Directors and Officers (D&O)

Defending Director and Officer Liability Lawsuits

In today’s challenging economic times, corporate directors and officers are increasingly at risk for becoming targets of legal claims and lawsuits.  Officers and directors can be personally sued by shareholders, customers, members of the public, employees and other parties for allegedly negligent or wrongful actions performed as part of their corporate duties.  Beyond the threat of legal exposure and liability, these types of lawsuits have the potential to destroy an individual’s reputation and career.  

The lawyers in Kaufman Dolowich’s Commercial Litigation Practice understand the challenges of these types of claims.  Our lawyers counsel and defend directors and officers in state and federal courts across the nation as well as in arbitrations and other ADR proceedings.  Our experienced team of commercial litigation lawyers are committed to successfully resolving these claims in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Litigating a Wide Range of D&O Liability Cases

The attorneys at Kaufman Dolowich defend clients in a broad range of complex, high stakes D&O liability cases.  Our practice includes:

• Representation of directors and officers in shareholder derivative suits alleging breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, corporate waste and other causes of actions.
• Representation of directors and officers in connection with shareholder litigation relating to securities offerings which allege causes of action under federal and state law.
• Representation of directors and officers in commercial, securities and bankruptcy litigation in which officers and directors are named individually, including claims relating to “piercing the corporate veil.”
• Representation of college trustees in cases alleging violation of college policies.
• Representation of employers in industries of all types concerning restrictive covenants and trade secrets. 
• Representation of non-profit organizations, including cooperatives, associations, school boards, hospitals, and religious and charitable institutions. 

In every case that we handle our attorneys work to quickly and accurately evaluate the issues so that we can build a solid plan of defense.  We appreciate how disruptive accusations and legal actions against officers and directors can be and we focus on bringing these matters to a swift and favorable conclusion.  Our lawyers aim to settle these cases at the earliest possible stage when early resolution is in the best interest of our clients.  When a compromise is inadvisable or unattainable, our attorneys are fully prepared to litigate the matter in court.  We are recognized as first-rate trial lawyers who know how to aggressively prepare and argue complex D&O cases before judges and juries.