Nationally-noted class action securities attorney and now retired, Bill Lerach was the first guest on our radio program on Oct 30 2011. He delivered this lecture at the University of San Diego School of Law’s Warren Hall on Oct 19, 2012. Dean Stephen Ferruolo provided the introduction.

Over the course of his legal career of 30 years, Bill Lerach led teams of attorneys in the largest securities class-action lawsuits in history. His litigations recovered over $45 billion for damaged and defrauded investors, including the $7.2 billion recovery in the Enron securities litigation—the largest private securities class action recovery to date. He also prosecuted numerous human rights suits, including cases on behalf of victims of the European holocaust and workers forced to endure “slave labor-like” conditions on Saipan.

He will discuss the evolution of private civil litigation in the United States over the course of his career, exploring how curtailing the ability of individuals to access the courts is having adverse consequences for our financial markets, individual and institutional investors, and the United States economy as a whole.