Jake Walker is a partner with offices in Boston and the Bay Area who focuses primarily on federal securities litigation throughout the country.
Among other cases, Jake is actively litigating on behalf of investors against Nikola (D. Ariz.) related to the company’s misrepresentations about its electric truck business; Eargo for misrepresentations about its hearing aid business (N.D. Cal.); and Tricida, Inc. regarding misrepresentations about its interactions with the FDA (N.D. Cal.).
In the past several years, Jake has led litigation teams that recovered $40 million from Immunomedics (final approval pending), $32.8 million from Snap, Inc. in litigation arising from its initial public offering (Cal. Sup. Ct.), $25 million from Lyft, Inc. in litigation arising from its IPO (N.D. Cal., final approval pending); $25 million from the Tezos Foundation (N.D. Cal.), in litigation arising from the cryptocurrency’s initial coin offering, $11 million in litigation against Mammoth Energy (W.D. Okla.) arising out of an indictment for bribery related to the company’s business restoring power in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria; and $8.5 million from Trevena (E.D. Pa.) arising out of the company’s description of its interactions with the FDA. Jake was also co-counsel in a case against Mattel, Inc. (C.D. Cal.) arising out of the company’s need to restate earnings following a whistleblower letter. That case resulted in a $98 million recovery for investors.
Jake has also obtained recoveries on behalf of investors in Gossamer Bio. (S.D. Cal.), Bit Digital (S.D.N.Y.), EZCORP, Inc. (W.D. Tex.), Amicus Therapeutics (D. N.J.), Atossa Therapeutics (W.D. Wash.), Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Cal. Sup. Ct.), and Globalscape, Inc. (W.D. Tex.), among others. In addition to his securities litigation work, Jake also assisted the firm in its work on the $14.7 billion settlement in the Volkswagen Diesel engine multi-district litigation, and has also led consumer litigation, including obtaining 100% recovery of damages for Massachusetts subscribers to newspapers published by Gatehouse Media, who were overcharged by the company.
Prior to joining Block & Leviton in 2015, Jake was an associate at two of the country’s top defense firms: Gibson Dunn in Palo Alto and Skadden, Arps in Boston. There, he represented boards of directors, corporate acquisition targets, and acquirers in litigation related to mergers and acquisitions. Jake represented defendants in litigation related to the $5.3 billion private equity acquisition of Del Monte Foods Company, as well as in litigation related to Intel’s $7.7 billion acquisition of McAfee Inc. He has also represented numerous third parties, including various investment banks, in M&A litigation in California and Delaware courts.
While Jake’s fourteen-year legal career has centered on securities and corporate governance litigation, Jake also has significant experience representing several large technology companies, including in the defense of consumer class actions related to privacy and technology issues. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and has a deep understanding of technology and privacy issues. Jake has also represented companies in antitrust class actions and investigations, stockholder derivative actions, securities class actions, and in investigations before the F.T.C. and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Jake graduated from Babson College with a B.S. degree in Business Administration in 2001 and received his law degree, with honors, from the University of Michigan in 2010. He was named a “Rising Star” in securities litigation beginning in 2016 by Super Lawyers.