Julia Alonzo

Senior Counsel

Julia Alonzo is a senior counsel in the Litigation Department with a focus on securities and corporate governance litigation. She is experienced in complex securities and white collar litigation matters, including federal securities class actions, derivative lawsuits, internal investigations and federal white collar defense.

Julia maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on immigration law, asylum and child welfare issues. In addition, she sits on the associate board of the Brooklyn Defender Services Family Defense Practice, which aims to provide interdisciplinary representation to low-income parents in Brooklyn Family Court.

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Supreme Court to Decide Whether Discovery Stays Apply to State-Court Securities Lawsuits This Fall

One of the most significant differences between bringing a securities lawsuit in state versus federal court is the application of the mandatory discovery stay set forth in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (the “PSLRA”). Following the enactment of the PSLRA in 1995, federal courts must stay discovery in securities-law cases until after a complaint … Continue Reading

SPACs Explained, in Five Minutes or Less

By Corey I. Rogoff and Julia Alonzo on February 10, 2021 Posted in Securities Regulatory, SPAC

In the financial world, 2020 was the year of the SPAC. During the past few years, many Silicon Valley start-ups were chomping at the bit to get listed and cash out via initial public offering (IPO). And in 2020, over half of the companies that went public did so using a SPAC. Exchanges are also … Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Consider Securities Class Action Issue

By Peter Duffy Doyle and Julia Alonzo on December 15, 2020 Posted in Financial Services, Securities Class Action, Securities Litigation

On December 11, 2020, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in a shareholder securities litigation against Goldman Sachs.[1] On appeal, Goldman argues that federal securities law permits issuer defendants in purported class actions to rebut the presumption of reliance where the alleged misstatements are of such a generic nature that they could not be … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit Rejects Adverse-Interest Exception in Fraud-on-the Market Securities Class Actions

By Julia Alonzo and Jonathan Richman on October 27, 2015 Posted in Securities Litigation

Last week, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that could affect analyses of corporate scienter in securities class actions. The court reversed the dismissal of In re ChinaCast Education Corporation Securities Litigation and held that a malfeasant executive’s knowledge could be imputed to his or her company when the executive acted with apparent authority. The … Continue Reading

Southern District of Florida Case Challenging Bylaw Requiring Minimum Stake to Sue Dismissed

By Julia Alonzo and Jonathan Richman on October 26, 2015 Posted in Corporate Governance

As we have previously discussed, there has been a growing trend of corporations’ adopting various types of bylaws to define the bounds of shareholder litigation. These include forum-selection bylaws (see here) and fee-shifting bylaws (now prohibited in Delaware for stock corporations as discussed here). A novel approach, utilized by at least three Florida corporations, is … Continue Reading

Demand Futility in Delaware Derivative Actions

By Julia Alonzo, Richard Spinogatti, Sarah Gold and Tanya Dmitronow on October 8, 2014 Posted in Securities Litigation

Introduction written by Tanya Dmitronow and Julia Pizzi. Full analysis written by Sarah Gold and Richard Spinogatti. Although they often involve overlapping issues, shareholder derivative lawsuits are fundamentally different from securities class actions. While the object of a securities class action is to hold the company (and, perhaps, its directors and officers) liable for harming investors and … Continue Reading

Of Wolf Packs, Plans and Pills: Making Puppies Out of Predators

By Julia Alonzo and Ralph Ferrara on September 22, 2014 Posted in Corporate Governance

Remember corporate raiders, green-mailers, and sharks? They have all moved up town and been embraced by ISS and its institutional investor clients as shareholder activists committed to corporate ‘‘reform.’’ Cheap capital and the expanded use of derivatives to accumulate enormous equity positions both quickly and quietly have fueled a binge that has more than tripled … Continue Reading

Important developments in U.S. securities law, white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement and other emerging issues impacting financial services institutions, publicly traded companies and private investment funds

Julia Alonzo