Elizabeth Y. Austin

LIZ AUSTIN is a business-focused lawyer with significant experience in the area of federal securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits, shareholder M&A litigation, M&A post-closing disputes, and class action and managed care and ERISA matters. Her practice focuses on representing public companies, corporate officers and boards of directors, and major insurers in complex litigation and regulatory matters. She has earned impressive and consistent results for individual and corporate clients in federal and state court, as well as in regulatory agency proceedings.

Liz is a member of SidleyWomen.

Prior to joining the firm, Liz clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Liz’s representative matters include:

• Representation of one of the largest land owners in Texas in obtaining a complete trial victory in expedited proceedings in the Delaware Court of Chancery concerning activist stockholders’ breaches of a voting commitment and standstill in a stockholders’ agreement, followed by an affirmance on appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.
• Representation of insurance company in class action filed in the Northern District of Illinois alleging breach of fiduciary duties, among other things, in connection with company’s plan of conversion from mutual to stock company form. Case dismissed in its entirety. 
• Representation of money transfer company in securities class action filed in the District of Colorado in the wake of company’s entry into a deferred prosecution agreement. Case dismissed and dismissal affirmed by the Tenth Circuit.
• Representation of multinational photography and imaging company in successfully appealing preliminary injunction orders previously entered in connection with a merger transaction and prosecuting a lawsuit against former merger partner seeking more than US$1 billion for breaching its obligations in connection with that transaction.
• Representation of the leading global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment in defense of state and federal shareholder claims. 
• Representation of telecommunications services provider and its directors in defense of shareholder challenges to its acquisition by a private equity firm.
• Representation of a leading manufacturer of coffeemakers and producer of specialty coffee in expedited merger litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court.

Liz also maintains an active pro bono practice as showcased through her work with the firm’s Political Asylum and Immigrants’ Rights Project. In addition to other matters, over the course of five years, she assisted a family from the Democratic Republic of Congo facing political prosecution through the process of securing asylum and ultimately successfully applying for permanent residency.