Michele D. Johnson

Michele Johnson is a member of the firm's Executive Committee and the former Managing Partner of the Orange County office. She is also the former Chair of the office's Litigation Department and is recognized as a leading California litigator. Her practice focuses on securities and professional liability litigation, and she represents industry-leading companies, officers and directors, special committees and accounting firms in connection with:

Securities class actions
Shareholder derivative litigation
Mergers and acquisitions litigation
SEC enforcement actions
Internal investigations
Other complex, high-exposure litigation

Ms. Johnson’s recent representations include multi-jurisdictional litigation arising out of solicited and hostile takeover attempts, and investigations and litigation on behalf of special committees and boards of directors related to public company crises. She has represented pharmaceutical companies in clinical and post-clinical trial phases of development, energy companies in the post-Enron era and major accounting firms in professional malpractice actions. She has had significant trial experience involving product liability, unfair business practices, tax, trusts and estates, and insurance bad faith trials.

Ms. Johnson has practiced extensively before federal and state courts. She represented Alphatec Holdings in a securities class action, Mallen v. Alphatec Holdings Inc., et al., that was named one of the “Top Verdicts of 2013” by Daily Journal and affirmed by the Ninth Circuit in 2015. She was also recognized as a "recommended" lawyer for M&A Litigation by Legal 500 US 2015. Most recently, Ms. Johnson was included in the Profiles in Diversity Journal’s “Women Worth Watching."

Ms. Johnson has lectured and written on a variety of topics involving corporate governance, litigation techniques and securities laws issues.

Ms. Johnson has served on the firm's Pro Bono, Associates and Diversity Committees. She serves on the board of the Public Law Center and the Orange County chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.

Ms. Johnson's experience includes litigation arising out of the following transactions:

Corporate

Allergan in the US$53 billion hostile takeover attempt by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Pershing Square
AbbVie in its US$54 billion sale to Shire PLC
J.P. Morgan as financial advisor to Pharmacyclics in its US$21 billion sale to AbbVie
Broadcom Corp. in its US$764 million tender offer for Emulex Corp., including expedited suit against target board challenging poison pill and multiple proxy-related suits against hostile bidder
Multimedia Games in its US$1.2 billion acquisition by Global Cash Access Holdings
Quest Software in its US$2.4 billion sale to Dell, Inc.
MPG Office Trust in its US$2.3 billion sale to Brookfield
Beckman Coulter in its US$6.8 billion sale to Danaher
American Medical Systems in its US$2.9 billion sale to Endo Pharmaceuticals
Advanced Medical Optics in its US$2.8 billion sale to Abbott Laboratories
ev3 in its US$2.6 billion sale to Covidien
ICOS Corp. in its US$2.3 billion sale to Eli Lilly & Co.
AGA Medical Holdings in its US$1.3 billion sale to St. Jude Medical
Cougar Biotechnology in its US$1.0 billion sale to Johnson & Johnson
Volcom in its US$607 million sale to PPR

Securities Fraud, Class Actions and Investigations

Biomedical testing manufacturer – Successfully represented company and its officers and directors in securities fraud class action and derivative lawsuits following reduction in guidance
Managed care service provider – Secured favorable settlement of securities fraud class action following a restatement, involving allegations of misleading statements in connection with the company's IPO
Enterprise-class technology company – Secured dismissal of securities fraud class actions and derivative cases alleging disclosure violations and insider trading arising after earnings announcements
Medical device company – Secured dismissal of securities fraud class action involving allegations of misleading statements and omissions and breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with related-party acquisition
Specialty medical products company – Successfully represented company in securities fraud class actions involving allegations of insider trading and misleading statements in connection with a merger
Alt-A mortgage lender – Secured dismissal of securities fraud class actions and favorable settlement of derivative action and ERISA class action arising after subprime mortgage industry collapse
Merchant energy generation company – Secured successful settlement of securities fraud class action involving allegations of price manipulation and wash trades
Biopharmaceutical company – Secured successful settlement of securities fraud class action brought after FDA approval of company’s primary drug was delayed