Greg Watts is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focuses on securities and complex commercial litigation, primarily defending companies and their directors and officers in securities class actions, shareholder derivative actions, contested mergers and acquisitions, and SEC investigations and enforcement proceedings. He also advises audit committees, special committees, and boards of directors in internal investigations.

Greg has represented companies and their directors and officers in dozens of securities class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits. He has had great success in winning these cases, including most recently on behalf of Starbucks, Atossa Genetics, Sterling Financial, Chelsea Therapeutics, Solta Medical, and Nighthawk Radiology. Due to his expertise, Greg has represented clients around the country in federal and state court, including in Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

Greg has extensive experience defending companies and individuals in connection with SEC investigations, including those involving financial reporting and accounting fraud allegations, disclosure issues, and potential insider trading violations. In SEC matters, he has represented clients at every stage—from the inception of an SEC inquiry through the Wells Notice (the point at which the SEC enforcement staff recommends the initiation of a lawsuit) to bench and jury trials. On many occasions, an enforcement action ultimately was not filed.

Greg frequently conducts board, audit committee, and special committee internal investigations. These investigations often are time sensitive, complex, and/or involve highly confidential corporate information, and Greg prides himself on working with board members and outside auditors to develop cost-effective investigation procedures.