Jonathan C. Dickey is co-chair of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's national securities litigation practice and is based in the New York office. He has been engaged in civil litigation practice since 1979, specializing in securities class actions, shareholder derivative litigation, M&A litigation, corporate investigations, and SEC enforcement matters. Over the years, Mr. Dickey has represented many public companies, directors and officers, underwriters, financial institutions, and accounting firms in securities litigation matters. He also has acted as counsel to boards of directors and board committees on securities disclosure and compliance issues, SEC and stock exchange investigations, insurance, and corporate governance issues.
Mr. Dickey has been ranked as one of the top securities litigators in the United States by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and Lawdragon.com. He is the managing editor of the leading treatise on securities litigation, Practicing Law Institute’s Securities Litigation: A Practitioner’s Guide, published in 2006. Mr. Dickey also has served as an advisor to various industry organizations on securities class action law reform matters, and was significantly involved in passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Mr. Dickey also helped draft, and was directly involved in efforts to obtain passage of, the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998, which bars state court securities class actions involving nationally-traded securities.
Mr. Dickey is experienced in all aspects of complex civil litigation. He has acted as lead trial counsel in several successful federal and state court jury trials.
In 1998, Mr. Dickey was elected to serve a three-year term as a member of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Executive Committee. He also has served on various other governance committees at the firm.
Mr. Dickey is a member of the bars of California, New York, and the District of Columbia.
Lecturing and Public Speaking
Mr. Dickey has been a frequent lecturer on securities-related topics, including guest lecturing at the Haas School of Business (University of California), and speaking engagements with the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (“ALI-ABA”), the Practising Law Institute Securities Litigation & Enforcement Institute, the Stanford Law School Directors College, and the West LegalWorks Complex Class Actions conference. He has been quoted or featured in articles on securities topics in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The American Lawyer, Corporate Board Member magazine, Institutional Investor Magazine, The Economist, The National Law Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.
Educational History
J.D., cum laude, University of Michigan, 1979.
A.B., magna cum laude, Harvard College, 1976.
Publications
Author, Auditor Liability "Caps" - The Politics of Catastrophe, West Legalworks's Securities Litigation Report (November 2008)
Author, The New Securities Litigation Landscape: Views From the Defense Bar (September 2008)
Author, Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation (July 2008)
Author, Recent Civil and Regulatory Proceedings Against Audit Committee Members, PLI Audit Committee Workshop (June 2008)
Co-Author, Subprime-Related Securities Litigation: Where Do We Go from Here?, Insights, Vol. 22, No. 4, (April 2008)
Author, 2007 Trends: The Year of Living Dangerously, part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007 Securities Litigation Study (April 2008)
Co-Author, 2008 Securities Litigation Reform Forecast: Cloudy, Chance of Rain, Securities Litigation Report, Vol. 5, Issue 2 (February 2008)
Co-Author, Supreme Court Reaffirms Narrow Scope of Primary Liability Under Section 10(b): Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific Atlanta, Inc.: The Supreme Court Rejects "Scheme" Liability, Insights, Vol. 22, No. 1 (January 2008)
Board Member Contributor, Q&A Interview: Members of the Securities Litigation Report Editorial Board Discuss Waiting for Stoneridge, the Impact of Tellabs & the Coming Wave of Subprime Class Actions, Securities Litigation Report, Vol. 5, Issue 1 (January 2008)
Author, Litigation Against Lawyers and Accountants: The Year of Living Dangerously (September 2007)
Author, Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation (June 2007)
Co-Author, The Dura Debate: Recent Securities Litigation Decisions on Loss Causation, Insights (April 2007)
Co-Author, Liability Issues for Audit Firms – The Risk of Catastrophic Exposure Prompts Calls for Liability Reforms, Securities Litigation Report, Vol. 4, No. 4 (April 2007)
Co-Author, Trends in Claims Against Lawyers, Securities Litigation Report, Vol. 4, No. 2 (February 2007)
Co-Author, Litigation and the Director, Securities Litigation Report (July/August 2006)
Author, Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation (July 2006)
Co-Author, Audit Committee Liability: Recent Actions Against Audit Committee Members (May 2006)
Chapter Author, The Accountable Corporation, Praeger (a Four Volume Series, Marc Epstein and Kirk Hanson, co-editors) (2006)
