Financial Times Honors Ropes & Gray in Inaugural Edition of U.S. Innovative Lawyers Report

Ropes & Gray has been recognized in the first U.S. edition of the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers report. “To be ranked in the U.S. Innovative Lawyers report, a legal team needed to have exceeded client expectations in a market where those expectations were riding high,” the Financial Times editors wrote in the report, published Dec. 1.

Ropes & Gray was cited in the litigation category for its work on two cases:

• Freddie Mac securities fraud class actions: Securities litigation practice group leader Randy Bodner lead a team advising former Freddie Mac senior officers.  The firm represents this group in numerous securities fraud class actions and derivative actions pending in multiple jurisdictions, which together assert damages exceeding tens of billions of dollars. The Financial Times writes, “Reversing the trend for longer, more complicated claim documents, the firm successfully revitalized a 1930s rule that requires plaintiffs to file a plain and simple claim. A useful defence tool against a glut of sub-prime class-action suits.”
• Jones v. Harris U.S. Supreme Court decision: Securities litigation partners John Donovan and Robert Skinner led a Ropes & Gray team in a victory for mutual fund advisor client, Harris Associates. The decision established the standard governing claims of excessive mutual fund fees. The Financial Times writes, “Challenging the perceived wisdom in cases attacking the size of advisory fees charged by mutual funds, the firm convinced the Court to determine an action in favour of its client without a full hearing.”