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Sean M. Murphy is a partner in the Litigation Department of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. Prior to joining Milbank in 2004, Mr. Murphy was a partner in the New York office of Clifford Chance LLP, where he was a member of that firm's Securities Litigation and Antitrust practice groups.
Mr. Murphy's practice focuses on complex securities and antitrust matters. He has defended companies in class action and derivative litigation, often involving regulatory investigations by federal or state agencies. Mr. Murphy has been recognized as a leading litigator by a number of publications. For example, Mr. Murphy was selected in 2007 by the American Lawyer to the Fab Fifty, a listing of the top 50 litigators in the country under the age of 45. Legal 500 recommended him for securities shareholder litigation, recognizing him as "one of the best young lawyers in this area, anywhere in the country." He was included in the Lawdragon 3000, a listing of the top 3000 lawyers in the U.S., and was also profiled as a "rising star" in Lawdragon's 500 New Stars. That publication also elected him to its list of "100 Lawyers You Need to Know in Securities Litigation." Mr. Murphy also has been recognized as a leading securities lawyer in Chambers USA and New York Super Lawyers.
In securities litigation, Mr. Murphy has defended dozens of companies and financial institutions in multi-jurisdictional class actions on a wide range of issues under the federal securities laws, including claims under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He has extensive experience representing mutual fund advisers in class and derivative litigation filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, including management fee, conflict of interest, disclosure, fund distribution, 12b-1 fees and fiduciary duty litigation. He has represented some of the largest financial institutions in the country in complex securities cases, including Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, Capital Research, AllianceBernstein, American Century, Dreyfus, Legg Mason, Prudential and Waddell & Reed.
In 2005, he defended AllianceBernstein in a Florida state court action brought by the Florida State Board of Administration, the third largest public pension fund in the United States, seeking over $3 billion in damages. The Florida pension fund alleged that Alliance Capital mismanaged the fund's portfolio and breached its contract by investing in Enron. After a seven week jury trial, the jury dismissed all of the claims against Alliance Capital and awarded Alliance $1.2 million in unpaid advisory fees. The jury verdict was ranked one of the Top 10 Defense Wins of 2005 by the National Law Journal.
Most recently, Mr. Murphy represented American Century in Baker v. American Century Investment Management, Inc. - one of the largest mutual fund excessive fee securities actions ever filed. In July 2006, after more than two and a half years of intense discovery and only a week before trial, the plaintiffs voluntarily dropped their billion dollar case, admitting in official court filings that the case was without merit.
In addition to securities litigation, Mr. Murphy has substantial commercial litigation and antitrust experience. His antitrust experience involves defending litigation on complex issues including conspiracy or monopolization allegations, exchanges of information, deal structuring, trade association membership, and vertical agreements and relationships. He has also worked on antitrust investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, and has obtained regulatory clearance on numerous mergers and acquisitions involving assets of over $1 billion. Mr. Murphy has represented clients such as DuPont, Hearst Corporation, Nine West, Shell Oil and Tyco International, on a wide range of antitrust issues.
Mr. Murphy has spoken on a number of panels about complex litigation issues, and has written a number of articles, including "The Trial of a Securities Case" (1996), "Litigation Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act" (1997), "Recent Developments in Litigation Under the Investment Company Act of 1940" (2004) and "Mutual Funds Under Scrutiny" (2005).
Mr. Murphy received his Juris Doctorate with honors from Albany Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Albany Law Review. He received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from St. Lawrence University. |
