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Jessica Valenzuela Santamaria is a partner in the Securities Litigation and Commercial Litigation practice groups and a member of the Cooley Litigation department. She joined the Firm in 2005 and is resident in the Firm's Palo Alto office. Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria also serves on the Firm's Diversity and Hiring Committees.
Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria's practice focuses on securities, corporate governance and other complex business litigation, including the defense of securities class actions, derivative suits and M&A-related class actions. In addition to representing clients in state and federal courts, Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria also represents companies, boards and special committees in government and internal investigations and counsels public and private companies and their directors and officers about a wide range of issues relating to corporate governance, insider trading, disclosure obligations and litigation risk and strategy. Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria has also litigated commercial disputes in international and domestic arbitrations. Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria's clients have included companies and individuals in the hardware, software, semiconductor, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, finance, internet and digital-media industries.
Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria's representative matters include:
- Obtaining a voluntary dismissal of federal securities class action lawsuits filed against a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company alleging that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and negotiating a favorable settlement of related derivative litigation.
- Negotiating favorable settlements of federal securities class actions and federal and state derivative actions on behalf of a former director and audit-committee chair of a Chinese company accused of accounting fraud that entered the U.S. capital markets through a reverse-merger.
- Obtaining an order dismissing a federal securities class action against a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company and members of its executive management team alleging that the company misrepresented the results of preclinical studies involving the company's leading drug candidate.
- Defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to enjoin the merger of two public companies in the digital-media industry on behalf of the acquirer.
- Negotiating the favorable settlement of a class action lawsuit filed against a publicly-traded rental company and its board of directors alleging breach of fiduciary duty related to an agreement to merge with another publicly-traded company.
- Negotiating the favorable settlement of a federal securities class action lawsuit filed against a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company and certain members of its management team alleging that the company misstated facts regarding the phase II clinical trials for its leading drug candidate.
- Representing private digital-media company and certain members of its management team in lawsuit filed by investor alleging violations of California and Washington securities laws and negotiating favorable settlement on the eve of trial.
- Obtaining dismissals of federal securities class actions and derivative lawsuits filed against a publicly-traded consumer goods company based on allegations of stock-option backdating.
- Representing the board of directors of a privately-held company in an internal investigation into allegations that management improperly included certain contracts in its bookings.
- Representing the special committee of the board of directors of a publicly-traded semiconductor company in an internal investigation into allegations of stock-option backdating.
- Representing privately-held computer chip company in international arbitration against former employees for breach of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements entered into in connection with the acquisition of the company.
Before joining Cooley, Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria was an associate at a litigation boutique where she represented clients in general litigation matters in both state and federal courts, including appellate courts.
Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria received her J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School in 2002. While at Stanford, Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria served as co-president of the Kirkwood Moot Court Board. In 1999, Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria received her bachelor's degree with departmental honors in English from Stanford University.
Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria has served as president of the Santa Clara County La Raza Lawyer's Association, as member of the Santa Clara County Bar Association's Board of Trustees, and as a member of the executive committee of the Santa Clara County Bar Association's Diversity Committee (formerly the Minority Access Committee). Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Clara La Raza Lawyers' Charitable Foundation.
Ms. Valenzuela Santamaria is a member of the State Bar of California, and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court-Northern District of California, the United States District Court-Southern District of California, United States District Court-Central District of California, United States District Court-Eastern District of California, and the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Education- Stanford Law School
JD, 2002, with distinction - Stanford University
BA, 1999, departmental honors
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Admissions
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Santa Clara County Bar Association
- Santa Clara County La Raza Lawyer's Association
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