JODI E. LOPEZ is a partner in the Litigation group of Sidley’s Los Angeles office. Her practice has focused on complex civil litigation with an emphasis on financial litigation in the fields of securities and professional liability, including class actions brought by shareholders, suits brought by liquidating trustees, derivative suits and M&A litigation. She has handled cases involving allegations under the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Securities Act of 1933, state securities laws, common law fraud and negligent misrepresentation, professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. She has substantial experience representing major accounting firms and their partners and employees in SEC investigations, state board of accountancy investigations and Department of Justice investigations relating to, among other things, accounting practices, accounting fraud, auditing issues, internal control issues, restatements of financial statements, financial reporting and disclosures and insider trading. She also has significant experience representing public companies and their directors and officers in shareholder class actions and derivative suits, as well as in suits challenging the fairness of proposed mergers and acquisitions and the adequacy of disclosures made in proxy statements and tender offers.
Jodi has obtained several recent victories on behalf of her clients, including the following:
- Representing an investment adviser as the claimant in a 23-day arbitration involving testimony from 16 fact witnesses and 9 experts that resulted in a substantial arbitration award (including lawyers’ fees and costs).
- Representing a public company and its directors and officers, the court granted motions to dismiss both a shareholder class action alleging securities fraud and a shareholder derivative suit.
- Defeating class certification in a putative class action brought by shareholders against a public company and several of its directors and officers.
- Representing a private equity firm in a case involving allegations of fraud and negligent misrepresentation, the court granted summary judgment to the private equity firm.
Jodi has handled class actions and SEC investigations arising out of a broad range of industries, including banks, financial institutions, mortgage lenders, biotech, computer hardware and software, and medical equipment. She has addressed a wide variety of complex accounting and financial reporting issues related to loan loss reserves and other reserves, securitizations, valuation of financial instruments, derivatives and hedging, stock options, revenue recognition, expense reporting, barter transactions and internal controls. In 2020, BTI Consulting Group recognized Jodi for her work in Securities and Professional Liability Litigation by naming her one of their Client Service All-Stars. Jodi has also been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation (2017-2020). In 2010, she participated in the International Association of Defense Counsel’s trial academy, which is one of the oldest and most well respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills.