NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP is very pleased to announce that in March 2007, J. Douglas Richards and Michael M. Buchman will become members of our firm.
For more than six years, Messrs. Richards and Buchman have been the two partners responsible for the antitrust practice in Milberg Weiss & Bershad LLP's New York office. During that time, working together as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous antitrust class actions, they have recovered more than $340 million for purchasers of prescription drugs, Microsoft software and for international auction house customers. In addition, their efforts garnered approximately $60 million in "cy pres" recoveries for the benefit of needy schools in New York state, children's organizations, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and other worthy causes. They also made a substantial contribution to the record-setting recovery of more than $3 billion in the antitrust class action against Visa and Mastercard in In re Visa Check/Mastermoney Antitrust Litig., CV-96-5238 (E.D.N.Y.), which is the largest antitrust settlement in the over 100 year history of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Stanley Grossman, senior partner of the Pomerantz Firm, commented that, "Doug Richards and Mike Buchman are highly respected, exceptionally skilled lawyers who will be terrific additions to the Firm's expanding litigation practice."
Mr. Richards is a graduate of the University of Chicago (AB 1977) and Harvard Law School (JD 1981), and spent eight years as a litigation partner with the law firm of O'Sullivan Graev & Karabell. He also spent two years as Deputy General Counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before joining Milberg Weiss as a partner in 2000. He has argued several prominent appeals of cutting-edge antitrust issues in recent years, including in the United States Supreme Court in November 2006 in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly (which will determine basic pleading standards for antitrust conspiracy) and in the New York Court of Appeals in January 2007 in Sperry v. Crompton Corp. (which will determine whether class actions are permitted under New York antitrust law). Mr. Richards also argued leading cases such as In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litig., 429 F.3d 370 (2d Cir. 2005), JLM Industries, Inc. v. Stolt Nielson SA, 387 F.3d 163 (2d Cir. 2004), Cox v. Microsoft Corp., 8 A.D.3d 39 (1st Dep't 2004) and Kruman v. Christie's Int'l PLC, 284 F.3d 384 (2d Cir. 2002). He has been a frequent speaker on antitrust law issues. Mr. Richards recently authored What Makes An Antitrust Class Action Remedy Successful? A Tale of Two Settlements, 80 Tulane L. Rev. 621 (2005).
Mr. Buchman is a graduate of Alfred University (BA 1988), The John Marshall Law School (JD 1992) and Fordham University School of Law (LL.M., 1993 - International Antitrust and Trade Law), and worked as an attorney at Trans World Airlines, Inc., on international aviation competition law issues during his LL.M. coursework. He was an Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office before joining Milberg Weiss in 1997. He has acted in a leadership capacity in several successful class actions involving prices for brand-name prescription drugs, including In re Buspirone Antitrust Litig., MDL 1413 (S.D.N.Y.), In re Relafen Antitrust Litig., 01-12222-WGY (D. Mass.), and In re Augmentin Antitrust Litig., 02 Civ. 445 (E.D. Va. Norfolk Div.). He also worked closely with co-lead counsel in the prosecution of In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., MDL 1023 (S.D.N.Y.), which was a record setting $1.027 billion settlement in 1998. Mr. Buchman is the author or co-author of articles in international and domestic legal publications concerning procedure or competition law issues. Mr. Buchman has lectured on antitrust law issues and will be speaking next month at the 4th National In-House Counsel Conference on Managing Complex Litigation in New York.
The Pomerantz Firm, which has offices in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 50 years later, the Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. For more information about the Firm, visit our web site at www.pomlaw.com.