WEISS LAW - Key Persons
Chancellor Allen of the Delaware Chancery Court approved a settlement and cited the creativity and sophistication of plaintiffs' counsel.
David is a principal and in the New York office and has been an advocate of investors' rights for over twenty years. Currently, Mr. Katz serves as the chair of WeissLaw's Corporate Governance Litigation Practice Group. He is a 1988 Graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is admitted to the New York State Bar, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits.
Mr. Katz has successfully served as the firm's chief litigator in numerous derivative actions involving corporations and issues of national prominence. When Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored public corporation entrusted with maintaining liquidity in the United States' mortgage markets, announced one of the largest financial restatements in corporate history, he successfully spearheaded the effort to recover the company's damages, recouping more than $100 million (Sadowsky Testamentary Trust v. Brendsel et al. f/b/o Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 05 cv 2596). When Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. was implicated in a bid rigging and business steering scheme, Mr. Katz served as the firm's chief litigator pressing claims on behalf of the company, which efforts were a material factor in securing payment of $205 million, and were instrumental in obtaining payment of $35 million to the company from its insurers (In re: Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Derivative Litigation, 753-VCS). Mr. Katz also represented shareholders seeking a recovery for First Energy Corp. in the wake of the nation's largest power-outage in history and the closure of the company's nuclear facility resulting from mismanagement and failures in oversight, recouping $25 million for the Company (In re FirstEnergy Shareholder Derivative Litigation, 03 cv 1826). Substantial corporate governance reforms were implemented for the benefit of the subject corporations and their shareholders in each of these cases.
In the securities class action field, Mr. Katz has successfully served as the firm's chief litigator in numerous actions as well. Mr. Katz was the firm's chief counsel in Levitan v. McCoy et al. and Bank One Corp., 00 C 5096 (concerning Bank One's acquisition of First Commerce), securing approximately $40 million. Mr. Katz also served as the firm's chief counsel in Daugherty v. Hastings Entertainment, Inc. (2:00-CV-160-J), recovering over $6.3 million for the class. He won the remand of In re Lernout & Hauspie Securities Litigation, 99-10237 (NG), from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, subsequently recovering nearly $4 million for the class. Mr. Katz served on the team that won the Ninth Circuit's reversal of the directed verdict entered at trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in an action concerning Everex Systems, Inc. (Howard v. Everex Systems, Inc., et al., 92 cv 03742).
Mr. Katz is a father of two daughters and his wife is an elected member of the Town of Mamaroneck Town Council. He is active in his community and a member of the Larchmont Gardens Civic Association.
Joel is Counsel at WeissLaw LLP and manages its California office. He received a Bachelor of Economics from U.C.L.A. in 1986 and his J.D. from Southwestern School of Law in 2007. Mr. Elkins is admitted to the Bar of the State of California and the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern and Northern Districts of California.
Mr. Elkins has broad experience in class actions and derivative litigation, assisting in the successful prosecution of dozens of shareholder and consumer class actions, including serving as lead counsel in the published decision of Kowalsky v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 771 F. Supp.2d 1156 (N.D. Cal. 2011). During and following law school, Mr. Elkins performed pro bono work at Bet Tzedek Legal Services and currently volunteers at Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.
Joe founded Weiss Law and oversaw virtually all of the firm's litigation, taking an active role in case analysis, the drafting of pleadings and briefs, oral arguments, mediations and settlement negotiations. He has been recognized by courts throughout the nation as one of the leading practitioners representing investors in securities class and derivative litigation. Moreover, he has earned the respect of his peers and adversaries as possessing the highest professional standards and outstanding legal acumen. The firm has consistently ranked as amongst the leading plaintiffs law firms in the United States.
Mr. Weiss is a 1972 graduate of Columbia University Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He is also a 1972 graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Business from which he obtained a Masters in Business Administration. Mr. Weiss is a member of the Bar of the State of New York and is admitted to practice in the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Courts of Appeal for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Ninth and Federal Circuits, and has been admitted to practice in numerous other federal and state courts.
Among the more prominent of Mr. Weiss' cases is Jordan v. California Department of Motor Vehicles, No. 95 AS 03903 (Sacramento, Cal.), where the firm recovered $665 million - payment in full plus interest - on behalf of motorists who paid a "smog impact fee." Mr. Weiss also recovered $42 million in cash for Apria investors after more than four years of vigorous litigation regarding a sophisticated accounting fraud (In re Apria Healthcare Group Securities Litigation, No. 797060) in California Superior Court.
Mr. Weiss has been involved in the litigation of numerous other cases of national stature such as In re Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 02 cv 6273 (JES) and In re Global Crossing, Ltd. Securities and "ERISA" Litigation, No. 02 cv 910 (GEL), both in the Southern District of New York. He has also spearheaded derivative litigations on behalf of his clients aimed at reforming corporate malfeasance, breaches of fiduciary duties and other wrongdoing by the boards of some of the largest corporations in the world, including Hewlett Packard Company (In re Hewlett-Packard Company Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2428 (VCN), Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware), BP p.l.c. (In re BP p.l.c. Derivative Litigation, No. 06 cv 6168 (HB), Southern District of New York), Royal Dutch Shell (Soojian et al. v. Jacobs et al. f/b/o Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, No. 04 cv 03603, District of New Jersey), The Bank of New York (Zucker v. Bacon et al. f/b/o The Bank of New York Company Inc., No. 00/106275, New York County Supreme Court) and Freddie Mac (Sadowsky Testamentary Trust v. Brendsel et al. f/b/o Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, No. 05 cv 2596, Southern District of New York).
Mr. Weiss is active in community, educational and philanthropic causes and is a member of the International Board of Governors of the Mesorah Heritage Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Managing Partner of the Firm
Joshua is the Managing Partner of the Firm, taking an active role in the analysis and strategy of Weiss Law's varied cases. He received a Bachelor of Talmudic Law from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in 2002 and his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2005. Mr. Rubin is admitted to the New York and New Jersey State Bars, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the District of Colorado, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second and Tenth Circuits.
Mark is a principal in the New York office. He graduated Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1993, magna cum laude, where he was an Alexander Fellow and a Staff Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. He is admitted to the New York and New Jersey State Bars, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He has also been admitted in other courts throughout the nation for particular cases. He has litigated all aspects of numerous class, shareholder, derivative and consumer class actions in both trial and appellate courts.
Michael is a Principal in the Atlanta office. He received a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999 and his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 2003. Mr. Rogovin is admitted to the Bar of the States of New York and Georgia and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Northern District of Georgia.
Mr. Rogovin chairs Weiss Law's Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation Group and has appeared in courts throughout the country, including the Delaware Court of Chancery, on numerous occasions on behalf of stockholders in merger & acquisition lawsuits.
Mr. Rogovin has litigated a broad spectrum of complex class actions including securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions in federal and state courts. He has served on the firm's litigation team in numerous derivative actions involving corporations and issues of national prominence. When Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored public corporation entrusted with maintaining liquidity in the United States' mortgage markets, announced one of the largest financial restatements in corporate history, he successfully assisted in the effort to recover the company's damages, recouping more than $100 million (Sadowsky Testamentary Trust v. Brendsel et al. f/b/o Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 05 cv 2596).