Joseph M. McLaughlin is a Partner in the Firm's Litigation Department. He has represented clients in hundreds of class action, shareholder derivative and other aggregated proceedings in trial and appellate courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court.  He is the author of the two-volume treatise, McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice (Thomson West 8th ed. 2011), which is frequently cited as authoritative in federal and state trial and appellate courts around the country, and for which he was awarded the Burton Award for Legal Achievement.  He successfully represented a London-based holding company as lead counsel at the federal court jury trial of a health care expense reimbursement action seeking multi-billion dollar damages.  Mr. McLaughlin also successfully represented the 52 limited partners of LJM2 Co-Investment L.P., a limited partnership formed by the former CFO of Enron, at a trial regarding the validity of the removal of the Enron-affiliated general partner, and was lead trial counsel in various other proceedings for the limited partners around the country.  He also has extensive experience representing clients in securities matters, including class and derivative actions, takeover litigation and has represented clients in all types of government and internal investigations, and related trial and appellate matters.  He is currently defending a leading investment bank against hundreds of securities fraud class actions in federal court in New York and Washington alleging securities fraud in connection with technology IPOs, in which he served as lead counsel for scores of defendants in obtaining an order striking the class allegations in eight of the cases.  He also represents a leading national retailer and its Board in multiple derivative actions in state and federal court, an international motorcycle manufacturer in a putative nationwide consumer class action, and the independent directors of an investment company in a putative derivative action alleging Investment Adviser Act and fiduciary duty claims.

His other recent successful engagements include representation of Petrohawk Energy Corp. and its Board in shareholder tender offer litigation in three jurisdictions arising from a $15 billion merger agreement, Toys “R” Us in Delaware shareholder litigation arising out of a multi-billion dollar merger agreement, representation of the largest professional dental products company in the world in a putative nationwide consumer class action, which resulted in voluntary dismissal of the class action, and his obtainment in Delaware of summary judgment on behalf of a leading oil and gas company, dismissing all bondholder claims arising out of a merger, and before the Delaware Supreme Court in obtaining affirmance of that ruling in 2008.  In 2009, he defeated an attempt by secured noteholders of the nation’s largest equipment rental company to enjoin a tender offer, and subsequently obtained dismissal of all claims.  In 2010 and 2011, he obtained the dismissal with prejudice in Arkansas state and federal trial and appellate courts of derivative suits against the Board of Dillard’s Inc.

He is a frequent lecturer across the country on class action, consumer protection, mass tort and corporate directors and officers liability issues, and his commentary on class action and corporate governance issues has been widely published, including in a regular column in the New York Law Journal.  Mr. McLaughlin is listed in a number of publications, including being featured as a Future Litigation Star in the 2011 Euromoney Benchmark Litigation survey, the Legal 500: Litigation's preeminent product liability and mass tort defense lawyers, he was named to Irish America Magazine’s 2011 Legal 100, the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell recognizes him as an AV-rated attorney.  He is Chairman of the Editorial Board of the monthly Securities and Class Action Litigation Report, a member of the West Publications Professional Development Corporate and Securities Law Advisory Board, a member of the editorial board of Class Action Reports and a member of the American Law Institute.  Mr. McLaughlin joined Simpson Thacher in 1990 and was elected a partner in 1997. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. McLaughlin served as a law clerk to the Hon. John F. Keenan in the Southern District of New York.

Honors/Associations

•	The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
•	American Bar Association
•	Recipient, 2005 Burton Award for Legal Achievement
•	American Law Institute

