Steve Blake is a Litigation Partner in the Firm’s Palo Alto office. Steve focuses on resolving high-stakes shareholder litigation and securities regulatory matters. Steve regularly advises corporations, financial institutions, funds and advisors in connection with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, legal compliance and commercial disputes. Steve focuses on complex disputes involving corporate crises, cross-border transactions, business valuation and/or accounting matters.
Steve also regularly represents entities and individuals in investigations before the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and stock exchanges concerning disclosure, accounting issues, anti-bribery and corruption and insider trading.
Steve is a regular advisor to special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) and has litigated over a dozen cases related to SPAC transactions. He recently co-moderated a conference entitled “SPACs, De-SPACs and SPAC Litigation” in partnership with Sandpiper Partners and FTI Consulting.
Steve frequently writes and lectures on shareholder litigation, fiduciary duties and issues under the Securities Act, Exchange Act, Investment Company Act and Investment Advisors Act. Steve is the author of the quarterly “Stock Block” column in The Recorder. His recent columns “Along Came SPACs, and Then SPAC Litigation,” “Challenges to Corporate Decision-Making in the Face of Increasingly Polarized Responses to ESG Initiatives,” and “Burgeoning ‘Caremark’ Claims Likely to Drive Stockholder Demands” have been widely read. Steve is Co-Head of the Firm’s Asia Litigation Practice and is also Co-Chair of the Firm’s Knowledge & Innovation Committee.
Steve’s representative matters have involved Acamar Partners, Allakos, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Broadcom, Caliber Collision, Chevron, ClubCorp, Cyanotech, Dell Technology, Ducati, EQT Partners, Focus Media Holdings, Global Eagle, GO Acquisition Corp., Goldman Sachs, Grocery Outlet, Hellman & Friedman, JPMorgan, KKR & Co., LightInTheBox, Melrose plc, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, MultiPlan, Nortek Global, PG&E Corporation, Press Ganey, Qudian, Silver Lake Partners, TeamHealth, TRW Automotive, True Wind Capital, Twitter, Velocity Financial, Vista Equity, Warburg Pincus and Xunlei Limited.
Representative securities litigation representations:
- Alibaba Group in multiple securities litigations concerning its 2014 historic $25 billion IPO and 2015 IP infringement allegations, and a 2020 PRC antitrust fine
- Silver Lake Partners in dismissal of securities class action relating to Tintri’s IPO
- Velocity Financial in the first dismissal of a pandemic-related securities class action
- JOYY in the first federal appellate decision affirming dismissal while discounting the weight to be given to anonymous short seller allegations
- Underwriter syndicates co-led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and/or J.P. Morgan in multiple securities litigations concerning the initial public and/or secondary offerings of Etsy, Zynga, Pacific Biosciences, Zeltiq Aesthetics and Vocera Communications
Representative M&A litigation representations:
- Microsoft in connection with its 2023 acquisition of Activision, 2021 acquisition of Nuance Communications, and 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn
- Silver Lake in M&A and appraisal litigation concerning Dell, EMC, VMware, Blackhawk and other portfolio companies
- Hellman & Friedman in connection with its 2021 acquisition of At Home Group and its 2019 acquisitions of Ultimate Software and Control4
- DigitalBridge and IFM in connection with their 2022 acquisition of Switch, Inc.
- EQT and Digital Bridge in connection with their 2020 acquisition of Zayo, and EQT in its 2017 acquisition of Lumos Networks
- Electronic Arts in connection with its 2021 acquisition of Glu Mobile
- Clubcorp in connection with its 2021 acquisition by Apollo
Representative SPAC-related representations:
- MultiPlan in connection with seminal Delaware Chancery litigation over its 2020 de-SPAC business combination with Churchill Capital III
- GO Acquisition Corp. in connection with closely watched federal Investment Company Act litigation
- Acamar Partners in Delaware Chancery preliminary injunction proceedings over its 2021 business combination with CarLotz
Representative shareholder derivative representations:
- The Board of Directors of PG&E Corporation in derivative and securities litigation arising out of wildfires in Northern California
- The Board of Directors of Chevron Corporation in derivative litigation concerning the 2010 Richmond Refinery Fire
- Silver Lake in derivative litigations brought by shareholders of AMC Entertainment (2018 PIPE) and eBay (2006 Skype acquisition and 2009 resale to Microsoft)
- KKR in derivative litigation related to Channel Control Merchants
- Cyanotech Corporation in derivative litigation brought by an activist shareholder
Representative appraisal representations:
- Silver Lake Partners in connection with the 2013 take private of Dell, culminating in a precedent-setting December 2017 post-trial appellate opinion from the Delaware Supreme Court cementing the importance of negotiated deal price as a strong indicator of fair value
- GI Partners in connection with its 2022 acquisition of JAB Wireless
- Calpine in connection with its 2018 acquisition by Energy Capital Partners
Representative public investigation representations:
- Alibaba Group in an SEC investigation following revelations concerning a Chinese regulator's criticism over the sale of counterfeit goods
- Focus Media Holdings in an SEC investigation following a short-seller attack
Steve also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients at trial and on appeal. He represented high school parents, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network in the precedent-setting American Academy of Pediatrics, California District IX v. Clovis Unified School District which affirmed that California students have a right to sex education that is complete, medically accurate and bias-free and was recognized with the 2015 “Reproductive Justice Award” from the ACLU of Southern California. He also regularly represents immigrants facing expedited removal in partnership with The South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) and incarcerated individuals in civil rights litigation. He argued the precedent-setting Chess v. Dovey et al. appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned a portion of the Ninth Circuit’s model jury instruction for deliberate indifference to serious medical needs.
Steve is consistently recognized nationally by The Legal 500 U.S. in M&A Litigation and Securities: Shareholder Litigation and is a repeat honoree on Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation “40 & Under List,” as well as being named a “Future Star” for 2024. Steve was honored as part of Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40” in 2022 and recognized as a 2021 “Rising Star” in Securities by Law360. Steve has also been repeatedly recognized as a leading litigator in California, including in 2024 as a “Leading Commercial Litigator” by the Daily Journal, a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by The Recorder in 2022 and one the “Top 40 Under 40” attorneys in California in 2018. He has been listed as a “Rising Star” in Northern California securities litigation by Super Lawyers for 2014-2023. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of San Francisco in 2008 and his B.A., with distinction, in Government, from Cornell University in 2005. He is admitted to practice in the state and federal district and appellate courts of California and New York and before the United States Supreme Court.