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Brian C. Ralston

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Brian C. Ralston practices primarily in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation, including extensive experience in stockholder class and derivative actions relating to mergers, acquisitions, tender offers and proxy contests, statutory proceedings pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, and proceedings involving the internal corporate governance of Delaware corporations. Brian also frequently counsels officers and directors, committees of the board and the Delaware corporations they serve in matters of Delaware corporate law.

Brian has been involved in the representation of defendants in a number of significant corporate law cases, including Oracle v. PeopleSoft, In re Cysive, Inc. Shareholders Litigation, In re Pure Resources Shareholders Litigation, In re Aquila, Inc., and In re Siliconix Inc. Shareholders Litigation.

Representative Matters

  • Liberty Media in connection with litigation challenging its acquisition of Sirius XM
  • IntercontinentalExchange in litigation challenging its acquisition of the New York Stock Exchange
  • Qualcomm in connection with litigation concerning patent and licensing disputes with Nokia
  • Special Committee of News Corporation in litigation challenging the company’s proposed acquisition of Shine
  • Compellent Technologies, Inc. in connection with shareholder litigation challenging its acquisition by Dell
  • SRA and its Special Committee in connection with litigation challenging its acquisition by Providence Equity Partners
  • NRG in connection with shareholder litigation challenging its proposed acquisition of Gen-On
  • Consol Energy, Inc. in litigation relating to its tender offer to acquire the minority shares of CNX Gas Corporation
  • Rizvi Traverse in litigation relating to its acquisition with Hugh Hefner of Playboy Enterprises
  • Liberty Media in litigation relating to the effect of a proposed split-off of assets under the terms of an existing indenture trust
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Education

Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University, J.D., 1998; Woolsack Honor Society; Editor, Dickinson Law Review

Villanova University, B.A., 1995

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Delaware, 1998

    District Court for the District of Delaware, 1999

    Third Circuit Court of Appeals, 2003

Professional Activities and Honors

Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law, most recently in the 2022 edition

Delaware State Bar Association

American Bar Association