Nicole Lavallee is the managing partner of Berman Tabacco’s San Francisco office, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation Practice Group. She has exceptional and robust experience prosecuting complex securities actions, having recovered over $1 billion on behalf of clients and class members, and is a trusted advisor on asset recovery litigation to whom clients—many of the largest pension funds and institutional investors in the country—turn (and return) to regularly for her advice, insight, and guidance. Her work has been an integral part of building the San Francisco office of Berman Tabacco, which has been recognized in recent years as a top plaintiffs’ securities litigation firm by Benchmark Litigation, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and U.S. News – Best Lawyers. In 2022, Chambers reported that the firm is “a longstanding, respected plaintiffs’ firm,” and that the team “always has a strong understanding of the case” and is “very responsive and efficient.”
Of note:
- Nicole was one of the lead attorneys in In re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Sec. Litig., No. 09 Civ. 04583 (S.D.N.Y.), which settled for $346 million—one of the largest private mortgage-backed securities class recoveries and the largest where the issuer bank was in bankruptcy.
- Nicole was the day-to-day partner in In re International Rectifier Sec. Litig., No. 07-cv-2544 (C.D. Cal.), that alleged that International Rectifier engaged in numerous accounting improprieties to inflate its financial results. The Court described plaintiffs’ counsel work in reaching an agreement with defendants to resolve the case for $90 million as “excellent.”
- Nicole oversaw the day-to-day prosecution of In re KLA-Tencor Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C06-04065 (N.D. Cal.), which settled for $65 million—one of the largest options backdating class settlements. Judge Charles R. Breyer praised plaintiffs’ counsel, stating: you’ve done an outstanding job, and you’ve been entirely reasonable in what you’ve done. ”
- Nicole oversaw the day-to-day prosecution of the derivative action Oracle Cases, JCCP No. 4180 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Mateo Cty.), which resulted in one of the largest settlements in any derivative action and was singled out by the judge for her “excellent” summary judgment brief.
- More recently, Nicole oversaw the following securities class action cases: (i) In re Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 18-cv-04993-NRB (S.D.N.Y.) (settlement with outside auditors located in Greece for $29.8 million approved in September 2022; settlements with two remaining individual defendants residing in Greece for $11,949,999, which were preliminarily approved on June 1, 2023, final approval scheduled for October 2023); (ii) Hayden v. Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00367-VC (N.D. Cal.) (settled for $17.5 million); (iii) Utah Retirement Systems v. Healthcare Services Group, Inc., No. 2:19-cv-01227-ER (E.D. Pa.) (settled for $16.8 million); and (iv) In re Aqua Metals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 4:17-CV-07142-HSG (N.D. Cal.) (settled for $7 million).
This experience has earned her numerous accolades including but limited to being recognized by: Benchmark Litigation each year since 2019; Chambers USA since 2021, which quoted an opposing counsel as stating that “Nicole is a good adversary, she is smart and puts up a good fight for her clients,” and a client stating that she is “great in terms of communication and understanding how to bring a case together, produce a strategy and make a path for a way forward”; and The Best Lawyers in America® since 2021. In 2021 and 2023, she was ranked as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal and in 2021 Northern California Super Lawyers magazine named her to their lists of the Top 100 attorneys in California and the Top 50 Women attorneys in California.
Ms. Lavallee is active in leadership in the legal and broader community. For example, as a member of the Barrister’s Association’s Steering Committee of the Women’s Impact Network (WIN): No Glass Ceiling 2.0 and member of WIN’s Policy Impact Network, Ms. Lavallee was one of organizers of WIN’s inaugural Board Balance Conference held on November 19, 2020, a full day event bringing together leading women attorneys, recruiters, and leadership coaches who had created their own paths to the boardroom to share their stories and paths to success. She has co-chaired and been on the steering committee of Cambridge Cross-Border litigation forums for several years and was on the steering committee of Cambridge’s class action forum twice. She is a trustee of the board of a San Francisco independent school and just completed a two-year term as Co-Chair of the Board. She regularly writes and presents on securities litigation matters.
Updated July 2023