Co-Author, Principles-Based Accounting Standards—An Accident Waiting to Happen? Insights (February 2006)
Author, Recent Decisions Concerning the Right of Advancement of Defense Costs, Securities Litigation Report (February 2006)
Author, Recent Settlements Involving Corporate Governance Reforms: The Era of Institutional Investor Activism in the Courtroom Is Continuing Unabated, Securities Litigation Report (October 2005)
Author, Current Issues in D&O Insurance, Insights (August 2005)
Author, Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation, ALI-ABA Post-Graduate Course in Federal Securities Law (July 2005)
Co-Author, Determining 'Loss' in Federal Securities Fraud Prosecutions, Securities Litigation Report (November 2004)
Author, Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation, ALI-ABA Post-Graduate Course in Federal Securities Law (August 2004)
Author, the Revolution in SEC Civil Penalties: Defending Your Client Zealously Before the Commission Is Getting Riskier, Securities Litigation Report (July 2004)
Co-Author, Internal Investigations in the Spotlight, 2004 Stanford Directors College (June 2004)
Author, Just Saying No: The Indemnification Dilemma for Public Companies Dealing with the Wayward CEO, Compliance Week (March 2004)
Author, Developments in Business Litigation: High Stakes Securities Law Litigation (March 2004)
Author, New Limitations on Insurance Coverage, Insights (October 2003)
Author, Indemnification and Insurance for Directors and Officers of Public Companies (October 2003)
Author, A Dose of “Corporate Therapeutics”: Plaintiffs Lawyers Prescribe Boardroom Reform, D&O Advisor (July 2003)
Author, Real Time" Enforcement: Recent Trends in SEC Enforcement Actions (May 2003)
Author, The Impact of SEC v. Zandford on the Uniform Standards Act, Insights (January 2003)
Author, Securities Litigation Update: Recent Developments Under the PSLRA and the Uniform Standards Act (December 2002)
Author, D&O Insurance for Public Companies: What Directors and Officers Need to Know in the Post-Enron World (June 2002)
Author, After Enron: SEC Compliance, Disclosure, and Enforcement Challenges in the New Era (May 2002)
Author, Recent Trends in SEC Accounting Fraud Investigations (Practicing Law Institute 2001) [reprinted in Securities Reform Act Litigation Reporter, vol. 12, Number 5 (February 2002)]
Author, Defense Strategies In Securities Class Actions (July 2001)
Author, Securities Regulation in the Electronic Age (February 2000)
Author, The New Era of Communications with Analyst and the Financial Press (November 1999)
Author, Developments in Securities Litigation and SEC Enforcement Actions (July 1999)
Author, Sailing Away: The SEC’s Aircraft Carrier Proposal Creates Dramatic New Liabilities for Market Participants (March 1999)
Author, The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Where Are We Three Years Later? (March 1999)
Author, Balancing on the Tightrope: Public Companies Continue to Risk Liability for Communications with Analysts (October 1998)
Author, Litigation and the Director: Strategies for Decision making in Complex Litigation (May 1998)
Author, Corporate Compliance at the Crossroads: New Challenges for Corporate Governance (October 1997)
Author, Amchem Products v. Windsor: Troubling Implications for Securities Litigation, Securities Act Litigation Reporter (October 1997)
Author, A White Paper On Securities Law Reform, American Electronics Association (1997)
Co-Author, Securities Litigation Reform: The California Battleground, SEC Institute (April 1997)
Author, Giving Good Disclosure, Legal Times (February 1997)
Author, Closing the Expectation Gap: Responsibilities for the Detection of Fraud and Illegal Acts, Securities Reform Act Litigation Reporter (June 1997)
Author, Directors in the Spotlight, San Francisco Recorder, Special Issue on Venture Capital and Securities Litigation (November 1996)
Author, A Nationwide Threat - The Battle In California Over Securities Law Reform Heats Up, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (October 1996)
Author, Proposition 211 Tips the Balance, California Bar Journal (October 1996)
Author, New Auditor Responsibilities Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, Corporate Governance Advisor (May-June 1996)
Co-Author, Effect on 10b-5 Damages of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: A Forward Looking Assessment, Business Lawyer, Vol. 51, No. 4 (August 1996)
Co-Author, Limitations on Liability and Damages Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis (1996)
Co-Author, A Practical Guide to Securities Litigation Reform, a paper published by the American Electronics Association (1996)
Author, Final Inning for ‘Strike Suits’?, guest column, San Francisco Chronicle (July 1995)
Author, A New “Entanglement” Theory: Securities Analysts Are Sued In Class Action Complaints, Insights (March 1995)
Author, The SEC “Safe Harbor” Rules: Catching Up With The Information Age, ABA Securities News (1994)
*Admitted in California Only.
Representative Speaking Engagements [pdf file]
Representative Securities Cases [pdf file]