Movers & Shakers

Among the cases on which some of the new partners have worked include the Comverse Technologies options backdating derivative action, which resulted in a $62 million settlement last month; the Tyco securities class action, which led to a historic $3.2 billion recovery for shareholders; and the Brocade Communications case, which resulted in a $160 million shareholder recovery that has been reported as among the five largest options backdating class action settlements of all time. Barroway Topaz's expanding caseload includes shareholder, ERISA, consumer and antitrust litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, as well as litigation arising from the recent subprime crisis and resulting financial downturn.

Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson announces that Brian Johnson steps down as president and passes the baton back to Matthew Damon, another Halleland Lewis founding shareholder who previously held the president role from 1999-2001.

“Brian has moved our firm forward positively and helped us successfully weather some significant challenges over the eight years he has served as president. I'm appreciative of Brian's many great accomplishments and honored to help lead a firm that has positioned itself very well for the future,” said Damon, who simultaneously joins the firm's board of directors.

Damon is an original shareholder of the firm who has played a vital role in forming the firm's guiding principles, teamwork approach, and award-winning marketing style. Damon's law practice focuses on labor and employment, ranging from traditional labor matters, union-management relations, employment discrimination, and employment contract matters. He currently serves as a Board member of Artspace Projects, Inc.

Johnson served as Halleland Lewis president from 2002-2009. Throughout his tenure as president, Johnson consistently balanced his practice in product liability and personal injury defense, with his duties as president of the firm. Johnson has been a Certified Civil Trial Specialist since 1988 and a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 2002.

Class action and corporate governance law firm Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP has named six lawyers to partnership. The new partners include: Peter Muhic, Matthew Mustokoff, Sharan Nirmul, Karen Reilly, Benjamin Sweet, and Michael Wagner. The attorneys were previously associates at the firm, except for Mustokoff, who recently joined Barroway Topaz from the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he was a senior associate.

This group is the largest incoming class of new partners since the firm was established in 1987.

Among the cases on which some of the new partners have worked include the Comverse Technologies options backdating derivative action, which resulted in a $62 million settlement last month; the Tyco securities class action, which led to a historic $3.2 billion recovery for shareholders; and the Brocade Communications case, which resulted in a $160 million shareholder recovery that has been reported as among the five largest options backdating class action settlements of all time. Barroway Topaz's expanding caseload includes shareholder, ERISA, consumer and antitrust litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, as well as litigation arising from the recent subprime crisis and resulting financial downturn.