Jason Leviton

Partner

Mr. Leviton is a co-founding partner of Block & Leviton and focuses his practice on investor protection and shareholder rights matters. He serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s New Case Investigation and Monitoring Team and Chair of the Merger and Acquisition Litigation Team.  Since 2011, Mr. Leviton has been named a “Rising Star” by Massachusetts Super Lawyers, an honor given to less than 3% of all lawyers in the Commonwealth. In 2014, Mr. Leviton was also named as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyer Association. In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Leviton was appointed to Law360’s Securities Law Editorial Board.

After receiving his law degree, Mr. Leviton attended the Georgetown University Law Center and received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Securities and Financial Regulation (Dean’s Award, 1 of 6). During that time, he was the inaugural LL.M. student selected for an externship with the S.E.C., Enforcement Division. Mr. Leviton is now a member of the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni.

Prior to forming Block & Leviton, Mr. Leviton was an attorney at three of the preeminent securities class action firms in the nation and worked on behalf of numerous institutional and individual investors.

  • Georgetown University Law Center, Masters of Law LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulations
  • Gonzaga University School of Law, J.D., cum laude
  • Gonzaga University, B.A., Philosophy and Political Science
  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • District of Columbia
  • State of Washington (voluntary inactive)
  • State of Florida (voluntary inactive)
  • U.S. District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. Western District of Washington
  • U.S. District of the District of Columbia
  • n re BP Securities Litigation (S.D. Tex.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; defeated, in substantial part, defendants’ motions to dismiss and successfully certified the class. Motions for Summary Judgement are currently pending.
  • In re Plains Exploration & Production Co. Stockholder Litigation (Del. Ch.)
  • Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty; litigation led to an increase of $400 million to the original merger amount.
  • In re VeriSign Securities Litigation (N.D. Cal.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled for $78 million.
  • Rubin v. MF Global, LTD., et al.(S.D.N.Y.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; ultimately settled for $90 million.
  • In re Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. Investor Litigation (N.Y. Sup. Ct.)
  • Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty; settled for $55 million.
  • In re Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Securities Litigation (Cal. Sup. Ct.)
  • Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty; settlement pending for $30 million, making it the largest post-close M&A settlement in California state court history.
  • Ong v. Sears Roebuck & Co. (N.D. Ill.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled for $15.5 million.
  • Welmon v. Chicago Bridge & Iron, et al. (S.D.N.Y.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled for $10.5 million and significant corporate governance enhancements
  • In re KIT Digital, Inc. Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled for more than $6 million following the company’s petition for bankruptcy. In approving the settlement, the Hon. John Sprizzo stated that: “Plaintiffs’ counsel have conducted the litigation and achieved teh settlement with skill, perseverance and diligent advocacy.”
  • In re Xybernaut Corporation Securities MDL Litigation (E.D. Va.)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled, post-bankruptcy, for $6.3 million.
  • In re Swisher Hygiene, Inc. Securities and Derivative Litigation (W.D.N.C)
  • Alleged violations of the federal securities laws; settled for nearly 40% of all cognizable damages.
  • In re Cybex Int’l Shareholders Litigation (N.Y. Sup. Ct)
  • Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty; settlement involved substantial dividend payment to shareholders leading to a premium of 104%.
  • In re Starbucks Consumer Litigation (W.D. Wa.)
  • Alleged violations of numerous state consumer protection statutes; settlement was for 100% of the class’s damages.
  • Brockton Retirement Board and City of Quincy Contributory Retirement Systems v. Oppenheimer Global Resource Private Equity Fund I, L.P., et al. (D. Mass.)
  • Alleged violation of the federal securities laws; settled for numerous improvements to Oppenheimer’s corporate governance structure regarding the valuation of assets, including the implementation of a third-party valuation firm.

Throughout his career, Mr. Leviton has been privileged to work on behalf of some of the largest and most sophisticated institutional clients in the United States and abroad. A sampling of those clients include:

  • The Ohio Retirement Systems
  • The Office of the General Counsel of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement Board and the State Employees Retirement System
  • The Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island
  • The Office of the New Mexico Attorney General on behalf of the New Mexico State Investment Council, the Public Employees Retirement System of New Mexico and the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board
  • The State of Wyoming Retirement System
  • The Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement
  • The Brockton Retirement Board
  • The Quincy Retirement Board
  • The City of Providence Solicitor’s Office on behalf of the Employee Retirement System of the City of Providence
  • The Warwick Retirement System
  • The State Universities Retirement System of Illinois
  • The Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System
  • The Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System
  • Fortis Investments, a major European Investment Company
  • The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 129
  • Commentator with Rights Radio on a program entitled, “Stock Fraud: How to Get A Portion of Your Money Back”
  • Commentator with Rights Radio on a program entitled, “Protecting Shareholder Rights Through Civil Prosecutorial Litigation”
  • Interviewed by Securities Law360 in an article entitled “CB&I Settles Securities Class Action for $10 million”
  • Interviewed by Securities Law360 in an article entitled “Zipcar Investor Challenges $491M Avis Deal”
  • Acknowledged for contribution in a Nebraska Law Review article entitled, “After the Ball is Over: Investor Remedies in the Wake of the Dot-Com Crash and Recent Corporate Scandals”
  • SEC Litigation Release No. 18638, “SEC Charges Cedric Kushner Promotions and Three of its Officers and Directors with Fraud; Chairman and Principal Financial and Accounting Officer Charged with Filing False Certifications Required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002”
  • Invited to speak with Georgetown University Law Center students on issues arising when prosecuting securities class action lawsuits.
  • Member of a Business Law Symposium entitled “Corporate Law, Then and Now,” which included several prominent speakers, including the Hon. Andrew Moore, a former Delaware Supreme Court Justice, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (Wash.).
  • In May 2013, conducted a presentation at the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems’ summer conference, entitled “Google, Inc. and Its Proposed Recapitalization: A Case Study of Hidden Threats to Corporate Governance and Diminution of the Franchise, What You Need to Know to Fulfill Your Duties As Trustee.“
  • Member of a Business Law Symposium entitled “Shareholder Rights: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.”
  • Named a Rising Star by Massachusetts Super Lawyers from 2011-2015
  • Named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by The National Trial Lawyer
  • Appointed to the Law360 Securities Law Editorial Board
  • Member, National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems
  • Member, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
  • Plaintiffs’ Class Action Forum (2014) (1 of 40)