May 16, 2023
Carol V. Gilden is an innovative and tenacious shareholder rights advocate who goes to the mat for her clients against Corporate America’s toughest opponents. Indeed, 2022 was no exception. Carol blazed new trails for investors nationwide in both federal court and Delaware Chancery Court, establishing new forum bylaw caselaw.
Carol represented the Seafarers Pension Plan in not one, but two parallel shareholder disputes related to the tragic 737 MAX plane crashes and Boeing’s misstatements and mishandling of corporate controls that led to the crashes, and subsequent investigations. A seemingly straight-forward shareholder derivative dispute concerning Boeing’s proxy statements used to elect directors turned into a contentious powerplay when the Directors attempted to thwart the litigation by enforcing a forum bylaw that was, in effect, set up to undermine any accountability. Undeterred, Carol persevered and won a significant victory this winter for not only her clients, but shareholders nationwide, resulting in both the Illinois federal court and Delaware Chancery Court requiring Boeing to revise its forum bylaw, thereby allowing stockholders to file exclusively federal derivative claims in the future.
Carol also won a significant victory for investors in August before the Tenth Circuit, which found sufficient multiple allegations of scienter against Pluralsight insiders who cashed out $37.2 million of stock.
Carol has led an illustrious and trailblazing career, starting at the SEC Enforcement Division, being court-appointed Lead or Co-Lead counsel to some of the nation’s most pivotal securities class actions, including as Lead Counsel in IntraLinks, one of the first securities class actions certified after the Supreme Court’s Halliburton II decision, and serving as the first woman president of the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys. Carol is currently a Vice-President of the Institute for Law and Economic Policy and served on Advisory Councils to the Council for Institutional Investors.
See the 2023 Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers list.