Benjamin F. Jackson

Benjamin F. Jackson is an associate at Cohen Milstein and a member of the Securities Litigation & Investor Protection practice where he represents institutional and individual shareholders in derivative lawsuits and securities class actions. In 2022, Super Lawyers recognized Mr. Jackson as a New York Metro Rising Star. 

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Mr. Jackson was a litigation associate at a highly regarded national defense firm, where he focused on securities, antitrust, white collar investigations, and intellectual property litigation.

Currently, Mr. Jackson is involved in litigating the following notable matters:

• In re EQT Corporation Securities Litigation (W.D. Pa.): Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel in this securities class action, in which Plaintiffs allege that EQT misrepresented the synergies and cost savings that could be expected to arise from EQT’s $6.7 billion merger with rival natural gas producer Rice Energy, and then concealed that EQT was suffering from undisclosed well collapses and skyrocketing costs after the merger closed.
• Bayer Securities Litigation (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is Lead Counsel in this securities class action, in which Plaintiffs allege that in connection with its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer misrepresented the rigor of its due diligence and the nature of the legal risk presented by Monsanto’s flagship product, the herbicide Roundup. Bayer investors incurred significant losses after bellwether jury trials in toxic tort cases repeatedly found in favor of the plaintiffs against Monsanto, including finding that Roundup was a “substantial factor” in causing the plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and leading to jury awards totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb CVR Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is Lead Counsel in this securities class action arising from Bristol Myers’ alleged subversion of the FDA approval process for the cancer therapy Liso-cel for the purpose of avoiding a $6.4 billion payment to holders of contingent value rights (CVRs).
• Nikola Corp. Derivative Litigation (Del. Ch.): Cohen Milstein filed a shareholder derivative action against Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Nikola Corporation, a zero-emissions vehicle startup company, and certain other current and former directors and officers of Nikola. The action alleges that Milton engaged in an ongoing criminal fraud involving the dissemination of materially false and misleading statements regarding Nikola’s business, technology and expected financial performance to Nikola stockholders and the public. Nikola ultimately paid the SEC $125 million to settle an investigation relating to Milton’s fraudulent scheme.

Mr. Jackson served as a law clerk to the Honorable Katherine B. Forrest of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and to the Honorable Robert D. Sack of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Jackson earned his A.B., summa cum laude, at Washington University in St. Louis, where he was a Lien Scholar. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served as Forum Chair of the Harvard Law Review and won the Ames Moot Court Competition.

A prolific writer, Mr. Jackson’s legal publications include Censorship and Freedom of Expression in the Age of Facebook, 44 N.M. L. Rev. 121 (2014); Note, Danger Lurking in the Shadows: Why Regulators Lack the Authority to Effectively Fight Contagion in the Shadow Banking System, 127 Harv. L. Rev. 729 (2013); and Recent Case, U.S. Bank National Ass’n v. Ibanez, 941 N.E.2d 40 (Mass. 2011), 125 Harv. L. Rev. 827 (2012).

Mr. Jackson currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Committee on Securities and Exchanges of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA), and he is also a member of NYCLA’s Committee on Federal Courts.

Before attending law school, Mr. Jackson was a consultant in the financial services practice of a global strategy consulting firm.