Sarah Lightdale

Sarah Lightdale has extensive experience in complex commercial disputes, with a particular focus on defending companies and directors and officers in litigation regarding mergers and acquisitions, securities class actions and derivative cases. She has represented public and private companies, investment banks, private equity and venture capital firms, boards of directors and individuals in a variety of actions in state and federal courts and arbitration. She also has substantial experience conducting internal investigations and defending clients in investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA.

Sarah’s recent experience includes successful representations of numerous corporate and individual clients in the life sciences and technology industries in shareholder class actions arising from critical company events, including announcements of clinical trial results and mergers. Representative matters include:

• Defending current officers of NVIDIA in a securities fraud class action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California; 
• Defending current and former directors and officers of Meredith in a securities fraud class action in the US District Court for the District of Iowa;
• Defending current and former directors and officers of CenturyLink in a securities fraud class action and shareholder derivative suits in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota;
• Defending former directors and officers of NewLink Genetics in a securities fraud class action in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit;
• Defending former directors and officers of Altor BioScience against breach of fiduciary duty claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery;
• Defending a former director of MindBody against breach of fiduciary duty claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery;
• Defending Art.com against shareholder claims in the California Superior Court for Alameda County;
• Defending former directors and officers of Sequenom in a securities fraud class action in the US District Court for the Southern District of California;
• Defended Ooyala Holdings against appraisal claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery;
• Defended Good Technology and former directors and officers against breach of fiduciary duty and appraisal claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery;
• Defended former directors and officers of Occam Networks against breach of fiduciary duty claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

From 2009 to 2010, Sarah served as law clerk to the Honorable Eric N. Vitaliano of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Selected Publications:

• “Puffery or Not? Courts Examine Corporate Codes of Conduct,” New York Law Journal, July 15, 2020; Sarah Lightdale, Ian Shapiro and Linh Nguyen