Brian Drake is a staff attorney at Cohen Milstein and a member of the Antitrust practice. In this role, he assists in discovery and evidentiary-related aspects of litigation and deposition preparation.    

Brian brings more than two decades of discovery experience in high profile antitrust, whistleblower, and securities litigation matters, including document analysis, legal research and writing, as well as trial and witness preparation.

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Brian was a staff attorney at a highly regarded national plaintiffs law firm for over ten years. 

While attending law school, Brian was a law clerk at two distinguished defense law firms in Washington, D.C.

Daniel R. Sutter is a partner in Cohen Milstein’s Employee Benefits/ERISA practice. He represents the interests of employees, retirees, plan participants and beneficiaries in ERISA cases across the country. 

Prior to becoming an associate at Cohen Milstein, Dan served as a Legal Fellow in the firm’s Employee Benefits practice, where he investigated, developed, and drafted complaints against major financial institutions for ERISA violations. Before that, Dan worked at Cohen Milstein as a law clerk (2013-2016) and as an analyst (2010-2016), where he researched and aided in the development of potential cases for a number of practices. 

In law school, Dan was a member of the Federal Circuit Bar Journal, and he also worked as a law clerk at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Legal Division, in the summer of 2015. He also studied at the London School of Economics. 

Daniel S. Sommers is a highly regarded and deeply experienced litigator and thought leader in the areas of securities and class action litigation and investor rights.

During his nearly four-decade career at Cohen Milstein, Daniel has taken leadership roles in large, complex, and significant securities cases. He has provided litigation counsel to institutional investors, including state-wide public pension funds, public safety pension funds, and Taft-Hartley pension funds. His cases span industries including financial services, computer software, pharmaceutical, healthcare, energy, insurance, real estate, and telecommunications, among others. In addition, he has substantial experience in cases presenting complex accounting and auditing issues.  He is experienced in taking testimony from key witnesses – including chief executive and chief financial officers, board members, law and accounting firm partners, and expert witnesses.

In addition, Daniel has successfully handled matters involving non-U.S. issuers including the groundbreaking $58.4 million securities class action recovery, in which the Amsterdam Court of Appeal declared binding a world-wide class action settlement of claims of non-U.S. investors who purchased Converium shares outside of the United States. The ruling was a major victory for worldwide investors because it successfully implemented the Dutch Collective Settlement Statute even though the underlying transactions had limited contact with the Netherlands.

Many of Daniel’s cases have resulted in important rulings and legal precedents, as well as recoveries for investors totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, Daniel was co-lead counsel for a group of pension funds in In re Bear Stearns Mortgage-Pass Through Certificates Litigation, which resulted in a recovery of $500 million. The recovery was among the largest ever obtained in a securities class action arising from the issuance of mortgage-backed securities. Daniel has also been responsible for many other recoveries for investors in securities class action cases in federal courts throughout the United States including among others: 

  • In re EQT Securities Litigation, (W.D. Pa.) (representing Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Annuity Fund and Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Pension Fund and obtaining $167.5 million recovery pending court approval)
  • Steiner v. Southmark Corporation (N.D. Tex.) (over $70 million recovery)
  • In re PictureTel Inc. Securities Litigation (D. Mass.) ($12 million recovery)
  • In re Opus Bank Securities Litigation (C.D. Cal.) (representing the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and obtaining a $17 million recovery)
  • In re Physician Corporation of America Securities Litigation (S.D. Fla.) ($10.2 million recovery)
  • In re Gilat Satellite Securities Litigation (E.D.N.Y.) ($20 million recovery)
  • In re Pozen Inc. Securities Litigation (M.D.N.C.) ($11.2 million recovery)
  • In re Nextel Communications Securities Litigation (D.N.J.) (up to $27 million recovery)
  • In re PSINet Inc. Securities Litigation (E.D. Va.) ($17.8 million recovery)
  • In re Cascade International Inc. Securities Litigation (S.D. Fla.) (global recovery of approximately $10 million)
  • In re GT Solar Securities Litigation (D.N.H.) (representing the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and obtaining a recovery of $10.5 million)
  • Mulligan v. Impax Laboratories, Inc. (N.D. Cal.) (representing the Boilermakers Blacksmith National Pension Trust and obtaining a recovery of $8 million)
  • Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund v. Orthofix, N.V. (S.D.N.Y.) (representing the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund and obtaining a recovery of $11 million)
  • In re ECI Telecom Securities Ltd. Litigation (E.D. Va.) ($21.75 million recovery)

Daniel has handled significant appellate matters including arguing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Hemmer Group v. Southwest Water Company, where he obtained a reversal of the district court’s order dismissing investors’ claims under the Securities Act of 1933.  In addition, he was co-lead counsel for investors before the Supreme Court of the United States in Broudo v. Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 544 U.S. 336 (2005) (addressing the standards for pleading loss causation).

Also experienced in non-class action litigation, Daniel represented TBG Inc., a multi-billion dollar privately held overseas corporation, in a multi-party, complex action alleging fraud in a corporate acquisition and represented individuals in connection with investigations brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Daniel has also served as a leader and mentor inside the firm. He served on Cohen Milstein’s Executive Committee for twelve years from 2007 through 2019 and is the immediate past co-chair of its Securities Litigation and Investor Protection practice group.

Daniel is a nationally recognized thought leader on securities law and securities class action litigation. He has frequently addressed investor and legal groups and has been quoted by multiple publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Law360.  In addition, he has been a guest lecturer at Georgetown Law School, The George Washington University Law School, and the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. 

Andrew N. Friedman is Of Counsel at Cohen Milstein and the immediate past co-chair of the Consumer Protection practice. Practicing in the class action field since 1985, Andy is a nationally recognized leader in the area of complex, multi-state class action lawsuits against manufacturers and consumer service providers, such as banks, insurers, credit card companies, and others, who is ready to take litigation all the way through trial.

In 2018, Mr. Friedman was named a Law360’s MVP in Data Privacy and Security, an award recognizing only five lawyers in the United States in this emergent area of law. In addition, under his leadership, Cohen Milstein’s Consumer Protection practice received numerous industry awards, including Law360’s Practice Group of the Year for Consumer Protection in 2018-19, The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers Consumer award in 2018, and Law360’s Practice Group of the Year – Privacy in 2017.

Over the years, Andy has been court-appointed Lead or Co-Lead Counsel in numerous high-profile and often precedent-setting class actions, bringing relief to millions of consumers and recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in class actions.