent partner of the firm, received his sales practices by “churning” policies and marketing and selling law degree from the University of “vanishing premium” policies that never “vanished.” After sev- Pennsylvania Law School, where he eral years of discovery, motion practice and settlement negotia- was a member of the ABA Negotia- tions, Mr. Schiffrin played a critical role in resolving the action tion team. He is licensed to practice for $225 million in cash, dividend enhancements and other law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, monetary benefits for current and former State Farm policy- and has been admitted to practice holders. Schiffrin & Barroway also has achieved substantial before the United States District settlements in 20 additional cases alleging fraudulent sales Court for the Eastern District of practices by various insurance companies. Pennsylvania. Mr. Barroway fre- quently lectures on securities class Mr. Schiffrin has also represented defrauded shareholders and action and lead plaintiff issues and recently spoke at the 2005 companies in complex class and derivative actions, including Institutional Investor Hedge Fund Workshop in New York City the following: and the Public Funds Summit 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Barroway has been actively involved in all aspects of litigation on Huscher v. Curley, et al., No. 00 Civ. 21379 behalf of the firm, and co-manages the firm’s securities depart- (Mich. Cir. Ct., 2000) (In re Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc. ment. Of his numerous successful representations of shareholders, Derivative Litigation): the following stand