Jack Auspitz has more than forty years of experience in commercial litigation, with an emphasis on securities, banking, and other complex civil litigation. He has litigated numerous private and class action securities cases for companies, officers, and directors in a broad range of industries, including financial services, life sciences, technology, and consumer products. Mr. Auspitz is a former co-chair of the firm's Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White-Collar Criminal Defense Group.
Mr. Auspitz has a number of foreign-based company clients and recently negotiated favorable settlements for China-based companies in U.S. securities litigation, including obtaining a rare refund of part of the settlement found in one case. He also frequently represents clients in dealing with the SEC and other regulatory authorities and has been a court-appointed Special Counsel and Special Escrow Agent in various SEC cases.
In one of the largest, most complex securities class actions ever brought, Mr. Auspitz served as court-appointed liaison counsel for more than 300 issuers and 1,000 individual defendants and also directly represents over 30 issuer defendants and approximately 200 individual defendants.
Mr. Auspitz has held several leadership positions for the New York State Bar Association, including Chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and member of the House of Delegates and NYSBA Task Force on Wrongful Convictions. He has served on a number of committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, including the Federal Courts and Antitrust Committees. He has also served on the Discovery Oversight Committee for the Eastern District of New York, the New York Statewide Health Coordination Council, and the boards of directors of various non-profit organizations. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, including "Director and Officer Liability," in 4A Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts (2d Ed) (updated 2010) and "Settling a Class Action," in Settlement Agreements in Commercial Disputes (Aspen) (updated 2009).
Mr. Auspitz received Morrison & Foerster's Raven Award in 2007. He is listed in Chambers USA, Legal 500 US, Best Lawyers in America, Benchmark: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys, Euromoney’s Expert Guides, Super Lawyers 2006-2011, and similar directory publications. New York Magazine named him "Lawyer of the Year" in the field of litigation regulatory enforcement (SEC, telecom, and energy) for 2011 and 2012.
After working at the New York firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Mr. Auspitz co-founded Parker, Auspitz, Neesemann & Delehanty in New York. He became a partner in Morrison & Foerster when the two firms merged in 1987.
Mr. Auspitz received his A.B., cum laude, from Columbia University, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he served as an editor of the Law Review.
A list of representative cases can be found here.