John Simon heads Cornerstone Research’s Chicago office. Mr. Simon focuses his practice on investment management and ERISA litigation, as well as financial institutions and securities litigation. He has experience in all aspects of litigation, including early-stage case strategy, expert reports, deposition, mediation, and trial. Mr. Simon regularly leads large teams working with multiple experts.
ERISA
Mr. Simon has worked on case matters related to defined benefit, defined contribution, and nonqualified plans. He has addressed a range of topics, including plan structures, investment management fees, recordkeeping and administrative fees, investment performance, asset allocation, investment selection and monitoring, fiduciary process, investment in company securities, and class certification. His ERISA case experience covers more than sixty matters, including Pender v. Bank of America, Hecker v. Deere, Tussey v. ABB, Brieger v. Tellabs, and In re Principal U.S. Property Account ERISA Litigation. Mr. Simon has led teams on more than twenty 401(k) and 403(b) excessive fee matters. He also has extensive experience working with and analyzing individual-level transaction data.
Investment management
Mr. Simon has addressed numerous issues involving mutual funds, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), separate accounts, collective trusts, hedge funds, and private equity funds. Mr. Simon has led teams on a significant number of matters involving claims of excessive mutual fund fees under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, including Baker v. American Century and Sivolella v. AXA. He has analyzed the investment performance and investment strategy of a range of investment products. Mr. Simon has also valued a hedge fund and addressed damages in several mutual fund matters.
Financial institutions
In Mr. Simon’s broad experience in matters involving financial institutions, he has:
- Analyzed a range of issues in the commercial banking industry, including loan underwriting, loan monitoring, asset-backed lending, regulatory capital requirements, loan loss reserves, credit quality, securities lending, and custody services
- Analyzed an array of issues related to securities firms, including capital market transactions, IPO allocations, agency commissions, transaction due diligence, leveraged buyouts, corporate bond trading and pricing, tracking stocks, and interest rate swaps
- Addressed matters related to insurance companies and their products, such as variable annuities, stable value products, and general account investments
Securities
Mr. Simon has addressed class certification, market efficiency, loss causation, materiality, liability, and damages in securities cases involving stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Pharmaceuticals and healthcare
Mr. Simon has worked on matters involving breach of contract, valuation, off-label marketing, irreparable harm, and commercial success in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Before joining Cornerstone Research, Mr. Simon worked in the equity research and investment banking groups at FBR & Co. and at Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett Inc.
Professor Laura Starks Awarded Prize for Outstanding Research in Sustainable Finance
- Leveraged and Inverse ETFs
- 36b Mutual Fund Excessive Fee Litigation
- Allegations of Excessive Mutual Fund Fees
- In re Principal U.S. Property Account ERISA Litigation
- ERISA Class Certification
- Brieger et al. v. Tellabs, Inc., et al.
- Market Timing
- Hecker et al. v. Deere & Company et al.
- Baker v. American Century Investment Management, Inc.
- “ERISA Litigation,” 5th Annual Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) Public Policy Forum, 3 April 2014
