Practice

Adam Hakki is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Group. He has extensive experience representing clients in complex class action and shareholder litigation, government investigations, and white collar criminal matters related to securities, derivatives, financial products, financial reporting, accounting, ERISA, and major corporate transactions. He has led the representation of major financial institutions and hedge funds in many of the most significant litigations and government investigations affecting the industry in the last several years.

Mr. Hakki has been recognized as a national leader in his field by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, the Benchmark Guide, and the LawDragon 3000. He has been described in these publications by clients and peers as the “complete package,” “amazingly bright, with excellent strategic judgment,” “among the best partners under 40 in America,” “quick, well prepared and responsive,” a “superb writer, savvy and great in meetings,” able to “persuade on his feet,” “having a vast and loyal cadre of investment banks, hedge funds and mutual funds” as clients, and “an absolute pleasure to work with.”

Mr. Hakki has significant jury trial and appellate experience, frequently appears in Delaware Chancery Court on major corporate matters, and advises corporate and fund boards on crisis management, corporate governance, litigation prevention and dispute resolution, compliance, insurance, and disclosure matters.

• Representing Galleon Management in all criminal, S.E.C., fund wind-down, and governance matters arising from alleged insider trading at Galleon.
• Representing Merrill Lynch in all class action and shareholder litigation arising from its merger with Bank of America.
• Representing Amaranth International in all regulatory and class action litigation and governance matters arising from alleged energy market manipulation and the winding down of the fund.
• Representing Merrill Lynch in all class action and other litigation arising from Enron’s collapse, including the historic rejection of “scheme liability” by the Fifth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.
• Representing a collateral manager in an S.E.C. investigation concerning CDOs.
• Representing a major financial institution in a joint SEC/CFTC investigation into certain market practices.
• Representing major investment managers in alleged “pay-for-play” criminal and civil investigations related to state pension funds by the Department of Justice, S.E.C., and New York Attorney General.
• Representing Bank of America in the Amylin Pharmaceutical class action litigation challenging change of control provisions in debt instruments (so called “poison puts”).
• Representing underwriters, including clients such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and dozens of others in separate securities class actions arising out of recent stock offerings of companies such as MF Global, ING Groep, China Sunergy, Fifth Third Bank, Focus Media, EnergySolutions, and Rediff.com.
• Representing an investment manager in all criminal and governance matters related to highly-publicized federal bank fraud charges against a major campaign fund-raiser.
• Representing the lead defendants in all ERISA class action litigation filed by participants in Merrill Lynch’s retirement plans arising from the company’s stock price declines during the credit crisis.
• Representing a major hedge fund in investigations of short selling practices by the Department of Justice, S.E.C., and New York Attorney General.
• Representing Credit Suisse in all class action litigation arising from its strategic investment in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.
• Representing a major hedge fund in connection with the S.E.C.’s first investigation leading to enforcement litigation related to insider trading in credit default swaps.
• Representing a major financial institution in connection with the sale of its mutual fund business.
• Representing mutual fund advisors and directors in connection with two major class action litigations related to revenue sharing and directed-brokerage practices.
• Representing financial institutions and hedge funds in connection with litigation and disputes related to CDOs, CLOs, and other complex financial products.
• Representing a private federal loan company in connection with all securities class action litigation arising out of the credit crisis.
• Representing Merrill Lynch in connection with shareholder litigation related to alleged naked short selling and prime brokerage functions.
• Representing NBC Universal in preferred stockholder litigation related to a major corporate transaction.
• Representing Duane Reade in connection with securities class action litigation.
• Representing a major hedge fund administrator in connection with civil litigation, as well as S.E.C. and Department of Justice investigations, related to a hedge fund collapse and criminal charges against a money manager.
• Representing several “fund-of-funds” in connection with their investments and disputes with hedge fund managers arising from fund collapses and wind-downs.

Pro Bono

Throughout his career, Mr. Hakki has been actively involved in the pro bono representation of indigent criminal defendants. He is one of the leaders of a team that recently obtained the reversal of a death sentence on behalf of a defendant with mental retardation in Florida after a two-day evidentiary hearing.