Doru Gavril

About Doru Gavril

Doru Gavril provides innovative, thoughtful solutions to defendants across the full range of shareholder or securities disputes. Doru’s clients include some of the best-known tech and life sciences companies, and their officers and boards: Google, Pinterest, Snap, Mandiant, Royal Caribbean, and Zymergen. 

Doru’s practice often involves high-stakes issues, including the most pressing topics of the moment: ESG disclosures, pandemic-related disclosures, workplace culture, and SPAC-related lawsuits. He has litigated many cutting-edge disputes in securities and corporate law. These include forum selection provisions in foundational corporate documents, tracing of securities, the applicability of materially adverse change clauses, disputed tender offers, and concurrent federal and state jurisdiction over Securities Act actions. He frequently litigates in multiple forums simultaneously, across federal and state courts and the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

Doru specializes in securities class actions, fiduciary duty lawsuits, books and records demands, founder disputes, and deal litigation. He also leads board, special committee, and internal investigations and has defended clients in connection with SEC investigations. He frequently advises on corporate governance matters before they mature into disputes.

Our team is innovative, quick, and responsive to client concerns. We are sensitive to the fact that litigation happens in a broader context and we achieve results that reflect our appreciation of the bigger picture. 

Before joining Freshfields, Doru was a securities litigator at Wilson Sonsini. Prior to that, he served as a judicial extern for Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He received a B.A. from Swarthmore (Political Science and Economics), an M.A. from Harvard (Political Science), and a J.D. from Stanford. Doru enjoys photography (vintage Leica lenses), history, and chasing after his fast-moving young son.

Recent work

• Google: Defended Google (and later Alphabet) and its directors and officers in shareholder litigation regarding antitrust compliance, advertisements, and stock reclassification.
• Social media: Defended Pinterest in securities class action related to user metrics and in shareholder derivative actions regarding workplace culture; Defended Snap and its officers and directors in securities class actions and shareholder derivative lawsuits in federal and state courts in connection with Snap’s initial public offering; Defended Facebook Board member Jim Breyer in securities litigation in connection with Facebook’s initial public offering.
• Cybersecurity: Defended Mandiant and its board in books and records and fiduciary duty litigation related to the sale of its product division; Defended Mandiant (f/k/a FireEye) and its officers and directors in securities class actions, shareholder derivative lawsuits and book and records lawsuits in connection with FireEye’s follow-on public offering, obtaining outright dismissals and settlement on very favorable terms.
• Electric vehicles: Defended Lightning eMotors in securities class actions related to its de-SPAC transaction.
• Hardware technology: Defended ACM Research and its officers in securities litigation related to short-seller attacks, obtaining dismissal; Defended A10 Networks and its officers and directors in securities and derivative litigation and regulatory investigation in connection with a restatement, obtaining dismissal of all matters.
• Life sciences: Defended Zymergen in connection with shareholder litigation related to its sale pipeline; Advised ORIC Pharmaceuticals in its successful initial public offering; Defended Tokai Pharmaceuticals and its officers and directors in securities class actions in state and federal courts, resulting in dismissal of class claims; Defended Accuray, Pacific Biosciences, Aztex Pharmaceuticals, in shareholder, securities, and merger litigation.
• Online education: Defended Zovio and its officers and directors in securities class action and shareholder derivative litigation in federal and state courts, resulting in dismissal of claims or favorable settlement.