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Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs

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Michael D. Birnbaum, Scott Llewellyn, Alexis Julien, and Wanqian Zhang received a "shout-out" as Litigators of The Week in AmLaw Litigation Daily for successfully helping Farmland Partners Inc. revive five claims against Texas hedge fund Sabrepoint Capital Partners. In a case on remand from the Texas Supreme Court, the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas held last week that FPI had presented “extensive details and specific fact allegations” sufficient to clear the initial evidentiary hurdle under the Texas anti-SLAPP law. The court pointed in particular to evidence that Sabrepoint helped develop and disseminate allegations while aware of “serious factual uncertainties” and, at minimum, entertaining “serious doubts about their truth.”Read the <a href="https://www.law.com/litigationdaily/2026/10/23/litigator-of-the-week-runners-up-and-shout-outs/" target="_blank">full article</a>.

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs

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Michael Birnbaum is a go-to litigator for high-stakes cases and investigations who serves as managing partner of Morrison Foerster’s New York office and served previously as the head of MoFo’s New York Litigation Department.As a member of the firm’s Investigations + White Collar, Securities Enforcement, and Securities Litigation Groups, Michael represents financial institutions, professional services firms, investment advisers, broker-dealers, and public companies in internal investigations and government enforcement matters. He advises clients facing inquiries from the SEC, FINRA, and other regulators, drawing on his prior experience as a senior trial counsel at the SEC to help clients navigate complex regulatory and enforcement issues. He has achieved significant results, including at trial, in matters involving investment funds and other financial institutions, addressing allegations of fraudulent securities offerings, registration violations, and supervisory failures related to the sale of securities.Michael’s practice also focuses on representing clients in complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels in trade secret, defamation, and “business divorce cases, and in restructuring-related disputes involving high-stakes chapter 11 proceedings and related litigation. He advises creditors’ committees in investigations and claims alleging fraudulent transfers, breaches of fiduciary duty, equitable subordination, and other contested issues that arise in bankruptcy proceedings. Michael is frequently engaged at critical inflection points in a case, where litigation risk, governance issues, and potential regulatory exposure intersect, and he brings a trial-ready, strategic approach to resolving complex disputes in bankruptcy courts and other forums.Michael is frequently invited to speak on topics related to securities litigation and enforcement, including by the Practising Law Institute (PLI) and Securities Docket. He also publishes articles relating to trending topics in these areas and serves on the editorial board of Wall Street Lawyer.Before joining private practice, Michael served at the SEC for 11 years, where he worked closely with SEC investigative units including the Asset Management Unit, the Market Abuse Unit, and the Complex Financial Instruments Unit. He also worked with attorneys at various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and foreign securities regulators on securities-related investigations and prosecutions.<h4>Selective Significant Representations</h4><h5>Complex Litigation</h5><ul><li>Farmland Partners, Inc. Named “Litigator of the Week” by AmLaw Litigation Daily for achieving a landmark settlement for Farmland Partners Inc. (FPI), a publicly traded farmland REIT, in a “short-and-distort” case that was prompted by a defamatory article that drove down FPI’s stock price by 39% in one day. The previously anonymous author, who wrote under the alias “Rota Fortunae,” and his clients utilized the scheme to profit from their short positions. As part of the settlement, the author acknowledged publicly that his article was full of false statements and made a payment that was multiples of the profits he made off the scheme. Meanwhile, FPI prevailed on its defense of a class action accusing the company and principals of securities fraud.</li><li>Leading Audit Firm. Won full victory for leading audit firm in confidential arbitration concerning work performed in connection with government contracts, including an award of fees.</li><li>Traackr, Inc. Achieved favorable settlement in trade secrets litigation after successfully narrowing claims and theories of relief through motion practice and discovery.</li></ul><h5>Bankruptcy Proceedings</h5><ul><li>Unsecured Creditors of Incora Ltd. Represented in connection with a chapter 11 bankruptcy trial in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. We reached a conditional settlement for the Committee after investigating potential wrongdoing by various stakeholders—including securities law violations—and seeking standing to pursue claims to subordinate other stakeholders’ interests.</li><li>Unsecured Creditors of Nikola Corporation. Represented in connection with a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in D. Del. bankruptcy court. As part of our representation, we are evaluating certain potential claims, including for potential securities law violations by various individuals, and investigating facts relating to several existing securities law cases against individuals connected to Nikola.</li><li>Unsecured Creditors’ Committees in Bankruptcy Proceedings. Led investigations and drove favorable settlements in matters including Clovis Oncology, Inc. (D. Del.) and Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. (S.D. Tex.) (pending approval).</li></ul><h5>Government Enforcement</h5><ul><li>A Multinational Electronics Company. Representation in an SEC FCPA investigation involving conduct in Latin America related to a business relationship with a company that was subsequently involved in a government corruption scandal.</li><li>Investors in Cryptocurrency. Advise clients regarding litigation and regulatory investigations in connection with initial coin offerings and related transactions.</li><li>Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). Represent SPACs, sponsors, and other investors in SEC investigations regarding various SPACs’ initial public offerings and de-SPAC transactions, and counsel clients engaging in such transactions regarding regulatory and litigation risks.</li><li>A Major Pharmaceutical Company. Successfully convinced SEC not to pursue an action against pharmaceutical company following investigation into the company’s FDA-related disclosures.</li><li>Leading Crowdfunding Entity. Representation in providing compliance advice and counsel in connection with FINRA inquiries arising from alleged unregistered securities offerings and disclosure issues.</li><li>An International Broker-Dealer. Representation in responding to FINRA and SEC inquiries related to the treatment of domestic and international client accounts.</li></ul>

Michael Birnbaum

Partner

Scott Llewellyn’s practice focuses on complex litigation in federal and state courts around the country, with an emphasis on patent and trade secret disputes. Over the past decade, he has worked on some of the most significant, high–profile IP cases involving technology for televisions, smartphones, and self–driving cars, relying on 40 years of experience with computer hardware and software. Scott also has significant experience with business divorce cases before courts and arbitrators, involving a mix of trade secret, patent, tort, and contract claims relating to technology development and implementation.Scott also has successfully tried general commercial arbitration and agency matters, briefed and argued various appeals in federal appellate court, and tried more than 20 cases for the Denver City Attorney’s office, most of them jury trials.Scott also has an active pro bono practice, having worked on a variety of criminal and immigration appeals, and having represented Colorado criminal defense and mental health organizations in high–profile suits against the state of Colorado for violations of the constitutional rights of defendants.At MoFo, Scott serves on the board of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. In the broader legal community, he serves on the boards of the Colorado Lawyers Committee and Drop in the Bucket (a charity that builds wells and sanitation systems in sub–Saharan Africa).After law school, Scott clerked for the Honorable Clarence A. Brimmer, District of Wyoming, and the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Ninth Circuit. He was also previously an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Scott F. Llewellyn

Wanqian Zhang is an associate in the Litigation Department of Morrison Foerster’s San Francisco office.Wan focuses her practice on general litigation.Before joining Morrison Foerster, Wan was a summer associate at the firm.Wan received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. While in law school, Wan served as a senior editor for the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and as a student attorney at the Communications & Technology Law Clinic at Georgetown Law. In clinic, Wan conducted research in support of redline revisions to the Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act of 2023 (“SDAA”).She received her M.A. from Stanford University and B.A. in foreign language and literature at Nanjing University. Wan is fluent in Mandarin and Japanese.