PHILADELPHIA - (Business Wire) Spector Roseman & Kodroff is pleased to announce that Mark S. Willis has joined the firm. Willis, the partner who previously led the international securities practice at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, will head Spector Roseman
’s new Washington, DC office, as well as its securities and international business development group. He will also be part of the firm
’s senior litigation team. His outstanding reputation and extensive accomplishments are reflected in the firm
’s new name: Spector Roseman Kodroff & Willis, P.C.
“Mark and I were pioneers in the effort to protect the rights of European investors in U.S. and international securities fraud litigation and corporate governance disputes,” said Robert M. Roseman, chair of the international and domestic securities practice at Spector Roseman. “As a result of our joint venture over many years, Mark and I have represented European clients prosecuting some of the largest global fraud cases, including Parmalat, Converium/Scor Holding and Royal Dutch Shell. I am thrilled to make our partnership official.”
“I was looking for a firm where my institutional investor clients would feel at home,” said Willis. “Spector Roseman impressed me with its commitment to ethical, effective representation, its history of corporate governance innovations, and its strong international practice. Joining the firm will allow me to combine with Spector Roseman our previously separate domestic and international securities work in order to offer clients a broader range of legal services.”
Focusing his practice on investor protection issues, Willis has acted as co-lead counsel in In re Parmalat Securities Litigation, the largest fraud in European corporate history, where he and Roseman represent Italian, French and Belgian institutions. They represent a European institution leading the Converium/Scor Holding case, which recently settled for $145 million and is being resolved in New York and Amsterdam – the first trans-Atlantic settlement of a securities class action. They also represent a large European asset manager in the Royal Dutch Shell case, the first pan-European settlement of a securities fraud action.
A prolific writer on corporate, securities and investor protection issues, often with an international focus, Willis has authored, among other things: Admission of Securities to Official Listing on Stock Exchanges Within the European Union and the Subsequent Disclosure Obligations; A Brief Overview of the European Union's Efforts to Harmonize the Requirements for Listing Securities; and Company Laws of the European Union. Willis co-authored an article entitled “Corporation Code Sections 309 and 1203: California Redefines Directors’ Duties towards Shareholders” and wrote about investor protection issues in several articles published in the UK journal Professional Investor. His articles have also been included in The European Lawyer, Investment & Pensions Europe and Global Pensions.
Willis has been a frequent speaker at institutional investor forums throughout Europe and in the U.S. and Australia, addressing issues relating to investor protection through the U.S. federal securities laws and the importance of using corporate governance measures to push companies to put the interests of their shareholders first.
Spector Roseman Kodroff & Willis, P.C. is one of the leading class action law firms, recovering billions of dollars on behalf of investors, consumers, and businesses in areas such as securities fraud, consumer protection and antitrust. With U.S. offices in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, and affiliated offices around the world, SRKW and its global team help look after clients’ interests wherever they are impacted. The firm is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and also represents clients’ interests in matters abroad. Its reputation for excellence has been repeatedly recognized by courts, which have appointed the firm as lead counsel in numerous major class and derivative actions.
For Spector Roseman Kodroff & Willis, P.C.
Jennifer Bilotta, 215-793-4666
jbilotta@startoplin.com
