Richard S. Schiffrin

At DePaul Law School (which produces a disproportionate number of Chicago mayors and judges), they cared less about the poetry in our delivery than about teaching us how to win. I then worked for seven years as an Assistant Public Defender in Chicago, which was great and intense early training. After you’ve argued for people’s lives, you become impervious to intimidation. I certainly am.

Overview

Richard Schiffrin has represented institutional investors and consumers in some of the most complex class actions, resulting in some of the largest recoveries, worldwide. He is currently focused on fighting for states, municipalities and individuals in large-scale environmental cases involving PCBs and other contaminants.

Before joining G&E, Richard was a partner at the firm he founded, Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler, LLP, which regularly collaborated as co-counsel with G&E. Together, he and Jay Eisenhofer achieved several landmark victories, including a $486 million settlement with Pfizer; a $1 billion recovery against Royal Bank of Scotland in the United Kingdom; and one of the biggest securities cases of all time, Tyco.

In the Tyco case, the pair battled for years against arguably some of the world’s most eloquent lawyers, from the best law schools, working for the top firms—and handily prevailed on most points. Tyco was the most complex securities class action in history, resulting in a record $3.2 billion settlement. The payment represents the single largest securities class action recovery from a single corporate defendant in history.

After the Tyco victory, Richard had planned to retire—had Hilary Clinton become president, he would likely have played a role in her administration—but, at Jay’s invitation, decided to come on, to lend his experience and insights in an Of Counsel capacity. He and the team are now working to settle a number of enormous environmental contamination cases, arguably the part of litigation he likes best.

Richard is an internationally renowned speaker and lectures frequently on corporate governance and securities litigation. His lectures include: the MultiPensions Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands; the Public Funds Symposium in Washington, D.C.; the European Pension Symposium in Florence, Italy; and the Pennsylvania Public Employees Retirement Summit (PAPERS) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Richard has also taught legal writing and appellate advocacy at John Marshall Law School and served as a faculty member at legal seminars, including the Annual Institute on Securities Regulation, NERA: Finance, Law & Economics – Securities Litigation Seminar, the Tulane Corporate Law Institute, and the CityBar Center for CLE (NYC): Ethical Issues in the Practice of Securities Law.

Experience

$225 million settlement with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the largest payment PwC has ever paid to resolve a securities class action and is the second-largest auditor settlement in securities class action history.
In re AremisSoft Corp. Securities Litigation, a complex case involving litigation in four countries, resulting in a $250 million settlement providing shareholders with a majority of the equity in the reorganized company after embezzlement by former officers.
In re Tenet Healthcare Corp., resulting in a $216.5 million settlement and which led to several important corporate governance improvements.
Henry v. Sears, et al., one of the largest consumer class actions in history which resulted in a $156 million settlement distributed without the filing of a single proof of claim form by any class member.

Wanstrath v. Doctor R. Crants, et al., a derivative action filed against the officers and directors of Prison Realty Trust, Inc., challenging the transfer of assets to a private entity owned by company insiders, resulting in corporate governance reform in addition to the issuance of over 46 million shares to class members.
Jordan v. State Farm Insurance Company, resulting in a $225 million settlement and other monetary benefits for current and former State Farm policy-holders.
In re Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc. Derivative Litigation, resulting in a multi-million dollar settlement and significant governance changes.

Outside the Office

Starting to pursue my master’s degree at the University of Chicago when I was 21, I went back and finished it at age 60. My thesis topic was Booker T. Washington Revisited: Education, Citizenship, Faith and the Uplifting of Black America. While I was there, I also learned ancient Greek and sometimes, for fun, I’ll take an ancient Greek text and very slowly, utilizing various resources, try to make my way through a paragraph.

Overview

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Experience

Outside the Office

Credentials

Education

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