Kevin P. Muck

SAN FRANCISCO - Kevin P. Muck is a partner in the securities litigation and enforcement group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. He joined the firm in 2020 following more than 16 years at Fenwick & West LLP, where he co-founded that firm's securities litigation practice, which he chaired.

A feature of Muck's career is that he and his wife, WilmerHale shareholder class action partner Susan S. Muck, have been employed as a team for years. "We've practiced together for more than 20 years at several firms," Kevin Muck said. "There's nobody I trust as much as Susan, a phenomenal lawyer. The only downside is that our children roll their eyes at the dinner table and ask that mom and dad stop talking shop."

In April, Kevin and Susan Muck won dismissal of a potential securities class action contending that executives at Activision Blizzard, Inc. misled shareholders and caused its stock to plunge by downplaying allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. Cheng v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. et al., 2:21-cv-06240 (C.D. Cal., filed Aug. 3, 2021).

Activision did not lie to its shareholders by downplaying the allegations, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson of Los Angeles ruled, while giving the plaintiffs permission to rewrite their complaint. Muck said, "We contend this is not a securities issue and if the plaintiffs decide they want to amend the complaint we are very committed to fight it in court."

Muck and his team then successfully moved for dismissal of the amended complaint; the motion was granted Aug. 30. "They're trying to construct a case out of nothing," he said.

The Activision dismissal is a good example of how Muck seeks to knock out cases early. He did the same thing with another shareholder derivative action against Activision directors and officers. Kahnert v. Kotick et al., 2:21-cv-08968 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 15, 2021).

Muck's dismissal motion against a revised complaint in that case is currently pending.

"Clients like early dismissals," Muck said. "When you have done this as long as I have, you have a sense of what arguments are likely to succeed, especially things for which you have good legal answers."