Partners Carol C. Villegas and Michael P. Canty appeared on RebuttalPR’s Raising the Bar podcast, where they reflect on how their prosecutorial courtroom experience led them to plaintiff-side litigation.  They share their selective, trial-ready approach to every case they take on, their dedication to mentoring junior attorneys into well-rounded litigators, and their strategies in securities and data privacy matters—culminating in a deep dive into the Meta trial and the powerful message its jury verdict sends to corporations.

Carol and Michael underline the importance of trial readiness from the inception of cases.  “Ultimately, we want cases that are going to have jury appeal that we’re going to be able to convey to a jury that this is fraud,” Michael notes.  “We’re very selective in the types of cases that we bring,” Carol adds.  “We want to bring our clients the best result possible, and you’re going to do that when you have really good cases.”  Emphasizing their commitment to developing well-rounded litigators, Carol and Michael highlight how Labaton’s trial advocacy program equips attorneys to confidently take cases to trial.  Carol explains, “because you have the institutional knowledge from the very beginning of the case . . . you’ve been there for every strategic decision, you know the documents, and you believe in the case . . . that gives us an edge.” Michael adds, “If a defense firm knows that you’re the firm that knows how to prepare a trial case and go to trial, they’re going to take that threat seriously.”  

In discussing the Firm’s industry-leading securities litigation practice, Carol and Michael discuss their rigorous approach to upholding market integrity and safeguarding investors: “I think we provide a real value to the market,” Michael notes.  “Without private securities litigation, you would see a real change in how corporations disclose information and how they handle insider trading.  Securities litigation provides a real function to investors.  Large institutional investors, like state public pension funds and other institutional investors, are stepping up and that speaks volumes to how they view the real value it has to their pensioners.” They add that Labaton’s team of in-house investigators give them a unique competitive advantage by being able to dig into potential cases of fraud or corporate malfeasance.

As the lead trial attorneys in a landmark data privacy case against tech giant Meta Platforms Inc., in which the jury found Meta liable for its role in the unauthorized collection and commercial use of highly personal health data from third-party app Flo Health, Carol and Michael discuss how the case “sheds a spotlight on some of the data that companies like Meta are getting when you use an app or a website,” adding that the case not only stands as the first case of its kind using CIPA, a wiretapping statute, to prove Meta recorded sensitive user health data without consent, but was also “the first opportunity that consumers have had a chance to sit there and stand up to Meta.” When asked what the historic verdict means for the future of consumer data in an increasingly digital age, Carol and Michael underscore the importance of safeguarding individual rights.  “Until these companies understand that they have to get proper consent and not roll out these new technologies and then ask for forgiveness years later, we’re going to have firms like ours looking to bring these cases because consumers care about this stuff.”