Brian E. Cochran

Brian Cochran is a partner in Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s San Diego and Chicago offices. He focuses his practice on complex securities, shareholder, consumer protection, and ERISA litigation. Brian specializes in case investigation and initiation and lead plaintiff issues arising under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. He has developed dozens of cases under the federal securities laws and recovered billions of dollars for injured investors and consumers. Several of Brian’s cases have pioneered new ground, such as cases on behalf of cryptocurrency investors and in blank check companies (a.k.a “SPACs”), and sparked follow-on governmental investigations into corporate malfeasance.

Brian was a member of the litigation team that achieved a $1.21 billion settlement in the Valeant Pharmaceuticals securities litigation. Brian also developed the Dynamic Ledger securities litigation, one of the first cases to challenge a cryptocurrency issuer’s failure to register under the federal securities laws, which settled for $25 million. In addition, Brian was part of the team that secured a historic $25 million settlement on behalf of Trump University students, which Brian prosecuted on a pro bono basis. Other notable recoveries include: Rite Aid Merger ($192.5 million); Exelon ($173 million); Micro Focus ($107.5 million); Walgreens ($105 million); Scotts Miracle-Gro (up to $85 million); Psychiatric Solutions ($65 million); SQM Chemical & Mining Co. of Chile ($62.5 million); GE ERISA ($61 million); Grubhub ($42 million); Big Lots ($38 million); Credit Suisse ($32.5 million); GoHealth ($29.5 million); Reckitt Benckiser ($19.6 million); DouYu ($15 million); REV Group ($14.25 million); Fifth Street Finance ($14 million); Third Avenue Management ($14 million); LJM ($12.85 million); Sealed Air ($12.5 million); Camping World ($12.5 million); FTS International ($9.875 million); and JPMorgan ERISA ($9 million).

During law school, Brian externed for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He also participated in Berkeley Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, filing a complaint with the Office of Accountability (OA) of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation on behalf of indigenous Mexican villagers which alleged human rights and environmental harms related to an international energy project. Brian secured the first project suspension ever in the history of the OA, for which he was recognized by the ABA’s Student Lawyer magazine. He also oversaw the California Asylum Representation Clinic, the nation’s only fully student-run refugee and asylum clinic, which won asylum for dozens of refugees and was awarded the U.C. Berkeley Chancellor’s Public Service Award during his tenure.

Brian has been recognized as a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer and a Leading Litigator in America by Lawdragon, a Leading Lawyer, a Rising Star, and a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500, a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine, on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List, and named to the Best Lawyers in America list by Best Lawyers®. He has also been included in the 500 X - The Next Generation Lawdragon guide.

Brian earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Princeton University, with honors, and received his Juris Doctor degree from University of California at Berkeley School of Law. His publications include: Controlling Litigation Risks for SPACS, China Bus. L.J. (Apr. 2021); From Promise to Practice: Towards a Functional Assessment of the Office of Accountability of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, 8 Publicist Berkeley J. Int’l L. (2011); and Reviewing Tom Bingham, Widening Horizons: The Influence of Comparative Law and International Law on Domestic Law, 29 Berkeley J. Int’l L. 710 (2011).

• Leading Litigator in America, Lawdragon, 2025
• Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyers®, 2025
• 500 X - The Next Generation, Lawdragon, 2023-2024
• Leading Lawyer, The Legal 500, 2024
• 40 & Under List, Benchmark Litigation, 2021, 2023-2024
• Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2024
• Next Generation Partner, The Legal 500, 2020-2023
• Rising Star, Super Lawyers Magazine, 2020-2022
• Rising Star, The Legal 500, 2019

University of California at Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall, J.D., 2012

• Order of the Coif
• American Jurisprudence Award for Business, Social Responsibility and Human Rights

Princeton University, A.B., 2006, Anthropology

• With Honors 

• California
• Illinois
• New York
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Notable Cases

• Berkeley Law, Center for Law and Business, Cryptocurrency Regulation Virtual Conference: How Should Practitioners and Policymakers React?, Token Disclosure, Berkeley, California, February 8, 2023

• University of San Diego, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, Center for CyberSecurity Engineering and Technology, Cyber Law & Risk Symposium, Panning for Gold: Next generation risk management strategies, San Diego, California, November 3, 2022

• CFA Institute, SPAC Working Group, SPAC Conflicts of Interest & Incentives, Virtual; September 14, 2021

• The National Public Pension Fund Association, National Round Table Conference, Current Trends in Securities Litigation, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; August 2, 2021
• The Opal Group, SPAC Opportunities Forum, Comparing IPO’s vs SPAC’s and The Public Market, Virtual; May 5, 2021

Publications

• Brian Cochran, Controlling Litigation Risks for SPACS, China Bus. L.J. (Apr. 2021)
• Brian Cochran, From Promise to Practice: Towards a Functional Assessment of the Office of Accountability of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, 8 Publicist Berkeley J. Int’l L. (2011)
• Brian Cochran, Reviewing Tom Bingham, Widening Horizons: The Influence of Comparative Law and International Law on Domestic Law, 29 Berkeley J. Int’l L. 710 (2011).