George J. Skelly

George Skelly is a litigator with almost 30 years of experience successfully representing officers, directors and companies in high stakes litigation, government investigations and arbitrations. George heads the firm’s securities litigation practice.

I focus on defending officers, directors and companies in SEC inquiries and enforcement actions and in securities fraud class actions. But I also represent companies in a variety of large commercial disputes. I recently represented a major public REIT in a contest for control initiated by activist shareholders. I successfully litigated and tried claims for $1 billion in principal and interest in the largest operating Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed in Delaware. I successfully defended the CEO of a major public software company in a 15-day federal jury trial in which the SEC claimed accounting fraud. My team obtained a complete victory in a two-year federal court enforcement action by the SEC against the collateral manager of a complex derivative financial product (CDO). Acting as ‘plaintif’s counsel,’ I achieved a significant victory for a consumer product company in an arbitration against a component supplier to recover costs associated with a major product recall. I have defended individual officers and directors in SEC actions and investigations in each of the major waves of securities litigation over the last two decades, including market timing, stock option backdating and financial-crisis-era mortgage-backed securities offerings.