Serena P. Hallowell

With more than 20 years of complex litigation and securities experience, Serena Hallowell has been recognized by her peers as a leader in the plaintiffs’ securities bar and a Plaintiffs’ Lawyer “Trailblazer” in 2019 by National Law Journal for her work in securities opt-out litigation.

As lead of Motley Rice’s direct-action litigation efforts, and a leader of the firm’s securities fraud team, Serena litigates for some of the world’s largest institutional investors, including pension funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, family offices, and other large institutional investors. She also regularly advises institutional investors and public entities regarding recovery opportunities in connection with fraud-related conduct. She is actively litigating cases against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Meta’s directors and officers, and Fiserv Inc.. Prior to her time at Motley Rice, Serena was the head of a direct-action practice and member of the securities class action group as a partner of a large securities law firm in New York. In that capacity, she was a key member of several litigation teams that achieved multi-million dollar settlements for clients, aggregating close to $500 million.*

Serena has also led opt-out cases against companies, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Perrigo Company, and Teva Pharmaceuticals, for a variety of institutional investors seeking to recoup losses stemming from alleged fraud-related conduct. With respect to Valeant, Serena and her team pursued claims under the New Jersey RICO statute and was the first opt-out plaintiff to successfully defeat a motion to dismiss those claims. Certain Valeant actions have since been resolved and in 2025 Serena resolved the last two Valeant matters she was prosecuting on behalf of two large institutional investors (under confidential terms) .

Serena is a frequent speaker in legal circles throughout the country on matters related to securities litigation, AI and technology, and corporate governance.

*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

•'Justices Should Acknowledge ESG’s Importance to Investors’ Law360 (June 2021)
•‘Don’t Forget the “E” and the “S” in ESG: Securities Lawsuits Are No Longer Only About Corporate Governance’ NAPPA Report (October 2021)
•'Mutual Funds Should Consider Shareholder Litigation,’ Law360 (Oct. 8, 2019)
•‘Around the World in a Decade: The Evolving Landscape of Securities Litigation Post-Morrison,’ NAPPA (Nov. 26, 2019)
•‘Emulex Highlights Greater Scrutiny of Issues at High Court,’ Law360 (April 25, 2019)
•‘China Agritech’s Positive Implications for Plaintiffs,’ Law360 (July 3, 2018)
•‘Direct Actions: A Path to Recovery for Foreign Purchases of Securities,’ The NAPPA Report (Oct. 31, 2017)
•‘Investor Recovery Strategies Following ANZ Securities,’ Law360 (July 12, 2017)
•‘Does ‘Dukes’ Require Full ‘Daubert’ Scrutiny at Class Certification?’ New York Law Journal (Nov. 25, 2011)

Awards, Accolades & Recognitions

Chambers USA

2025 Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Band 2

2024 Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Band 3

2020-2023 Litigation: Securities: Plaintiffs - New York, Up and Coming

Benchmark Litigation

2020-2021 Future Star

National Law Journal

2020 Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar

2019 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers

Lawdragon

2019-2026 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
Securities Litigation

2019-2020 Leading Lawyers in America

Law360

2019 Securities MVP

2016 Rising Star

The Legal 500 United States

2016-2017 Securities Litigation

Super Lawyers

2022-2024 New York Metro Super Lawyers - Securities

Blog Posts

February 9, 2026

The impact of product recalls on shareholder wealth Causes, Not Just Cases

by: Christopher Moriarty

February 26, 2020

Decade in Review: Plaintiffs’ Litigation Highlights Causes, Not Just Cases

by: Joseph F. Rice

July 11, 2019

Corporate disclosure in the age of Twitter: Social media’s impact on pension funds Causes, Not Just Cases

by: Annie E. Kouba

News

June 5, 2025

Motley Rice Nationally Ranked in 2025 Chambers USA Guide

by: Motley Rice

April 28, 2025

The history and legacy of Workers’ Memorial Day

by:
M. Nolan Webb