Christopher J. Merken

Securities, Corporate and Derivative Litigation

• Trial counsel securing rare trial victory for stockholders in challenge to stockholder election of corporate directors under 8 Del. C. § 225 (Del. Ch. 2024).
• Portfolio of private equity firm in defense of post-merger breach of contract and earnout claims (Indiana Commercial Court, Del. Super. Ct.).
• Seller of business in post-closing commercial license dispute (Del. Ch.).
• Directors and officers of private corporation in breach of fiduciary duty litigation (Del. Ch.).
• ETF investment adviser in potential derivative litigation.
  

Commercial and Complex Litigation

• Third-chair trial counsel securing complete trial victory for real estate lender on breach of contract claims for US $108 million (S.D.N.Y. 2024).
• Clinical diagnostic testing company in breach of contract, negligence, and unfair trade practice litigation related to COVID-19 testing (D. Mass.).
• Brokerage firm in class action (D. Conn./2d Cir.).
• Foreign financial institutions in litigation arising under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

Labor and Employment

• Financial technology company and its CEO in litigation including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, theft of trade secrets, tort, and employment claims arising out of former executive’s alleged misconduct (S.D.N.Y.).
• Staffing company and its CEO in multiple employment-related litigations and investigations, including claims by former employees and novel claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, and an investigation by the New York Attorney General (E.D.N.Y./2d Cir.).
  

White Collar and Investigations

• A corporation and its principals in a criminal antitrust prosecution brought by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (N.D. Ill.).
• Employees of cryptocurrency company in investigations by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
• Led internal investigation at education nonprofit into allegations of disability and race discrimination.

Business Advice

• Advised a global capital market company on litigation risk as initial purchaser, in connection with a US $400 million 144A private auto loan securitization.
• Advised Energy Harbor Corp. on corporate governance litigation risk in connection with its US $6.8 billion acquisition by Vistra Corp.

• Moderator, Corporate Sustainability in 2024 and Managing the Opportunities and Risks from Environmental, Social and Governance  – Corporate Governance Symposium, Dechert LLP, New York, NY (February 27, 2024)
  
• Panelist, Election Night in “Gerryland”: Charting Trends in the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Jurisprudence – Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law J. Willard O’Brien American Inn of Court, Villanova, PA (January 16, 2024)
  
• Panelist, Leaders Learn From Associates: An Associates Perspective – Pennsylvania Bar Institute – Pennsylvania Bar Association, Zoom (December 14, 2023)
  
• Co-presenter, Admissibility of Medical Statements and Records – First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Continuing Judicial Education Program, Philadelphia, PA (March 7, 2023)

• Del. Segway Dismissal Suggests Execs Not Liable For Biz Risk – Law360 (February 2024)
  
• Caremark Claim Based on Business Risks Dismissed – Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (February 2024)
  
• Delaware Court of Chancery Bars Stockholder from Inspecting Books and Records Related to Board’s ESG-Related Decision – Insights Vol. 7, No. 9 (September 2023)
• Stockholder Barred from Inspecting Books and Records Related to Board’s ESG-Related Decision – Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (July 2023)
• 2022 Developments in U.S. Securities Fraud Class Actions Against Non-U.S. Issuers – Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (April 2023)
• The State of Criminal Justice 2023 – Deputy Editor, ABA Criminal Justice Section (2023)
  
• Toward a Presumptive Admission of Medical Records Under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(4) – Boston College Law Review – Vol. 64, Issue 3 – (March 2023)
  
• Deprioritizing “Gold Star” Credentials – At Issue – p. 9 (November 2022) | reprinted in Pennsylvania Bar News – p. 11 (January 2023)
• Damn the Torpedoes! An Unprincipled, Incorrect, and Lonely Approach to Compassionate Release – Cardozo Law Review – Vol. 44, Issue 2 – (December 2022)
• Incentivize Law Students’ Pro Bono Service: Explain the Practice Benefits – At Issue (2020)
• Recognizing Hozanna-Tabor’s Limited Scope and Inapplicability to Clergy Sex Abuse Litigation – Arkansas Law Notes (2020)
• A Tight Labor Market: Could Reentering Citizens Fill the Gap? – Houston Law Review – Off the Record (2020)
• Protecting Aging Inmates from Discrimination: An Approach to Rehabilitative Dignity – Denver Law Review Forum (2019)
• Not Just Going Private: In re MFW Shareholder Litigation’s Evolution and Expansion Should Result in a Uniform Standard of Review in all Conflicted Controller Transactions – Western State Law Review (2019)
• A Not So Sweet Ending: Masterpiece Cakeshop and the Battle for Freedom of Expression – Columbia University Global Freedom of Expression (2018)
• Every Move You Make: SCOTUS Says Warrant Needed for Cell-Site Location Data – Business Law Today (2018)
• Warren Court in The American Middle Class: An Economic Encyclopedia of Progress and Poverty – p. 520 (Robert S. Rycroft, ed., 2017)

Voting Rights and Civil Rights Advocacy

Numerous merits-stage and cert-stage U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs in support of voting rights and civil rights scholars and organizations

• Louisiana v. Callais/Robinson v. Callais, Nos. 24-109, 24-110;
• Barnes v. Felix, No. 23-1239;
• Lackey v. Stinnie, No. 23-621;
• City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, No. 23-175;
• Alexander v. The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, No. 22-807;
• Shields v. Kentucky, No. 22-450;
• Moore v. Harper, No. 21-1271

Voting Rights

• Trial and appellate counsel securing trial victory and settlement for Miami civil rights organizations and citizens in racial gerrymandering lawsuit against the City of Miami (S.D. Fla., 11th Cir., U.S. Supreme Court).
• Voters in emergency post-election litigation challenging Georgia county’s failure to timely mail absentee ballots (Ga. Super. Ct.).
• Voting-rights group challenging Florida’s “exact match” voter-registration requirements (M.D. Fla.).
• Voting-rights organizations as amici curiae in challenge to Mississippi ballot-counting law (S.D. Miss./5th Cir.).
• Voting-rights organizations as amici curiae in organizational standing litigation (5th Cir.).

Civil Rights

• Putative class of abuse victims in civil litigation against government agencies and reformatory school (E.D. Pa./3d Cir.).
• Incarcerated individual in prisoner civil rights action against prison guards (3d Cir.).
• Putative class of pre-trial detainees in civil litigation against local judges for unconstitutional imposition of bail (E.D. Pa.).
• Innocence Project as amicus curiae in challenge to custodial interrogation of young adults (N.J.).

Military Benefits

• Secured settlement for certified class of thousands of United States Navy and United States Marine Corps veterans in challenge to U.S. Navy’s unjust denial of class members’ proper military medical retirement benefits (D.D.C. 2024).
• A United States Air Force veteran in a medical discharge upgrade case (D.D.C./D.Md./4th cir.).