Emma Gilmore is a partner at the Firm and is regularly involved in high-profile class-action litigation. She was named a 2020 Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer by the National Law Journal, an award created to “honor a handful of individuals from each practice area that are truly agents of change.” Benchmark Litigation honored Emma as a Top 250 Female Litigator in 2020. In 2018, Emma was honored as an MVP in Securities Litigation, part of an “elite slate of attorneys [who] have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.” Only up to six attorneys nationwide are selected each year as MVPs in Securities Litigation. Emma is the first woman plaintiff attorney to receive this outstanding award since it was initiated in 2011. Emma was also honored in 2019 and 2018 as a Super Lawyer® in the New York Metro area. She has been recognized by Lawdragon 500 as one of the top Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers.
Emma is regularly invited to speak about recent trends and developments in securities litigation. She was recently selected to serve on the New York City Bar Association’s Securities Litigation Committee for a three-year term beginning on August 1, 2019. In that capacity she will have the opportunity to help shape law and public policy by, among other things, drafting reports, commenting and testifying on legislation, and submitting briefs. Emma regularly counsels clients around the world on how to maximize recoveries on their investments.
Emma played a leading role in the Firm’s class action case in the Southern District of New York against Brazil’s largest oil company, Petrobras, arising from a multi-billion-dollar kickback and bribery scheme, in which the Firm was sole Lead Counsel. In a significant victory for investors, Pomerantz achieved a historic $3 billion settlement with Petrobras. This is not only the largest securities class action settlement in a decade but is the largest settlement ever in a class action involving a foreign issuer, the fifth-largest class action settlement ever achieved in the United States, and the largest settlement achieved by a foreign lead plaintiff. The biggest instance of corruption in the history of Brazil had ensnared not only Petrobras' former executives but also Brazilian politicians, including former president Lula da Silva and one-third of the Brazilian Congress. Emma was the principal drafter of the complaint. She deposed and defended numerous fact and expert witnesses, including deposing the former CEO of Petrobras, the whistleblower, and the chief accountant. She was also the principal drafter of the appellate brief and played an instrumental role in securing a significant victory for investors in this case at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, when the Court rejected the heightened ascertainability requirement for obtaining class certification that had been imposed by other circuit courts. She opposed defendants' petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court. Emma successfully obtained sanctions against a professional objector challenging the integrity of the settlement, both in the District Court and in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Emma played a leading role in Strougo v. Barclays PLC, a high-profile securities class action that alleged Barclays PLC misled institutional investor clients about the extent of the banking giant’s use of so-called “dark pool” trading systems. She drafted the complaint, defeated defendants’ efforts to dismiss the action, and contributed to securing an important precedent-setting opinion from the Second Circuit. Emma organized a group of leading evidence experts who filed amicus briefs supporting plaintiffs’ position in the Second Circuit.
Emma also plays a leading role in the Firm's class action litigation against Arconic, arising from the deadliest U.K. fire in more than a century.
She also represents Safra Bank in a class action against Samarco Mineração S.A., in connection with the Fundao dam-burst disaster, which is widely regarded as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history.
Emma played a leading role in the high-profile class action litigation against Yahoo! Inc., in which the Firm, as Lead Counsel, achieved an $80 million settlement for the Class. The case involved the biggest data breaches in U.S. history, in which over 3 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised.
Among other cases, Emma is part of the team prosecuting securities fraud claims against BP on behalf of many foreign and domestic public and private pension funds arising from the company's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In re BP p.l.c. Sec. Litig., No. 10-md-2185 (S.D. Tex.). She helped devise a cutting-edge strategy that established the right of individual foreign investors who purchased foreign-traded shares of a foreign corporation to pursue claims for securities fraud in a U.S. court, thereby overcoming obstacles created by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd.
Emma secured a unanimous decision by a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, benefiting defrauded investors in Costa Brava Partnership III LP v. ChinaCast Education Corp. In an issue of first impression, the Ninth Circuit held that imputation of the CEO's scienter to the company was warranted vis-a-vis innocent third parties, despite the fact that the executive acted for his own benefit and to the company's detriment.
She has also devoted a significant amount of time to pro bono matters. She played a critical role in securing a unanimous ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court striking down as unconstitutional a state law banning cohabiting individuals from adopting children or serving as foster parents. The ruling was a relief for the 1,600-plus children in the state of Arkansas who needed a permanent family. The litigation generated significant publicity, including coverage by the Arkansas Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.
Before joining Pomerantz, Emma was a litigation associate with the firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, and Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. She worked on the WorldCom Securities Litigation, which settled for $2 billion.
She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas C. Platt, former U.S. Chief Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Emma graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School, where she served as a staff editor for the Brooklyn Law Review. She was the recipient of two CALI Excellence for the Future Awards, being the highest scoring student in the subjects of evidence and discovery. She graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University, with a BA in French and a minor in Business.
She serves on the Firm's Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Committee.
Emma is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the State of New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits.