Ryan Blair

Ryan focuses 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 US 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 video game companies and members of its executive management alleging that the company made false and misleading statements regarding its partnership with video game 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 alleging that they misrepresented the results of a preclinical study involving the company’s leading drug candidate.
• Encore Capital Group: Jury verdict in favor of Cooley’s 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.
• IonQ: Secured a victory in a securities class action alleging that the IonQ-dMY Technology Group merger misrepresented IonQ’s technology, misleading that a third party, not cloud-based customers, was the source of its bookings. The court granted Cooley’s motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs filed for reconsideration and leave to file an amended complaint, Cooley opposed, and the court denied plaintiffs’ motion. The dismissal was affirmed on appeal.
• 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.
• 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.