Ryan Blair

Ryan focuses his practice on securities, corporate governance and shareholder litigation, including the defense of securities class actions, derivative suits and M&A litigation. He also represents companies, boards and special committees in connection with Securities and Exchange Commission investigations and civil enforcement actions, as well as internal corporate investigations. Ryan has worked with clients in the hardware, software, semiconductor, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, internet and digital media industries. His practice also includes complex commercial litigation.

Representative matters include:

• Activision Blizzard: Dismissal of a federal securities class action against one of the world’s largest videogame companies and members of its executive management alleging that the company made false and misleading statements regarding its partnership with videogame developer Bungie
• Arena Pharmaceuticals: Secured victories in multiple rounds of motions to dismiss, the final one with prejudice, in a federal securities class action against a publicly traded pharmaceutical company and several of its executives misrepresented the results of a pre-clinical study involving the company’s leading drug candidate
• Encore Capital Group: Jury verdict in favor of our client in the US District Court for the Southern District of California in a lawsuit filed by the company's former general counsel alleging that the company breached the terms of his settlement agreement
• Sequenom: Voluntary dismissal of a federal derivative action filed against a publicly traded pharmaceutical company and members of its board of directors alleging breaches of fiduciary duties regarding the company's pricing program for its prenatal diagnostic test
• Stratasys: Obtained an order from the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirming the dismissal of a federal securities class action lawsuit against a 3D printing company alleging that the company made false or misleading statements regarding a subsidiary’s release of a new “fifth generation” or “5G” 3D printer
• Tremor Video: Obtained an order from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirming the dismissal of a federal securities class-action lawsuit filed against a publicly traded digital media company alleging that the company failed to disclose certain trends and uncertainties that materially impacted the company

Selected publications:

• "Omnicare: Old and New Standards for Section 11 Opinion Liability," Securities Litigation Journal, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Vol. 25, No. 3, Spring 2015.
• "Discounting Anonymity: The Future of Confidential Witnesses Post-Tellabs in Federal Securities Fraud Class Actions," Securities Litigation Journal, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Vol. 18, No. 3, Spring 2008, William E. Grauer and Ryan E. Blair.