Publications

•	New York Court of Appeals Rejects Martin Act Preemption of Common Law Claims of Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Gross Negligence
•	Supreme Court Considers Tolling of Statute of Limitations in Section 16(b) Claims
•	McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice (West Publications 8th ed. 2011)
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Say-on-Pay Shareholder Litigation Yields Mixed Results
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: ‘Smith v. Bayer’: Decision on Class Certification and Preclusion
•	Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Loss Causation Proof Not Required to Obtain Class Certification
•	The Supreme Court Limits Rule 10b-5 Liability to Person or Entity Making Alleged Misstatement
•	The Supreme Court Rejects Loss Causation Requirement at Class Certification Stage
•	Supreme Court Finds the Discover Bank Rule Preempted by FAA
•	The Supreme Court Considers Loss Causation at Time of Class Certification
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Insurance for Attorney's Fees in Derivative and Class Actions
•	The Supreme Court Considers Implied Preemption of Failure-to-Warn Claims Against Generic Drug Manufacturers
•	The Supreme Court Rejects Bright-Line Rule on Disclosure of Adverse Event Reports
•	The Supreme Court Finds No Conflict Pre-emption Based on Federal Seatbelt Regulation
•	The Supreme Court Finds Design Defect Claims Preempted under the Vaccine Act
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Corporate Governance Developments
•	McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice (West Publications 7th ed. 2011)
•	Joseph M. McLaughlin, Jonathan K. Youngwood and Paul C. Gluckow, “Case Study: Matrixx Initiatives Inc. V. Siracusano,” Law360 (January 18, 2011). Christopher R. Kelly contributed to this article.
•	The Supreme Court Considers the Materiality Requirement in the Context of Drug Companies’ Disclosure of Adverse Event Reports
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Shareholder Derivative Litigation Developments
•	The Supreme Court Considers the Liability of Investment Advisers in Federal Securities Fraud Cases
•	The Supreme Court Considers Whether the FAA Preempts State Court Decision Holding Class Arbitration Waiver Unenforceable
•	The Supreme Court Considers Conflict Preemption Case Concerning Federal Seatbelt Regulation
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Determining Indemnifiable Conduct
•	The Supreme Court Hears Express Preemption Case Relating to Alleged Vaccine Design Defect
•	The Supreme Court Affirms the Constitutional Validity of the PCAOB; Strikes Down “Double For-Cause” Removal Provisions as Unconstitutional
•	The Supreme Court Limits the Extraterritorial Application of the Antifraud Provisions of the U.S. Securities Laws
•	The Supreme Court Rejects “Inquiry Notice” as Trigger to Start Running the Statute of Limitations in Securities Fraud Cases
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Guidance on SLCs in Shareholder Derivative Litigation
•	The Supreme Court Considers the Application of the Antifraud Provisions of the United States Securities Laws in “Foreign-Cubed” Cases
•	McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice (West Publications 6th ed. 2010)
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Sharing Work Product with Outside Auditors
•	The Supreme Court Considers the Constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
•	The Supreme Court Considers the ‘Inquiry Notice’ Standard in Federal Securities Fraud Cases
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Delaware Records Inspection Litigation and U.S. Securities Law
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Developments in the Ongoing Insider Trading Debate
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Recent Decisions Provide Guidance On Debt Agreements
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Recent Developments in D&O Insurance
•	Supreme Court Finds in a “Lights” Cigarettes Case That Claims for Violation of a State Statutory Duty Not to Deceive Are Not Preempted by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act
•	Zone of Insolvency: Where We Are Today
•	Supreme Court Hears Its Second Significant Preemption Case This Term
•	Directors’ and Officers' Liability: D&O Advancement Developments
•	The Supreme Court Revisits the Preemption of State Law Consumer Protection Claims
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Indemnification Update
•	New Jersey Court Protects Private Equity Funds’ Confidential Agreements With State From Disclosure
•	Joseph M. McLaughlin's "McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice" Released in Fourth Edition
•	Supreme Court Bars State Common Law Claims Challenging Medical Devices with FDA Pre-Market Approval
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Mandatory Versus Discretionary Advancement Rights
•	The Supreme Court Rejects "Scheme" Liability For Secondary Actors In The Absence Of Actual Reliance On The Deceptive Conduct Or A Separate Duty To Speak
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Subprime Mortgage Reform Legislation Takes an Important Step Forward
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Preclusion in Shareholder Derivative Litigation
•	Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Expanding Securities Fraud Liability to Secondary Actors Based on Allegedly Fraudulent, Arm's Length Business Transactions
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Delaware Decisions Clarify Knotty Indemnification Issues
•	Delaware Court of Chancery Rules in Favor of Simpson Thacher Client Petrohawk Energy Corp. in Bond Indenture Suit Arising from Merger
•	Supreme Court Rules that IPO Litigation is Immune from Antitrust Scrutiny
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Exemptions to Short-Swing Profit Recovery
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: The Deepening Insolvency Debate
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: A Uniform Scienter Standard in Sight?
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Assessing Caremark Claims for Director Oversight Liability
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Special Litigation Committees and Derivative Litigation
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Conflicting Regulation of Internal Affairs
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Corporate Indemnification Rights and Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance Policies
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Delaware Update
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Good Faith: A New Sheriff in Town?
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Indemnification Update
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: How Complete is SLUSA Preemption?
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: The SEC's Temporary Escrow Authority
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Vicinity of Insolvency Claims
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: ERISA Enters the Spotlight
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: What's at Stake in Dura
•	Is Your D&O Policy What It Should Be?
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Delaware Reaffirms Standing Requirements for Derivative Claims
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Advancement of Legal Expenses
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Poison Pill Update
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: The Right to Inspect Corporate Books and Records
•	Essentials of a Special Litigation Committee
•	Directors' And Officers' Liability: Entire Fairness and Interested Mergers
•	Directors' And Officers' Liability: Bankruptcy Stays of Litigation Against Non-Debtors
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Demand Futility in Derivative Actions
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: Preserving Confidentiality of Internal Investigations
•	Class Actions and Mass Torts
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Distinguishing Between Derivative and Direct Claims
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Liability For Statements Of Securities Analysts
•	The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (“USA PATRIOT Act”) Act of 2001
•	The Continuing Scienter Debate: Where We Stand in 2001
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Stock Sales and Scienter
•	Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Option Compensation and Short-Swing Profit Recapture
•	Directors' and Officers' Liability: RICO’s Person-Enterprise Distinctness Requirement

Speaking Engagements

•	Joseph M. McLaughlin Will Speak at ACI’s 16th Annual Summit on D&O Liability December 1, 2010
•	Joe McLaughlin Chairs Thomson Reuters Class Action Program May 28, 2010

Admissions

•	New York 1989
•	U.S. District Court Northern District of New York
•	U.S. Supreme Court

Clerkships

•	Hon. John F. Keenan, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Education

•	Fordham University School of Law, 1988 J.D. Fordham Law Review, Published Member
•	Fordham University, 1985 B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa