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Sub practice

Class Actions and Group Litigation

Allen & Overy handles a broad range of class action and group litigation, including securities law violations, financial services mis-selling, shareholder activism, antitrust follow-on damages and bankruptcy cases.

Our global team of litigation, securities and antitrust experts has handled and resolved class actions and collective redress cases in virtually every significant jurisdiction.

Our work includes advising:

  • A global financial institution on a series of class actions alleging manipulation and collusion in the market for U.S. Treasury securities.
  • A European bank in defence of U.S. class actions, clawback and damages claims in a European country and other litigation involving a cross-border tax-efficient structured finance transaction hedged with various derivatives trades.
  • A major financial institution in government investigations focused on potential manipulation of security and commodity-based volatility indices and trading of related financial derivatives, and related class action lawsuits based on Commodity Exchange Act and Sherman Act claims.
  • Mercuria Energy Trading, Inc. and Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. in the antitrust class action cases captioned In re North Sea Brent Crude Oil Futures Litigation. The complaint alleges that the world’s leading energy traders conspired to manipulate the benchmark price of crude oil.
  • A seafood products company in a grand jury investigation and class action litigation involving allegations of price-fixing.
  • Dr. Joseph M. Feczko, the former Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer Inc., in a securities class action brought against Pfizer and five former executives by a class of investors alleging that the defendants misrepresented the safety risks of Pfizer’s arthritis medications, Celebrex and Bextra.

News and insights

Exterior of a modern glass building

Publications: 31 March 2023

Class Action in Europe: impact on the Italian Consumer Code

The decree implementing the EU Directive 2020/1828 was published in the Italian Official Journal, thereby introducing representative actions, a new instrument for the protection of the collective…

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High rise buildings

Publications: 29 March 2023

Directive (EU) 2020/1828: A new framework for EU class actions

For many years now, the EU has sought to create a collective redress mechanism across the EU market. Half of the EU member states have little or no such mechanism.

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geometric aerial view of spiral staircase

Publications: 09 March 2023

New collective redress action for consumers in Germany

Consumer associations will be eligible to bring collective claims against companies for various forms of redress. The introduction of the collective redress action increases the risk that companies…

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Greater China, Lang Yue

Publications: 28 February 2022

Greater China Risk Insight: Looking ahead in the Year of the Tiger

The last two years have reshaped the global economy and socioeconomic policies, and have given rise to new risks and challenges. The world of disputes is also rapidly evolving. As we look back to…

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Compact contract

Wooden jenga blocks scattered across a table

A brief look at topical issues in contract law

A blog where experts from Allen & Overy analyse the latest contract law themes and developments, and what they mean for your business.