The Firm represented institutional plaintiffs Thomas DiNapoli, NYS Comptroller as Trustee of the NYS Common Retirement Fund, the New York State Teachers Retirement System and the Public Employee Retirement Association of Colorado in a landmarked action against Bank of America Corporation (“Bank of America”) in connection with the 2009 merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the midst of the global financial crisis.  This action, which sought the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investment loses, alleged that proxy materials soliciting shareholder approval of the merger failed to disclose over $15 billion in unreported losses at Merrill for the 2008 fourth fiscal quarter and an undisclosed agreement to pay $5.8 billion in bonus compensation to Merrill executives. These and other facts by their omission, we alleged, served to manipulate the merger exchange ratio.  The litigation proceeded through extensive fact and expert discovery, summary judgment briefing and resolved on the eve of trial resulting in significant monetary recoveries for our clients.  The result achieved by the Firm’s prosecutorial efforts was also well in excess of any potential recovery possible had our clients not proceeded directly and remained absent parties in related class action litigation.  We regard this representation as a compelling demonstration of the Firm’s ability to present strategic litigation alternatives to the most sophisticated institutions in the most complex and hotly contested litigation matters.