Practice: Securities Fraud
Email: nporritt@zlk.com
Nicholas Porritt prosecutes securities class actions, shareholder class actions, derivative actions, and mergers and acquisitions litigation. He has extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of complex commercial litigation, including civil fraud, breach of contract, and professional malpractice, as well as defending SEC investigations and enforcement actions. Mr. Porritt has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of shareholders. He was one of the Lead Counsel in In re Google Inc. Class C Shareholder Litigation, No. 7469-CS (Del. Ch.), which resulted in a payment of $522 million to shareholders and overall benefit of over $3 billion to Google’s minority shareholders. He is one of the very few attorneys to have tried a securities class action to a jury, acting as lead trial counsel in In re Tesla, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 3:18-cv-04865-EMC (N.D. Cal.), which went to trial in January 2023. He is currently acting in In re QuantumScape Securities Class Action Litigation, No. 3:21-cv-00058-WHO (N.D. Cal) representing QuantumScape Corp. investors who were harmed by misrepresentations by management regarding its battery technology as well as lead counsel in Ford v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., No. 14-cv-396 (D. Neb.), representing TD Ameritrade customers harmed by its improper routing of their orders. Both cases involve over $1 billion in estimated damages.
Mr. Porritt speaks frequently on current topics relating to securities laws and derivative actions, including presentations on behalf of the Council for Institutional Investors, Nasdaq, and the Practising Law Institute. and has served as an expert in the areas of securities and derivative litigation.
Education
- University of Chicago Law School, J.D., With Honors (1996)
- University of Chicago Law School, LL.M. (1993)
- Victoria University of Wellington, LL.B. (Hons.), With First Class Honors, Senior Scholarship (1990)
Admissions
- New York (1997)
- District of Columbia (1998)
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1999)
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2004)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (2004)
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2006)
- United States Supreme Court (2006)
- United States District Court for the District of Maryland (2007)
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (2012)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2014)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2015)
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado (2015)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2016)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2017)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2019)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2019)
Mr. Porritt is also a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.
Publications
- “Current Trends in Securities Litigation: How Companies and Counsel Should Respond,” Inside the Minds. Recent Developments in Securities Law (Aspatore Press 2010)
Notable Cases
- Set Capital LLC v. Credit Suisse Group AG, 2023 WL 2535175 (S.D.N.Y. 2023)
- Voulgaris, v. Array Biopharma Inc., 60 F.4th 1259 (10th Cir. 2023)
- In re Tesla, Inc. Sec. Litig., 2022 WL 7374936 (N.D. Cal. 2022)
- Klein v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., 342 F.R.D. 252 (D. Neb. 2022)
- In re Aphria, Inc. Sec. Litig., 342 F.R.D. 199 (S.D.N.Y. 2022)
- In re Tesla, Inc. Sec. Litig., 2022 WL 1497559 (N.D. Cal. 2022)
- In re QuantumScape Sec. Class Action Litig., 580 F. Supp. 3d 714 (N.D. Cal. 2022)
- Set Capital LLC v. Credit Suisse Group AG, 996 F.3d 64 (2d Cir. 2021)
- In re Tesla, Inc. Sec. Litig., 477 F. Supp. 3d 903 (N.D. Cal.2020)
- Voulgaris, v. Array Biopharma Inc., No. 17CV02789KLMCONSOLID, 2020 WL 8367829 (D. Colo.2020)
- In Re Aphria, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 18 CIV. 11376 (GBD), 2020 WL 5819548 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)
- In re Clovis Oncology, Inc. Deriv. Litig., 2019 WL 4850188 (Del. Ch. 2019)
- Martin v. Altisource Residential Corp., 2019 WL 2762923 (D.V.I. 2019)
- In re Navient Corp. Sec. Litig., 2019 WL 7288881 (D.N.J.2019)
- In re Bridgestone Inv. Corp., 789 Fed. App’x 13 (9th Cir. 2019)
- Klein v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., 327 F.R.D. 283 (D. Neb. 2018)
- Beezley v. Fenix Parts, Inc., 2018 WL 3454490 (N.D. Ill. 2018)
- In re Illumina, Inc. Sec. Litig., 2018 WL 500990 (S.D. Cal. 2018)
- In re PTC Therapeutics Sec. Litig., 2017 WL 3705801 (D.N.J. 2017)
- Zaghian v. Farrell, 675 Fed. Appx. 718, (9th Cir. 2017)
- In re PTC Therapeutics Sec. Litig., 2017 WL 3705801 (D.N.J. Aug. 28, 2017)
- Martin v. Altisource Residential Corp., 2017 WL 1068208 (D.V.I. 2017)
- Gormley magicJack VocalTec Ltd., 220 F. Supp. 3d 510 (S.D.N.Y. 2016)
- Carlton v. Cannon, 184 F. Supp. 3d 428 (S.D. Tex. 2016)
- Zola v. TD Ameritrade, Inc., 172 F. Supp. 3d 1055 (D. Neb. 2016)
- In re Energy Recovery Sec. Litig., 2016 WL 324150 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2016)
- In re EZCorp Inc. Consulting Agreement Deriv. Litig., 2016 WL 301245 (Del. Ch. Jan. 25, 2016)
- In re Violin Memory Sec. Litig., 2014 WL 5525946 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 31, 2014)
- Garnitschnig v. Horovitz, 48 F. Supp. 3d 820 (D. Md. 2014)
- SEC v. Cuban, 620 F.3d 551 (5th Cir. 2010)
- Cozzarelli v. Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 549 F.3d 618 (4th Cir. 2008)
- Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana v. Hunter, 477 F.3d 162 (4th Cir. 2007)
