Pamela Palmer is a litigation partner in the Los Angeles and Orange County offices. She specializes in complex business litigation and has extensive experience defending clients in securities class actions, derivative suits, merger & acquisition litigation, fiduciary and business judgment cases, and FDIC and SEC matters. She advises special committees and corporate clients in internal investigations involving whistle blowers, shareholder demands, restatements, insider trading and auditor-initiated investigations. She also advises clients regarding corporate governance, disclosure, indemnification and D&O liability coverage. Ms. Palmer's representations include Fortune-ranked companies, accounting firms and individuals involved in a wide range of industries, including technology, internet and digital media, biopharmaceutical, medical device, communications, real estate mortgage, financial services and banking.
Ms. Palmer has been recognized as a leading securities litigation attorney in The Legal 500 US 2007, as one of the Top 100 Women Litigators in California (Daily Journal 2009), and as a Southern California Super Lawyer in Securities Litigation (Los Angeles Magazine 2005-2012), and she is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. Ms. Palmer has lectured and published for many organizations and conferences, including the American Bar Association, the Center for Professional Education, ALI-ABA, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), the Knowledge Congress, Wall Street Lawyer and Aspen publications.
Ms. Palmer is Co-chair of the Derivative Suits Committee of the American Bar Association’s Class Actions & Derivative Suits Committee. She is a member of the board of directors of the Constitutional Rights Foundation and the Federal Bar Association in Orange County, the Advisory Board of Peace Over Violence in Los Angeles, and is an active member of the Forum for Corporate Directors. She is a member of Latham & Watkins’ Dodd-Frank Task Force and M&A Takeover Defense Group and serves on the firm’s Ethics and Finance Committees. Prior to private practice, Ms. Palmer served as a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Ms. Palmer’s client representations include many Fortune-ranked companies and span a wide range of industries, including wireless communications, internet, manufacturing, life sciences, pharmaceutical, technology, information services, real estate, financial services and banking. She has counseled on a number of regulatory matters involving businesses in the China region.
Some recent matters include:
- Beckman-Coulter, Inc. – Merger, Securities and Derivative Litigation – Defended manufacturer of biomedical testing equipment, directors and officers in securities class action, and shareholder derivative suit arising out of forward looking guidance and disclosure regarding product quality and FDA compliance; defended Company and board in multi-forum California and Delaware merger class action and preliminary injunction litigation following announcement of sale to Danaher Corp.
- First American Corp. – Derivative Litigation – Won dismissal with prejudice of derivative claims against directors and officers of a Fortune 500 real estate information services company; appeal pending. Defended directors and officers in a stock option derivative case
- Merger and acquisition defense - Defeated preliminary injunctions and TRO attempts and successfully resolved multi-forum merger actions on behalf of Clarient, Intermix Media/MySpace including court of appeal victory, Pan Pacific Retail Properties, Specialty Laboratories and Arden Realty
- Confidential investigation, SEC and PCAOB matters – Led numerous internal investigations on behalf of public companies, board and audit committees based on whistleblower allegations of alleged illegal acts, restatements, stock options, insider trading, legal compliance and internal controls, including international investigations, and investigations under Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes Oxley, and involving a wide variety of industries including energy trading, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, wireless communications, technology, software, life sciences, biotechnology and financial services