Rebecca E. Boon

Rebecca Boon has been litigating securities fraud and shareholder rights actions for over a decade, recovering more than $1.5 billion for the firm’s institutional investor clients. Her work at the firm expands beyond litigation. Rebecca has advanced equality in the workplace by co-founding the Beyond #MeToo working group and leading landmark recoveries that have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars back to investors and important social change among industries.

Most recently, under the dual pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fast-paced Eastern District of Virginia docket, Rebecca led the trial team that recovered $90 million for investors in Willis Towers Watson in direct and related shareholder derivative litigation arising from the merger of Towers and Willis. Beyond the significant financial recovery, this case was particularly significant because BLB&G obtained decisions from both the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District Court that created highly favorable law for pleading claims under Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act.

Rebecca also led the trial team that recovered $240 million for investors in Signet, the first successful resolution of a securities fraud class action based on allegations of sexual harassment. In this case both the class certification decision and the Judge’s decision that the Company’s statements about gender equality and sexual harassment could be actionable in a securities class action are landmark decisions that exceed even the significant financial recovery achieved for shareholders.

Among numerous other of her notable recoveries, Rebecca was a senior member of the team that obtained $480 million for investors in the securities class action against Wells Fargo & Co. related to its fake accounts scandal, one of the largest settlements in Ninth Circuit history. Rebecca also represented the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System in a securities litigation against the General Motors Company arising from a series of misrepresentations concerning the quality, safety, and reliability of the Company’s cars, which resulted in a $300 million settlement—the second largest securities class action recovery in the Sixth Circuit.

Rebecca was also a senior member of the trial team that prosecuted an unprecedented shareholder derivative litigation against Fox News parent 21st Century Fox, Inc. arising from the systemic sexual and workplace harassment at the embattled network. After nearly 18 months of litigation, the team obtained a landmark settlement in 2018 with two key components: 1) the first ever Board-level watchdog of its kind—the "Fox News Workplace Professionalism and Inclusion Council" of experts—majority independent of the Murdochs, the Company, and Board; and 2) one of the largest financial recoveries—$90 million—ever obtained in a pure corporate board oversight dispute. Because of her work on the case, Rebecca subsequently narrated a feature documentary by Dow Jones’ MarketWatch discussing both the Fox litigation and the ways that investors can harness their power to create meaningful social change through shareholder litigation.

Rebecca regularly lectures at law schools, universities and conferences in the U.S. and abroad on the topics of social change, sexual harassment, and shareholder litigation. She is a founding member and the chairperson of Beyond #MeToo: A Working Group on Corporate Governance, Compliance, and Risk. Comprised of diversity-inclusion experts, litigators, and academics, B#MT is dedicated to understanding the root causes of workplace harassment, discrimination, and misconduct and making corporate America a better and more inclusive place for all of us to work.

Rebecca co-leads BLB&G’s Women’s Committee and is active in BLBG’s Women’s Forum. Rebecca is also a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee. In addition, Rebecca sits on the board of The Feminist Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to collecting, digitizing and sharing feminist history.

In recognition of her achievements, she has been named a "Rising Star" by Law360, a "Rising Star of the Plaintiffs Bar" by The National Law Journal, a "Young Lawyer of the Year" by The American Lawyer, and is included in both the Super Lawyers publication of leading practitioners by Thomson Reuters as a "Rising Star" and the "500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer" list by Lawdragon. Rebecca was also named to Benchmark Litigation's "40 and Under Hot List" for 2021 and 2020.