Top Rated Securities Litigation Attorney in Cleveland, OH

Honors/Awards:

• Litigation: General Commercial, Band 2, Chambers USA, 2020
• Local Litigation Star – Ohio, General Commercial, International Arbitration, Professional Liability, Securities, and White-Collar Crime, Benchmark Litigation, 2021
• Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy), The Best Lawyers in America©, 2021
• Ohio Super Lawyers, 2021
• AV Preeminent Rating and listed in Cleveland’s Top-Rated Lawyers Guide, Martindale-Hubbell, 2021

Bar/Professional Activity:

• Ohio
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit  
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit  
• U.S. Supreme Court
• Eighth District Judicial Conference, Life Member, 2021
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation, Past President
• Leadership Cleveland, Member, 2021

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Great Lakes Theater, Past President of the Board of Trustees  
• Boy Scouts of America, Greater Cleveland Council, Past President  
• National Eagle Scout Association, Member, 2021
• Bluecoats, Inc., Member, 2021

Verdicts/Settlements:

• Particularly successful in defending clients before juries, Mitch has won cases in federal and state courts on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants involving business disputes, including class and derivative action defense and SEC enforcement actions. Mitch has a track record of successfully representing corporations and individuals in high-stakes litigation.
• Mitch has extensive experience representing directors of some of the region's largest companies in shareholder derivative litigation and in defending these companies in accompanying class actions.
• Mitch represented one of the nation’s largest utilities in a multi-million-dollar breach of contract dispute, achieving a settlement worth $200 million to the client.
• Mitch led a trial team that obtained a multi-million-dollar judgment for an international tire company.

Newsletters:

• A Calfee First Alert published December 21, 2018 posed the question: “Who Commits Securities Fraud?” At the time, the U.S. Supreme Court had just heard final arguments in Lorenzo v. Securities and Exchange Commission, which raised a fundamental question going to the scope of liability under general antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws which prohibit materially false or misleading statements, and more broadly, “devices,” “schemes,” and “artifices” to defraud in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. In Lorenzo, the Supreme Court had to answer the question of who commits securities fraud by resolving whether an individual may be directly liable for violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws based on false and misleading statements contained in emails he sent to prospective investors in a securities offering at the request of his boss, who supplied and approved the content. Lorenzo did not “make” the false and misleading statements in the emails. He did, however, send them with knowledge that they contained materially false and misleading statements., Supreme Court Answers the Question: Who Commits Securities Fraud?, Capital Markets/Securities Transactions

Educational Background:

• J.D., Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary, 1982
• B.A., magna cum laude, Union College, 1979