Overview
ROBERT I. HARWOOD, Of Counsel to the firm, graduated from William and Mary Law School in 1971, and has specialized in securities law and securities litigation since beginning his career in 1972 at the Enforcement Division of the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Harwood was a founding member of Harwood Feffer LLP. He has prosecuted numerous securities, class, derivative, and ERISA actions. He is a member of the Trial Lawyers’ Section of the New York State Bar Association and has served as a guest lecturer at trial advocacy programs sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute. In a statewide survey of his legal peers published by Super Lawyers Magazine, Mr. Harwood has been consistently selected as a “New York Metro Super Lawyer.” Super Lawyers are the top five percent of attorneys in New York, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the MFY Legal Services Inc., which provides free legal representation in civil matters to the poor and the mentally ill in New York City. Since 1999, Mr. Harwood has also served as a Village Justice for the Village of Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Commenting on Mr. Harwood’s abilities, in In re Royal Dutch/Shell Transport ERISA Litigation, (D.N.J.), Judge Bissell stated: “the Court knows the attorneys in the firms involved in this matter and they are highly experienced and highly skilled in matters of this kind. Moreover, in this case it showed. Those efforts were vigorous, imaginative and prompt in reaching the settlement of this matter with a minimal amount of discovery . . . . So both skill and efficiency were brought to the table here by counsel, no doubt about that.”
Likewise, Judge Hurley stated in connection with In re Olsten Corporation Securities Litigation, No. 97 CV-5056 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2001), wherein a settlement fund of $24.1 million was created: “The quality of representation here I think has been excellent.” Mr. Harwood was lead attorney in Meritt v. Eckerd, No. 86 Civ. 1222 (E.D.N.Y. May 30, 1986), where then Chief Judge Weinstein observed that counsel conducted the litigation with “speed and skill” resulting in a settlement having a value “in the order of $20 Million Dollars.” Mr. Harwood prosecuted the Hoeniger v. Aylsworth class action litigation in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (No. SA‑86‑CA‑939), which resulted in a settlement fund of $18 million and received favorable comment in the August 14, 1989 edition of The Wall Street Journal (“Prospector Fund Finds Golden Touch in Class Action Suit” p. 18, col. 1). Mr. Harwood served as co‑lead counsel in In Re Interco Incorporated Shareholders Litigation, Consolidated C.A. No. 10111 (Delaware Chancery Court) (May 25, 1990), resulting in a settlement of $18.5 million, where V.C. Berger found, “This is a case that has an extensive record that establishes it was very hard fought. There were intense efforts made by plaintiffs’ attorneys and those efforts bore very significant fruit in the face of serious questions as to ultimate success on the merits.”
Mr. Harwood served as lead counsel in Morse v. McWhorter (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Securities Litigation), (M.D. Tenn.), in which a settlement fund of $49.5 million was created for the benefit of the Class, as well as In re Bank One Securities Litigation, (N.D. Ill.), which resulted in the creation of a $45 million settlement fund. Mr. Harwood also served as co-lead counsel in In re Safety-Kleen Corp. Stockholders Litigation, (D.S.C.), which resulted in a settlement fund of $44.5 million; In re Laidlaw Stockholders Litigation, (D.S.C.), which resulted in a settlement fund of $24 million; In re AIG ERISA Litigation, (S.D.N.Y.), which resulted in a settlement fund of $24.2 million; In re JWP Inc. Securities Litigation, (S.D.N.Y.), which resulted in a $37 million settlement fund; In re Oxford Health Plans, Inc. Derivative Litigation, (S.D.N.Y.), which resulted in a settlement benefit of $13.7 million and corporate therapeutics; and In re UNUMProvident Corp. Securities Litigation, (D. Me.), which resulted in the creation of settlement fund of $45 million. Mr. Harwood has also been one of the lead attorneys in litigating claims in In re FedEx Ground Package Inc. Employment Practices Litigation, No. 3:05-MD-527 (MDL 1700), a multi-district litigation concerning employment classification of pickup and delivery drivers which resulted in a $242,000,000 settlement.