Jane B.
O’Brien

Of counsel in the Litigation Department, Jane represents clients on a broad range of commercial matters, with a focus on complex commercial disputes, securities litigation, antitrust compliance and litigation, and data breach litigation, and regulatory investigations. Jane has participated in the defense of numerous class and individual actions in federal and state courts across the country, as well as Congressional inquiries and regulatory investigations initiated by the DOJ, the SEC, CFTC, state attorneys general and other administrative or regulatory agencies or bodies.

Jane’s recent representations include:

• Citigroup in multiple regulatory and civil litigation matters across a broad array of the company’s businesses, including an antitrust class action matter involving variable rate debt obligations.
• Morgan Stanley in multiple regulatory and civil litigation matters, including two antitrust class actions involving bonds issued by government-sponsored entities and corporate bonds, respectively, and a data breach class action filed in federal court and related regulatory investigations.
• IBM in an ongoing lawsuit seeking at least $2.5 billion in damages brought against its former semiconductor chip supplier, GlobalFoundries, asserting claims for fraud and breach of technology, development, manufacturing and supply agreements related to a long-term alliance IBM entered into with GlobalFoundries through which the parties committed to co-develop cutting-edge technology for complex semiconductor chips.
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the country’s then-largest orphan drug company, in a federal derivative action and a class action alleging misrepresentations and omissions about Soliris—a drug used to treat certain rare blood disorders.
• News Corporation and certain subsidiaries in a putative class action involving claims of exclusive dealing and monopolization and in two antitrust actions brought by competitors.
• Alere, a medical device and point-of care testing company, in a securities class action in federal court alleging material misstatements and omissions regarding numerous aspects of the company’s business operations and financial statements. The court dismissed all claims except those concerning the recall of a single diagnostic product, and dismissed all claims against one executive.

Jane also provides advice to financial institutions and other market participants with respect to managing risks associated with the anticipated cessation of the LIBOR benchmark in 2021.

Jane is a Co-Chair of the NYSBA Securities Litigation Committee, a Co-Chair of the DC Chapter of the Women In Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), a Trustee of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Jane was recognized in the 2020 - 2023 editions of The Legal 500 US as a “Next Generation Lawyer” in the Securities Litigation: Defense category.

In pro bono matters, Jane has represented clients in prisoners’ rights, asylum, race discrimination and post-conviction suits and has filed amicus curiae briefs in the United States Supreme Court and United States Courts of Appeals in significant reproductive rights matters. Jane currently represents plaintiffs in suits challenging the Missouri abortion ban and challenging a North Carolina voter identification law.