Mr. Palestina practices securities and other complex class action litigation. He focuses his practice on securities litigation involving mergers and acquisitions. In his capacity as a KSF partner, Mr. Palestina currently serves as lead, co-lead, or executive committee counsel in several ongoing M&A cases and has previously served in the same capacity in several successfully resolved M&A cases.

For example, Mr. Palestina took part in the successful resolution of In re EnergySolutions, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, Consol. C.A. 8203-YCG (Del. Ch. 2013), a securities class action involving claims for breach of fiduciary duties to shareholders relating to a proposed merger of nuclear energy related companies worth $1.1 billion ($375 million in proposed shareholder consideration), where there was a $0.40 price increase, which increased the consideration to shareholders by more than 10%, or approximately $38 million, and over 20 pages of additional disclosures to the proxy statement relating to process and pricing claims. Mr. Palestina also served as one of three co-lead counsel in In re American Capital, Ltd. Shareholder Litigation, Case No. 422598-V (Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland 2016), a securities class action involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the sale of American Capital Ltd. against both American Capital’s board and senior officers and Elliott Management Corporation, the activist investor fund that agitated for the sale. Therein, Mr. Palestina was instrumental in obtaining a $17.5 million settlement from American Capital’s board members and officers and Elliott, in so doing defeating a motion to dismiss by Elliott and obtaining an unprecedented ruling that Elliott may be considered a controller and subject to entire fairness review at trial. More recently, in March 2020, after litigating the matter to the eve of trial, Mr. Palestina obtained a $6.5 million settlement recovery for former U.S. Geothermal Inc. shareholders in connection with its  merger with Ormat Technologies, Inc; this recovery represented a 7.7% premium to the adjusted enterprise value of the buyout.

Several of Mr. Palestina’s current cases also implicate evolving and novel areas of corporate merger law. For example, in Helen Moore v. Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, et al. (Cleco Corporation Merger), Case No. 251,417, c/q 251,456 and 251,515, Div. “C” (9th JDC, Louisiana, 2014), in which Mr. Palestina serves as one of two Interim Co-Lead Counsel, he was instrumental in securing a landmark Louisiana appellate decision finding that merger-related challenges are direct, and not derivative, in nature. Mr. Palestina is also currently litigating several similar cases that touch on the same direct-vs-derivative issue under Maryland law.

Prior to joining KSF, Mr. Palestina clerked for the honorable Catherine D. Kimball, former Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and practiced law at a well-respected New Orleans litigation firm. While there, Mr. Palestina gained valuable trial experience, focused on complex commercial litigation, and represented a number of judges and his fellow lawyers regarding ethical issues before the State’s judicial and attorney disciplinary systems. Mr. Palestina graduated from Tulane University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He earned his J.D. in 2008 from Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude, was a William L. Crowe, Sr. Scholar, and was inducted into the Order of Barristers. While in law school, Mr. Palestina was a member of the Loyola Law Review and Loyola Moot Court, was the first place oralist in the Loyola Intramural Moot Court Competition, and represented Loyola at the Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition (where he was the fourth place oralist overall) and on the National Team at the New York Bar Association’s National Moot Court Competition (where his team advanced to the finals). Mr. Palestina also served as a research assistant to the Leon Sarpy Professor of Law Professor Kathryn Venturatos Lorio, whom he assisted in a revision of her Westlaw treatise on Louisiana Succession and Donations, and as a Judicial Intern to Magistrate Joseph C. Wilkinson, Jr. of the United States Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Mr. Palestina’s Law Review article, Of Registry: Louisiana’s Revised Public Records Doctrine, was published in the Loyola Law Review. Mr. Palestina is licensed to practice in Louisiana state and federal courts.