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Practice Areas: Gus Coldebella is a partner in the firm's Litigation Department and a member of its Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement Practice. Mr. Coldebella focuses on business and transactional matters, such as securities class action litigation, SEC and stock e

Additional Information: Mr. Coldebella has represented publicly traded companies and their directors and officers in class action litigation involving allegations of securities fraud, and in particular alleged violations of U.S. GAAP. He has successfully argued to federal district and appellate courts that such claims should be dismissed. See, e.g., Baron v. Smith, 285 F. Supp. 2d 96 (D. Mass. 2003), aff'd, 380 F.3d 49 (1st Cir. 2004). He has also represented individuals and publicly traded companies in SEC and stock market investigations regarding alleged insider trading, accounting improprieties and other matters. Mr. Coldebella has successfully defended litigation involving clients' merger and acquisition transactions, and has also represented private equity funds in disputes arising from their investment activity. He has conducted investigations of alleged breaches of fiduciary duties on behalf of special committees of boards of directors.

In addition, Mr. Coldebella has successfully represented classes of defendant landowners in ancient Indian land claims. In one case, he successfully argued to both the trial court and the Second Circuit that summary judgment should be granted because the land claimed by the plaintiffs was not theirs at the time of the challenged transaction in 1815. See Seneca Nation of Indians v. State of New York, 206 F. Supp. 2d 448 (W.D.N.Y. 2002), aff'd, 383 F.3d 45 (2d Cir. 2004). In another, representing the American Land Title Association as amicus curiae, Mr. Coldebella prevailed in arguing that the Indians' claims should be dismissed because they were barred by both a federal land claim settlement act and a state statute of limitations. See Wilfred “Chief Eagle Heart” Greene v. State of Rhode Island, 289 F. Supp. 2d 5 (D.R.I. 2003), aff'd, 398 F.3d 45 (1st Cir. 2005).

Mr. Coldebella also wrote an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the prevailing party in City of Shemill v. Oneida Indian Nation, an 8-1 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Professional Activities
Mr. Coldebella is a member of the American Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association and the Federalist Society. He is currently serving as a director and legal counsel to Colgate University's Alumni Corporation Board of Directors.

Massachusetts Super Lawyers named Mr. Coldebella a “Rising Star” in the May 2005 issue of Boston magazine.

Publications/Presentations
While at Cornell Law School, Mr. Coldebella was on the Board of Editors of the Cornell Law Review, and served as its Symposium Editor. He co-authored the chapter entitled “Securities Litigation” in the American Bar Association's Annual Review of Developments in Business and Corporate Litigation 2005 . An article by Mr. Coldebella, entitled “The Landowner Defendants in Indian Land Claim Litigation: Hostages to History,” was published in the New England Law Review, 37 New Eng. L. Rev. 585 (2003).

Professional Experience
In 1997, Mr. Coldebella served as a special assistant district attorney in the Middlesex (MA) County District Attorney's Office.

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Firm Members: Cheryl Brunetti Douglas Doskocil Kenneth Parsigian Robert Hale