James Smith Featured in Law360 Q&A Series

James Smith, a partner in the firm's New York office and chair of the firm's global securities litigation practice, was featured in Law360's Q&A series on March 15, 2013.

Mr. Smith discussed his experience in securities litigation, including the most challenging case he has worked on, Omnicare v. NCS, which presented a number of hurdles to clear. Mr. Smith also discussed impressive attorneys he has worked with and that there is no such thing as "over-prepared" in this profession.

In addition, Mr. Smith highlighted important issues and recent cases in securities litigation. He discussed the need for reform regarding the ability of competing groups of plaintiffs' lawyers to bring duplicative suits in at least three different jurisdictions – the state of incorporation, the company's headquarters state, and federal court – among which there is no clear procedural mechanism for coordination or consolidation. Mr. Smith also discussed two recent decisions that could serve to slow the "race to the courthouse" and create an incentive for plaintiffs' lawyers to proceed more carefully before filing a lawsuit.

James P. Smith III is a partner in Winston & Strawn's New York office whose practice areas comprise a broad range of complex commercial litigation, with a focus on M&A-related litigation and contests for corporate control, federal securities fraud class action defense, corporate governance litigation and advice, the defense of shareholder derivative suits, and state deceptive sales practices/consumer fraud class action defense.